tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63080437765557967072024-03-05T11:17:25.958-08:00The World According to BenBobMusings on LifeBen Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-13903534320510011412017-12-19T17:36:00.002-08:002017-12-19T17:36:12.251-08:00New location for blog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">Over the next few days, I’m going to move my blog to </span><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.83921568627451); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.063px;">https://medium.com/@benbob</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">. The process for transferring content is still too manual and error-prone so I won’t bother transferring all the content (too lazy). I’ll repost a few old blogs on Medium as I learn the logistics. The rest of my old blogs can always be found at </span><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/" href="https://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54); background-color: white; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.68) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.063px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/</a><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">.</span></div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-67577485882964432612017-12-09T09:24:00.000-08:002017-12-09T09:29:23.703-08:00The Addiction Gene<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shimon Peres. 1923-2016.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Each year the US population spends more money on diets than the amount needed to feed all the hungry people in the rest of the world.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yuval Noah Harari</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“But if my thought-dreams could be seen</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They'd probably put my head in a guillotine”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob Dylan. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s alright, Ma (I’m only bleeding). </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bringing it all back home.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here, I will argue that many of our personal and societal ills, while disparate in appearance, are in fact rooted in a single tendency, that of human beings to obsess over a topic, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">any</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> topic. This tendency is at least partly genetic in nature and has been shown definitively to transcend national, racial, and cultural boundaries. In fact, even animals can suffer from addictions in a similar fashion so the genes have been with us for millions of years. I will use the terms “obsession” and “addiction” interchangeably. Addictions are nothing but obsessions that are frowned upon by society for one reason or another. Instead of penalizing our negative addictions </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ex post facto</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, we need to reinforce the positive ones. Far too much money and effort is spent on fighting destructive addictions late in their life cycles, long after they’ve taken over our lives. Instead, we need to admit that we </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have such tendencies and to harness and direct them in positive, socially acceptable, directions. Obsessions, after all, take an inordinate amount time and effort. The more time we spend obsessing over positive activities, the less time and brain cycles we have to dedicate to negative ones.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you think I’m overstating the case, consider the fact that so many of us have become “</span><a href="https://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/06/put-down-phone-and-step-away.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">digitally addicted</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” in such a short span of time, seemingly surgically attached to our smartphones and laptops - items that didn’t even exist a decade or two ago. Human civilization has, by necessity, created addicts of all of us - and we are complicit in the crime. It doesn’t matter whether that addiction is destructive in nature or constructive. As a species, we seem to like to obsess over something or other. Sooner or later, we all find things to obsess over. You may be addicted to alcohol or opioids, you may pick food as your drug of choice or cigarettes, you may obsess over videogames or you may choose to cut yourself. There is no shortage of vices to choose from, it seems, nor any end to our depravity as a species when it comes to addictive tendencies: there is gambling, there’s pedophilia, there’s drug addiction, you name it. The common characteristic of all these vices is that we spend hours, days, months, years </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thinking</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about them, obsessing over them. Pedophiles don’t just wake up one day and decide, out of the blue, to do what it is that they do. They </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">think about </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">visualize </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> fantasize about </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what they’re going to do long before they ever act on the impulse.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And then there are the obsessions that are deemed acceptable by society. There are those who are addicted to exercise, to music, to photography, to reading, to work. I’m not talking about an hour a day spent exercising or a few minutes spent listening to the radio. An audiophile spends just as many hours thinking about and listening to music as an alcoholic does thinking about his next drink. An elite athlete has no choice but to obsess over the sport of her choosing, spending many hours a day exercising.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I speak, by the way, from firsthand experience. I’ve</span><a href="https://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/05/alan-had-proved-that-there-was-no.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">blogged often about my own personal struggles</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder although thankfully, in my case, one that is mild and mostly positive in nature. I may obsess over the music of Bob Dylan or the movies of Woody Allen or the books of Richard Dawkins. I might obsessively follow their careers, spend hours listening to their albums (or watching their movies or reading their books), I may even admit to reading every Wikipedia article about them. Obsessions one and all, to be sure, but mostly harmless ones. I have destructive obsessions as well, like everyone else, but I find the more time I spend on the positive ones, the less time I have to dedicate to the negative ones. After all, there are only so many hours in a given day.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s another example: I used to be a long distance runner for many years. Anyone who has ever run a marathon will tell you that running becomes an obsession after a while. Our brains just crave the endorphins and we become addicted to the exercise. More recently, due to injuries, I switched to biking. It took only a few months for me to start obsessing about biking - first unconsciously and later consciously. These days, I spend an average of roughly three hours a day biking. This year, I’ve racked up roughly six thousand miles and 500,000 feet of elevation gain. That’s not normal. That’s obsessive behavior by any stretch of the imagination.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the extent that our lifestyles dictate our behavior, civilization itself is reinforcing many of our addictions. Notice I didn’t say “western civilization”, the usual escape goat. The truth is that you can go dig up any human society in deepest darkest Africa and you will find some addictions running rampant. The propensity for obsessive behavior is in our genes and has also been observed in many other species. Western civilization has merely increased the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">number of things</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we can obsess over and made them more readily available to us. Our answer, then, cannot be to attack each and every one of these negative addictions as a unique disease: to fight alcoholism with AA, food addictions with diets, cigarettes with the Nicotine patch, drug addiction with Methadone, etc. We’ve spent years and trillions of dollars doing that with little or no impact.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="355" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oDtl72IERyq-zAa-cJ47nnZ1vlxL-NAE-mtIAvDqxyGVOJfTFFMOz6eUUwTJTV-rEwXs566xs3mmGkXX6aStwgip6XBfN2MEovHJuoYEuJDh76AA_NdpJdidWT6gmIhHvW7oWm28" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="533" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Source: </span><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://benfa.smugmug.com/">http://benfa.smugmug.com</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The right answer is to help people pick the right addictions, the positive ones, and to do so during our formative years - before the negative obsessions take root. Many of our addictions are formed during our childhood and adolescent years. That’s when we first experience cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, sex, and many other vices. That’s also when we become addicted to reading, to music, to studying, to sports. Instead of trying to stop the bad addictions once they’ve already taken root In our psyches, then, we should be spending more money and putting more effort into the years of youth, guiding children and teens into positive activities that will serve them - and the rest of society - throughout their lifetimes. We need more mentors, more engaging art and sports related opportunities, more investments in our future generations. And I bet it would cost a fraction of what we are spending on treatment and incarceration today.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I mentioned earlier, I use the terms </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">obsession</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">addiction</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> interchangeably. Addictions are simply obsessions that are frowned upon by society, detrimental to ourselves and/or those around us in one way or another. We all carry the genes and, sooner or later, we all latch onto something and obsess over it. It almost doesn’t matter to us, to our genes, whether that obsession is a positive one or a negative one. We don’t have a gene for alcoholism and another one for gambling and a third one for smartphones, we have a gene for obsession. So the answer is not to penalize and demonize the negative addictions but rather to admit that we have such a genetic propensity built into us and to guide it in a positive direction – before it’s too late. Our current approach, I worry, is scatter-shot, entirely too reactive, and prohibitively expensive.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’ve already learned that outlawing addictions doesn’t work. A century ago, alcohol was illegal in the United States. Today, it’s so ubiquitous that many people don’t even know about the prohibition and its historical consequences. American society tried to outlaw alcohol - through a constitutional amendment, no less - and failed miserably, eventually reversing course and making it available to the masses. At the end of the day, society realized that the addict, the alcoholic, will go to any lengths to get his hands on a bottle and outlawing alcohol would only open the door to bootleggers, moonshiners, gangsters, and a whole host of other problems. Society, at large, suffered when prohibition was in effect. We realized that repealing prohibition would harm the alcoholic but make many of the other negative societal effects of alcohol irrelevant. Implicitly, society is turning a blind eye to the addict. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After all, he’s just harming himself by drinking so much. Let him do it. No skin off my back.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This, of course, massively underestimates the communal impact of alcoholism: the broken marriages, the parental abuse, the drunk driving, etc. The current state of affairs, we seem to be saying, is better than what happened during prohibition. We’ll deal with the fallout later!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Addiction to gambling is another example that may be cited here. There are now casinos in pretty much every state in the union, a far cry from a few decades ago. Once again, society is punting on the problem, admitting that outlawing gambling caused more problems than it solved. Here, again, most of the “harm” is self-inflicted. Or, at least, myopically viewed as such by society at large.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s only when we cross the line with our addictions, when we get to impacting others with our obsessions, that society finally draws a hard line in the sand and says enough is enough. Pedophilia is as repulsive to most of us as it is addictive to its adherents. So is rape. Both of these crimes, I claim, are in fact addictions. The sexual predator doesn’t just </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">happen</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to one day decide he wants to grab someone’s genitals. He spends hours upon hours fantasizing about it before he first reaches out. By the time he has sunk so low as to act upon his impulses, he is too far gone, too addicted to the endorphins he experiences just </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thinking</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about it. It’s too late to try to fix him then. The damage is already done. You’re fighting a losing battle. Sooner or later, the obsession will come back and take hold of him. The sad truth is that for every convicted pedophile or sexual pervert out there, there are thousands who </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thought </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it but never crossed the line. Meanwhile, we are busy punishing the few and ignoring the fact that ninety percent of the iceberg lies under water. We’re basically screwed. We have this gene in us that likes to obsess. And we have this brain that becomes addicted to high levels of endorphins. The best we can do is distract it with, exhaust it with, overwhelm it with </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">positive</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> obsessions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s much cheaper for us, as a society, to invest in creating those positive obsessions in our youth than it is to try to treat the results of our negligence after the fact by punishing or treating people for their negative obsessions. The math, and hence my logic, is simple. The more hours spent engaged in and obsessing over positive activities, the less time I have to obsess over the negative ones. It’s a zero sum game, you see. There are only so many hours in a day. The answer is not to lock up the liquor in the cabinet, to tell teenagers it’s sinful to have sex before marriage, to make cigarette sales to minors illegal, to spend billions of dollars on diets, etc. The answer is to get Junior so addicted to exercise or books or music, depending on his interests, that he won’t have time for the other stuff.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-21648936283186876032017-08-26T19:54:00.001-07:002017-08-26T19:57:31.628-07:00I Don't Think This Is What They Meant by "Retirement"!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The testicles of a sparrow are about a millimeter long and weigh about a milligram. (That’s one of the reasons you never hear that someone’s hung like a sparrow.)”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Honeybees warm themselves by contracting the muscles in their thorax. Wood storks cool off by defecating on their own legs. (In very hot weather, wood storks may excrete on their legs as often as once a minute.)”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Elizabeth Kilbert. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Writers don’t prepare for people to read them, so much as they prepare for no one to read them.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Ta-Nehisi Coates. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Homecomings</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's been</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/10/early-retirement-first-day-of-rest-of.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">almost a year since I “retired”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, so I figure it might be time for a status update. I put that word in quotes because, to be honest, it's only a partial retirement, a semi-retirement, a toe dipped in the water to check conditions before full submersion. I still advise a few startups and spend a bit of time working on my own startup ideas; enough to stay engaged with the industry and, hopefully, also to learn new things in the process, to stay relevant.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rest of the time I bike, I travel, I spend time with the family, I read, I do things that I never had the time to do when I worked full-time. My days start at five or six a.m. I'm an early riser; who knew? And, yet, thanks to not being saddled with work stress, I sleep well. A state of affairs unheard of just a year ago. At first, I thought this was due to the amount of physical exercise I was getting but I realized later that I slept well even on days that I didn’t get a chance to exercise. The only difference was the level of stress in my daily life compared to when I worked.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At one work related event last week, I ran into an old colleague who also recently “semi-retired”. He sits on half a dozen boards, works a few hours a day, reads like a fiend, and also has found out he likes “taking naps in the early afternoon.” He must have </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">really </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">low stress in his life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spend two to three hours a day, pretty much every single day, exercising.</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/11/frozen-popsicle-man-takes-to-road.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my case, that means biking up the mountain</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Having destroyed every joint in my body through decades of running long distances, having suffered through lower back surgery and years of related physical pain, I have settled on biking as a much more “reasonable” sport, one that can be enjoyed every day without doing as much damage to your body. I even tried to argue with my wife that, three hours a day times seven days being over twenty hours a week, my time in the saddle should practically count as a part-time job in and of itself. She just rolled her eyes. Whatever keeps me out of the house and out of her hair, I guess.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another joyous outcome is the number of hours I can spend reading.</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-autobiography-of-ben-andbob-chapter.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've always been a bookworm</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but I haven't read this much since I was a teenager! And I'm loving it. There is still nothing in the world better than losing yourself in a good book. And thanks to Amazon, there's always a fresh batch of them on my bedside table.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've also spent quite a bit of time with friends and family. “Quite a bit of time”, in my case, meaning any non-zero positive integer. It's amazing how easy it is in 21st century America to lose yourself in your work, in your online social life, and maybe your immediate family. Spending time with friends and family takes </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">time. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And who has time for that after a dozen hours at the office?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most enjoyable events of the past year was</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2017/07/riddle-me-this-sketches-from-brief.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a month we spent traveling in Europe with friends and family</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The best part was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> having to check email every day, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">having to jump on conference calls every night, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">having to rush back home to attend a meeting. There is definitely something to be said for the slower pace of life that most other cultures enjoy and that American society has abandoned in favor of efficiency and economic advancement.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The truth of the matter, I've come to realize, is that I hate the act of travel. The planes, the jet lag, the hotel rooms, living out of suitcases. I've been on so many trips in my life that the novelty has long since worn off. I still fantasize about and rhapsodize about off-the-beaten-track destinations but we've made the act of traveling itself so stressful that it completely negates any positive feelings we may experience when we finally get to the destination. At times like these, I am thankful that our memories are imperfect and tend to romanticize the distant past.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the same vein of travel and family, my parents are visiting with us. They spend most of the time living in the old country and come to the US once every two or three years for loooong visits - four to six months spent traveling around the US, staying with their siblings, children, in-laws, nieces and nephews: their extended family. The Islamic revolution of 1979 tore that extended family apart and its members have spent the past forty years living drastically different lives across multiple continents.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I found myself spending many hours talking to my parents over the past few weeks, mostly my dad. Hours that would have been spent at work in a meeting or hunched over a laptop during their prior visits. The sad truth is that we inhabit two different universes and there is nothing we can do to reconcile those two worlds. Here are two octogenarian cancer survivors who don't speak a word of English, have never used a computer (despite our half-hearted attempts), don't have an email address or a credit card. I love them as my parents but I find, increasingly, that I have very little in common with them. That, perhaps, is the saddest part of the story. Having spent roughly forty years of my life away from them, and doing so in a world that has been moving away from theirs at light speed, hasn't helped.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm sorry to say my parents have never known what I actually work on. Sure, they know I work on computers. They even know the names of some of the companies I’ve worked for. Microsoft, SGI, Cisco. But push one level deeper and they would be lost. Operating systems? Cloud? Storage? Security? Networking? Applications? Disks? Memory? CPU? Bits? Bytes? Where do even I begin to explain my world to them? I might as well be talking in Chinese. Facebook? Emojis? Texting? Streaming? Netflix? These concepts don't even exist in their universe. Try having a conversation with any such elderly person about the cloud, social media, or pretty much anything in our digital universe and you'll see what I mean. Do so with someone living most of their lives in a third world country and you'll grok my point even more clearly. Try doing so in a language different from the one in which you learned the concepts and you'll have an even better appreciation for my dilemma.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part of the problem is that our physical world has also moved online while theirs is still brick and mortar. Their daily concerns are so different from ours. They go to the corner grocery store while we order our fruits on Amazon. They stand in line at the bank to cash checks while we snap a photo of the check we want to deposit. They religiously call friends and family on a regular basis just to check in, even if they really have nothing to say. They get on the plane and travel for eighteen freaking hours to come see us in person. Meanwhile, we limit our personal contacts with friends and family to Facebook shares and Instagram likes, maybe an email or a text message if we really have something important to say.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our spoken languages are almost as foreign. And I'm not talking about the words or the grammar, I'm talking about the concepts expressed by those languages. I happen to be perfectly fluent in Farsi as it was the first language I ever learned. Yet, put a book or newspaper article in front of me that was published in Iran in the past forty years and I would struggle to read it. Not because I can't read the words. Not because I can't figure out the grammar. But because the concepts are foreign to me. The names of the people are meaningless. The historical events don’t ring a bell. I don’t have this problem with older books, ones published before the revolution. Only with newer books; not because the words are different but because the concepts are.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our cultures have drifted apart, too. They know nothing about the music I listen to and I've long abandoned theirs. They watch Turkish soap operas while I listen to John Oliver and quote Seinfeld. They lived through a war while I went to school and built a life half way around the world, in a different universe. They see Donald Trump as a maniac. I see Donald Trump as a maniac. Okay, maybe we agree on one thing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm sorry if this sounds insensitive. I don't mean it to be. It's just that, however painful it might be to admit, we inhabit different universes. It's so much harder to find common points of interest when there are so few points of intersection - in our histories, in our daily lives, in our worlds, in our world </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">views</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I don't mean to imply that my world is better than theirs or vice versa, just that they are almost inconceivably different, almost irreconcilably apart. And every day that goes by, they become even more so.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So those hours of conversation with my parents are not spent talking about technology or business or the markets or even politics. They often revolve around their “end games”: how we can help if (when) the end comes for each of them. It's been a sad visit. Enough said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back to the topic at hand: semi-retirement it is. I'm not sure what I'd do with full retirement anyway. I'd have too much time on my hands - and no one wants to hear about a retired geezer biking up the mountain </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">six</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> hours a day!</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-86293236845382270382017-08-01T20:08:00.002-07:002023-09-27T20:17:47.983-07:00Dr. StrangeCloud – Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cloud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I wrote this blog post a few years ago when I was still CTO at VMware. I didn't realize it was published on the web by VMware until <a href="https://octo.vmware.com/dr-strangecloud/">someone sent me this link</a> today. The last paragraph is a sales pitch for VMware products so I've deleted it below but the rest is a fairly honest assessment of the cloud and its impact on infrastructure that I still stand by.<br />
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<span itemprop="headline" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Dr. StrangeCloud – Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cloud</span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 22px; font-style: inherit;">By Ben Fathi, Chief Technology Officer, VMware</span></div>
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Marc Andreesen famously wrote “<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903480904576512250915629460" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00a1de; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why Software is Eating the World</a>” in August 2011:</div>
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“More and more major businesses and industries are being run on software and delivered as online services—from movies to agriculture to national defense. Many of the winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial technology companies that are invading and overturning established industry structures. Over the next 10 years, I expect many more industries to be disrupted by software, with new world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing the disruption in more cases than not.”</div>
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A scant three years later, it’s time for us to admit that software has <i style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">already</i> eaten the world. It’s also time for us to get over it and start dealing with the consequences.</div>
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Here’s a simple challenge: Name one industry or a single aspect of our social lives that hasn’t been dramatically and irreversibly changed by the power of software. Whether entertainment or education, travel or medicine, genetics or physics, banking or shopping, driving or communicating – I challenge you to find a single activity not influenced by or totally redefined through software. Entire industries – travel agencies, bookstores, photography labs, music stores, telcos – have either disappeared or have had to reinvent themselves to survive.</div>
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Until recently, incumbents routinely enjoyed decades of prosperity in every industry – including software. But in this brave new world, whether consumer or enterprise, we are innovating at such a pace that products introduced just a few years ago are already obsolete or being disrupted. As computation and storage costs continue to decrease and network bandwidth increases – as computing <i style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">finally</i> becomes a true utility – we’ll find more and more applications that can benefit from the power of software.</div>
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We are truly starting to live in a digital universe with software at the core of everything we do.</div>
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Just like we stream or download our movies and music today rather than going to Blockbuster or Tower Records, we download most of our applications from the internet as well. When was the last time you installed software by going to Best Buy and buying a shrink-wrapped box? The new cloud-based consumption experience is more convenient. It gets rids of the inventory problem, the manufacturing problem and the supply chain problem, but it also presents new challenges. Having these services available 24×7 is no simple feat. To pull it off, we run massive data centers in the cloud, with software designed to be resilient and scalable.</div>
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I sincerely believe we are at an inflection point in the history of computing. The future will be “cloudy” – not just for consumers but for enterprises too. The massive and unmistakable move toward cloud computing further reduces the barrier to entry for startups and simplifies the consumption experience dramatically.</div>
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We’re already seeing this in the consumer space as the complexity of Windows has given way to the simplicity of Android and iOS—simple operating systems augmented by compelling cloud services, with “worry free” upgrade and maintenance.</div>
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The same benefits apply to enterprise software as well.. Many categories of enterprise software are now being delivered as cloud based services: Salesforce for CRM, LinkedIn for recruiting, Workday for HR, Office365 for productivity, etc. Even infrastructure, such as servers and storage, can now be consumed through the Internet with IaaS offerings from the various public cloud providers.</div>
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Now let’s put ourselves in our customers’ shoes for a minute: As a progressive virtual infrastructure/private cloud admin, I would like to install the latest release of vSphere once a year so I can get access to the latest innovations from VMware and its partner ecosystem. Realistically, though, upgrading to a new version is often tied to hardware refresh cycles, so I may have to wait 3-4 years for the latest innovations. I also have a lot invested in high-end storage gear and network switches, so I want to continue to utilize them. As part of the upgrade process, I will have to install the right third-party drivers and firmware on the servers and the SAN arrays and the network switches, install and configure disaster recovery solutions, etc. In essence, I become the system integrator and take on a significant amount of work for my IT organization, in the process creating a bespoke environment that is different from every other enterprise.</div>
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Now let’s switch hats for a minute and become a “cloud” customer. I pull out my credit card, go to <a href="http://www.vcloudair.com/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #00a1de; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">www.vcloudair.com</a> (or one of our 4,000 or so service provider partners in the VMware vCloud® Air™ Network), click a few buttons, and I’m up and running my application in minutes. If I need high availability, I just check a little box that says “Make my workload resilient to two simultaneous infrastructure failures” and the cloud takes care of the rest.</div>
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You will correctly point out that I’m comparing apples to oranges here. I’ve just outsourced my IT to VMware by using their cloud. Some poor administrator is still installing software on those servers somewhere and maintaining them. True enough, but that’s our specialty and I think we’re better positioned to handle it. The key point here is that the cloud provider optimizes their capital expenditure and operational costs by drastically reducing the hardware and software configurations that he supports to provide the service.</div>
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Let’s face it. The cloud experience is a major leap ahead of any improvements we can ever make to the “shrink-wrapped” experience. Even if we ship perfect bug-free software, we are still asking the admin to do integration of all the third party components on-site and to manage the lifecycle of all these products by performing upgrades and patching. Increasingly, admins (and CIOs) today are being asked to choose between this model and the cloud model.</div>
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... [Rest of blog (VMWare-specific comments) available <a href="https://octo.vmware.com/dr-strangecloud/">here</a>] ...</div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-19558348347874647022017-06-18T08:50:00.001-07:002017-06-19T06:18:57.106-07:00Our True Sixth Sense: Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Not everything that can be faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed that is not faced.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">James Baldwin.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I am not Your Negro.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In the 300 years of the crucifixion of Christ to the conversion of Emperor Constantine, polytheistic Roman emperors initiated no more than four general persecutions of Christians. Local administrators and governors incited some anti-Christian violence of their own. Still, if we combine all the victims of all these persecutions, it turns out that in these three centuries the polytheistic Romans killed no more than a few thousand Christians. In contrast, over the course, of the next 1,500 years, Christians slaughtered Christians by the millions, to defend slightly different interpretations of the religion of love and compassion.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Yuval Noah Harari. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hans:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As Gandhi said... An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Billy:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> No, it doesn't. There'll be one guy left with one eye. How's the last blind guy gonna take out the eye of the last guy left? No, it doesn't. There'll be one guy left with one eye. How's the last blind guy gonna take out the eye of the last guy left? All that guy has to do is run away and hide behind a bush. Gandhi was wrong. It’s just that no one has the guts to come out and say it.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seven Psychopaths</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We humans do have a sixth sense but, despite popular belief, it’s not ESP (Extra Sensory Perception). In fact, I would argue that ESP is simply a small subset of our broader instinct. Our true sixth sense is our sense of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fiction</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, our innate ability to weave narratives at every opportunity, our penchant for asking “what if” at every turn, our willingness to create or participate in stories that may or may not be rooted in the physical world around us. We’re the only species capable of keeping thousands of such complex scenarios in our mind, each a fiction that we personally or collectively believe in. Other species are capable of rudimentary deception (chimps can “lie” about where they hid a banana, for example) but we're the only species who absolutely wallows in fiction in practically every part of our lives – so much so that we’re surrounded by it at almost every moment, often without even consciously recognizing it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That fiction may be Harry Potter or Game of Thrones but those are obvious examples and momentary diversions. The more common stories are the ones we live in all day and night – our common </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">beliefs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The best analysis of this phenomenon I’ve ever seen is from Yuval Noah Harari in </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapiens:_A_Brief_History_of_Humankind" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We believe in soccer and basketball teams: concepts that have no basis in physical reality but are nonetheless “religiously” pursued by millions of people. Think about it: what exactly is the definition of the NFL team, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oakland Raiders</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? It’s a moniker we apply to a group of men and watch every Sunday on television. The members of the team change every year, the team manager changes once every few years, the owners change once a decade or so, the team jersey and insignia are redesigned whenever ratings sag, the rules they follow are not only arbitrary but can also be changed by a committee at their whim, even the city they are supposed to represent changes on an infrequent basis. Remember </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Los Angeles Raiders?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Yup. Same team – for a few years. So what exactly is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Oakland Raiders </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or the NBA, for that matter?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What exactly do we mean when we say “I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">love </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Oakland Raiders?” You can make the same declaration about roses, about Mt. Fuji, about cocker spaniels, and about the moon – with one big difference. The latter are all physical objects that have a fixed definition that could be recognized, if not verbalized, by even an animal. Pretty much everything else we ever talk about or believe in is made up, a fiction, a story that we tell ourselves and others. Including the Oakland Raiders. And religion and society and government and currencies and borders and corporations and brands. Everything on this new list is just a figment of our collective imagination – something that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">homo sapiens </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dreamed up. It’s amazing to think about the world around us through this lens; it frees us of many of the prejudices that we take for granted. I call us</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.it/2016/10/homo-theatricales.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">homo theatricales</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> – we not only make up the stories, we also star in the shows</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now let’s turn the same lens to a different scene. What does it mean for hooligans in Britain to kill each other over a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manchester United</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> game or for terrorists from the Middle East to kill Christians for their beliefs or for a gunman to take up an AK-47 and walk into a crowded square because IRA? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every single one of those constructs, those sets of beliefs, is a figment of our imagination.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If you don’t believe me, let’s look at countries. Think about the “line in the sand” that separates our modern nations. Step over </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> line through the accident of birth and, suddenly, villages that are separated by a mere five miles are mortal enemies. The proverbial “line in the sand” is just one example of such a fiction. Not a physical line in the sand, mind you. It's just a line somebody drew on a piece of paper about a hundred years ago, roughly speaking, for most countries. But it’s good enough for us to kill each other over.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of what we believe in - nations, corporations, religions, gold as a valuable metal, money as a piece of paper that has real value - these are all fictions we have created for ourselves as a species. It is what sustains us, it is what distinguishes us. It is, unfortunately, also what separates us – what turns us into competing bands.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, I have to ask: if we all agree there is really no line in the sand separating, say, Israel and Lebanon, if we agree that such an imaginary line shouldn't mean the inhabitants on one side are “Arabs” and the guys on the other side are “Jews”, forever and ever - and, oh by the way, we just made up that line a hundred years ago; if we agree that a piece of paper, even when adorned with fancy colors and markings, a unit of currency, does not really have any intrinsic value of its own that would lead you to hand over a car or a jacket over for, that its only value is an index into a database of international monetary exchange rates - so we know that a dollar is worth 1.24762 Euros - even though both are nothing but pieces of brightly colored paper backed by a “promise”, a fiction that exists nowhere but in our collective consciousness; if we understand all this, then why are we so adamant that our side is right - when </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the rules are imaginary? Why are we convinced that Catholics are right and Muslims are wrong, or vice versa? The very concepts and teachings of both religions are nothing but the collective beliefs of a group of people. Nothing more and nothing less. Why are we so adamant that North and South Korea are enemies, when neither of those countries - those ideologies - even existed a hundred years ago? They exist nowhere but on paper and in our minds.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Almost everything we get worked up about these days - nationalities, religions, sports teams, financial markets - are nothing but figments of our collective imagination. If you think of it that way, it's much easier to let go of the</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.it/2017/01/on-dogma-belief-without-proof.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dogma</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the irrational belief that my side is right and your side is wrong - and I don't care which side of the argument you're on, nor do I care which argument we're talking about.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you think of it this way, furthermore, our sixth sense being our ability to spin yarns and create fictional scenarios in which we live - be they at the personal level, at the corporate level, or at the international level - then the idea of the sixth sense being ESP also starts to make sense. Extra Sensory Perception is nothing but us spinning yarns, making up stories about things, belief in an extra-sensory experience that simply does not exist. I claim every case of reported ESP is nothing but someone creating - or following - a fictional narrative. That doesn't mean they're lying. In their minds, they believe everything they are seeing. Our confirmation biases are too strong for that to not happen.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The lesson? Question your beliefs. Don’t follow them blindly. They are often nothing but fictions, stories that we have weaved for ourselves. As a species, we're damn good at doing that.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That democrats are assholes or that republicans are idiots, that moving a couple of kilometers across a border dramatically changes people’s belief systems and outlook on life, that Manchester United is better than Real Madrid because Ronaldo - these are all fictions in our heads. I don't even know if that last sentence made any sense because I don't follow soccer. I just know Ronaldo is the name of a character in that universe, that narrative - and the other two are “teams” that may or may not be rivals.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next time you get all worked up about something, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anything, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ask yourself: Could I explain this to a member of another species – </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">any </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">species. Ask any passing elephant or gorilla if they are citizens of Namibia or Botswana and you will see my point. Or try to give a ten dollar bill to a chimpanzee for his bananas. Good luck. We are the only species that believes these things. They are figments of our imagination - and, as such, malleable. If we only allow ourselves to be a bit more flexible on our “beliefs”.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what does it mean to get all bent out of shape over an imaginary line in the sand? Or a religion for that matter? </span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-399fbae2-c081-10dd-6b01-7a2e2394205d"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These are all fictions. We are all the same. Get over yourself.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-495517417431968332017-04-24T13:24:00.000-07:002017-11-12T07:43:08.692-08:00Screw Transcendental Meditation; Here's a Better Idea!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Well, today has been a sad ol’ lonesome day</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yeah, today has been a sad ol’ lonesome day</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m just sittin’ here thinking</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With my mind a million miles away”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Bob Dylan. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lonesome day blues.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Love and Theft.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-080482e4-b0e5-f3db-a32a-d098975d3088" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The conflicts, the craziness and the sound of pretenses</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Falling all around...all around</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why are you so petrified of silence?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here can you handle </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Silence]</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did you think about your bills, your ex, your deadlines?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or when you think you're gonna die?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or did you long for the next distraction?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Alanis Morissette. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All I Really Want. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jagged Little Pill.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Don't look for happiness. Happiness is like an orgasm. If you think about it too much, it goes away."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Tim Minchin.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have a confession to make. I just don't get transcendental meditation. I don't understand how you're supposed to put everything out of your mind and stop thinking altogether. I’ve tried and tried but my brain just refuses to shut down for even a minute to allow that to ever happen. I’m sure it’s as blissful as they claim but the reality is that such a nirvana is not accessible to the rank and file given our hectic daily lives and personal as well as professional entanglements. So, I’ve come to a convenient conclusion: Screw Transcendental Meditation! It's great if you are smart enough and strong enough mentally to pull off that trick but, for most of us, it just ain't gonna happen. My version of the exercise is much simpler, more natural, and, I find, more therapeutic. I call it “Consequential Meditation”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first step is to just put on your headphones and listen to some music. I don't mean listening to music while you read the news on your iPhone or flip through your social media feed. I don’t mean listening to music while driving. That’s just multitasking and</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/05/if-your-laptop-is-open-youre-not.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we all know about the evils of multitasking</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I mean actually putting down whatever you're doing and just listening to your favorite music for a while. For me, the location almost doesn't matter. I can be sitting at a bar with the big screen TVs blasting sports and news. I can be sitting uncomfortably in the middle seat at 30,000 feet. I can be at the local coffee shop with a cup of joe in front of me. I can be on the train going to work in the morning. The headphones are the game changer for me. The ability to tune out the outside world makes it possible to let my thoughts run free. Good luck trying transcendental meditation in any of those environments.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here's the second and even more critical distinction between my approach and transcendental meditation. I don't try to clear my mind. Instead, this is where I do my “debrief” of the day's events: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why did he say that in the meeting? What did she mean by that sentence in her email? What if we ask John to help with Project A instead of the lower priority Project B? What if we do an image based backup instead of a file based one? What if we change the code to avoid grabbing a multiprocessor lock? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t mean to imply that I sit there and methodically work through technical or personal problems. Instead, thoughts naturally pop into my head based on recent events and I just follow them to their logical conclusions.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be clear, most of my ideas are bad ones. I spend a few minutes on a given topic before realizing that my solution will never work, that he couldn't have possibly meant that with his remark in the meeting, etc. The point is that allowing this process to take place helps clear my mind of its clutter. It gives me a chance to test various hypotheses and discard them - be they about projects at work or business plans or personal relationships. In other words, my version of transcendental meditation boils down to slowing down long enough to give my brain a few minutes every day to work through its issues.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s awesome, Ben!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> What y</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ou’ve just described is called “thinking”… Don’t we do that all the time? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a matter of fact, no. We don’t. Most of us, myself included, are so harried and so hurried in our daily lives that we never give ourselves a chance to do so. Non-stop auditory and visual stimuli pretty much</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/06/put-down-phone-and-step-away.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">assault our senses on a non-stop basis</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Any wonder our poor brains are so tired trying to make sense of it all? If only we would give ourselves the opportunity to sit down for a few minutes a day and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">think!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Transcendental meditation be damned. I'd settle for just plain old meditation any day of the week.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How many of you get, say, one or two hours a day with no screen in front of you, not surrounded by a dozen people in a meeting room or a hundred people in an open seating arrangement at work? When is the last time you sat down for an hour and did nothing? Didn't reach for the smartphone, didn't check Facebook or Twitter, didn't check your email, didn't check your watch to see how much time had elapsed, didn't fidget and squirm? Rewind the clock fifty or sixty years and compare for yourself. If the difference is not obvious to you, then I propose you rewind the clock a hundred years - to a time when televisions, radios, and computers didn’t exist. Yes, they worked hard but they also spent long stretches of time alone or with family - and with no distractions. Time to think, time to reflect, time to introspect, and yes - even time to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">generate</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ideas... as opposed to constantly consuming them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the time that we used to spend daydreaming and thinking, I claim, has been replaced by time on the computer. The only problem with this new world is that we have turned on the hose and are drinking directly from it. We are constantly bombarding our brains with information, never giving it time to parse all that data or, heavens, maybe even come up with a few ideas of its own. Within a couple of generations, we have gone from a species that had lots of free time on its hands to daydream and think for hours on end to a species that is not only busy every waking moment but is busy doing multiple things, context switching between them every minute of the day, and gets bored the minute we take away the stimuli.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not mere nostalgia for a slower pace of life. I love the new world in which we have instant access to information. I just happen to think we’ve gone too far and become</span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/06/put-down-phone-and-step-away.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">digitally addicted</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. If you don’t think we have a major problem on our hands, just wait until Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality become commonplace. Not only have we lost all semblance of control over our own thought processes, we are also busy teaching the same bad habits to our children, many of whom, I'm sad to report, are fluent on their iPhones and iPads long before they even begin to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">speak</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Next time your kid's watching television, just come up behind them when they don't know you're there, and just turn it off without any warning. Just go--pfft. Watch what happens. They go-- [Screams] Do you think that's a good sign? You think it's a sign that it's healthy for them? That when it's taken away they go-- [Mutters] because you've created such a high bar of stimulus that nothing competes. A beautiful day is shit to a child now. A gorgeous, panoramic day with hawks catching fucking mice and flying away and bears with fucking fish in their teeth. And the kid's like, [screaming] ‘I want to watch the television! This is </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nothing</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">!’"</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Louis C.K. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hilarious</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What our children don’t know, what we seem to have forgotten, is that this bombardment of information every second of every day robs us of the ability to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">think</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Every minute spent staring at a screen is a minute spent </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thinking, or at best, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">being told what to think</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Update: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This just in from our</span><a href="https://twitter.com/VirtualDinesh/status/856606718955888640" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">intrepid reporter, Dinesh Nambisan, on Twitter</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">... According to a study published in Science, "</span><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/guys-prefer-electric-shocks-to-boredom/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Guys prefer electric shocks to boredom.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" That's it. We're doomed. We're biologically wired to want more stimuli. We'll never learn to sit down and think again. We're doomed. Oh well, so much for that theory. I guess it's back to square one. See what I mean about following my thoughts to their "logical" conclusion?</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-17579561338986186292017-02-06T08:00:00.005-08:002020-12-05T08:06:20.965-08:00Through the (Rose Colored) Looking Glass: Adventures in Trumplandia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"An episode at Congress Hall in January 1798 symbolized the acrimonious mood. Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont, a die-hard Republican, began to mock the aristocratic sympathies of Roger Griswold, a Federalist from Connecticut. When Griswold then taunted Lyon for alleged cowardice during the Revolution, Lyon spat right in his face. Griswold got a hickory cane and proceeded to thrash Lyon, who retaliated by taking up fire tongs and attacking Griswold. The two members of Congress ended up fighting on the floor like common ruffians."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Ron Chernow. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alexander Hamilton</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">“And it's true we are immune</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When fact is fiction and TV reality</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> And today the millions cry</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We eat and drink while tomorrow they die”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">U2. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sunday Bloody Sunday. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">War.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Az maast ke bar maast.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> [That which befalls us is caused by us.]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Persian proverb.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who could have predicted that giving the White House to a game-show host with a disastrous business history and a glaring personality disorder would turn out so badly?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Andy Borowitz in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The New Yorker.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I admit to having </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-autobiography-of-ben-bob-chapter-12.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mostly ignored politics</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the past forty years or so as I buried myself in work. I’m sure many others out there have a similar story. I had just escaped a dictatorship turned theocracy and felt elated to be living in a democracy. Little did I know how fragile that democracy was. Little did I know that I would end up living in a kakistocracy (government by the worst) tumbling towards fascism, dreading the headlines every time I scan the news.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Little did I know that every morning I’d wake up feeling like I’d fallen through the looking glass just like Alice and landed in Trumplandia, a world where nothing makes sense, where we can't even seem to agree on what is fact and what is fiction, what is decent and what is not, what is right and what is wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The problem with America is not that we don't know how to run a country, it's that most of us just took our eye off the ball. We’ve been too busy working, raising children, making ends meet, running on our little hamster wheels to pay attention to politics. Well, guess what.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Az maast ke bar maast.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Or, as Jimmy Buffett would say, “It’s our own damn fault.” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">created this mess. I present, as evidence, what has to be the saddest chart of the 2016 elections:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="277" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WEi5jXiHzO9K7ha_2oC7YxFE9y8T8G_srPmZN3Wpd1I_b7FUAGIfwq3c5uSgLCGMJ7wCH4AagGU78N7dbY9AhX83XUK7DRH6wXUKeSi_4jZxmK_RYXztsK1ra-P0eshxaQyv7yjR" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="348" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are all angry about the three million votes that were “stolen” through gerrymandering, we complain about the electoral process failing us, we worry about voter fraud. Guess what. There are </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/how-many-registered-voters-are-in-america-2016-229993" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">over 200 million registered voters in the US</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but 90 million of us didn’t even bother to vote! </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">created Trump by ignoring our civic duties. We have noone to blame but ourselves. It’s our own damn fault.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I may be allowed to don my rose colored glasses on for a minute, I’d argue that if there is one good thing that came out of this election, it is that many millions of people are now, finally, engaged. They realize how fragile our democracy is and why it’s important for all of us to engage on a regular basis going forward in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in this election. But voting is not enough. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only way we can fix America is if we engage - not just once every four years, but every day.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here's another piece of good news. Over the past few weeks, I've caught myself several dozen times questioning the authenticity of a “news” story I was reading online. I keep reminding myself that journalists are people, just like the rest of us, each with his or her own set of beliefs, prejudices, and hidden agendas. I find myself analyzing every sentence, asking whether what I’m reading is the author’s opinion or fact, whether enough evidence was presented to back the story. I often find myself googling the topic to find other sources to verify the veracity of the story. I hope and know others are doing the same. That's the only way to combat the “alternative facts” problem.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those were the good news. Here's the bad news. Our country is so broken that we are at the edge of anarchy. We’re supposed to be busy leading the world and we can’t even agree on what the rules are. We're supposed to be solving world hunger and we can't even tie our shoelaces as a country. What Mr. Trump is doing (treating the presidency as if he is still a reality TV host) is beyond the pale and inexcusable. Here’s a man who has the time to </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/us/politics/trump-white-house-aides-strategy.html?_r=0" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">obsess over his office decor</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but doesn’t bother to read the Executive Orders he signs, the same orders that impact the lives of millions of people. Here’s a man who throws tantrums on Twitter and still childishly brags about his Apprentice ratings, despite having been handed the biggest prize (and the biggest responsibility) on earth.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But let’s face it. Trump is not the problem. He is just a symptom of the disease. Our country, our democracy, was broken long before he came along. The real problem is that our elected representatives stopped representing us long ago - the minute they started being influenced by lobbyists. The only thing Trump has done is open our eyes to the ridiculous extremes that can lead to. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do have to thank Mr. Trump for one thing. He has shown us what is possible in the political arena. Here we were sweating bullets over minor anomalies in our representatives’ backgrounds, trying to pick apart nuances of their strategies, all the while assuming that moral fiber and common sense were requirements for holding public office. Well, we know better now. Our government is broken. And the sooner we </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">get involved in fixing it, the better. It is, after all, supposed to be government of the people </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the people.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">#resist</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">#iamanimmigrant</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-60780311576309312252017-01-06T11:22:00.001-08:002017-01-06T11:22:34.885-08:00Flying Petri Dishes and Other Perils of Holiday Travel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If travel is searching</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> And home has been found</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I'm not stopping.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bjork. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hunter</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Nurse Edna: Children, no fighting. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Share </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the snowballs.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jane Alexander. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cider House Rules</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-05d3d961-753a-cda9-0553-7dc049ecbea1" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frank Costanza: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cosmo Kramer: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What happened to the doll? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frank Costanza:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born … a Festivus for the rest of us!"</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jerry Stiller and Michael Richards. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seinfeld</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s that time of year again, when people travel home for the holidays to spend quality time with their extended families. My wife and I visited our in-laws in New York for the week of Christmas and New Year’s. It was cold and rainy most of the time, hovering around freezing temperatures at night and in the low forties during the day. The locals kept informing us how wonderful the weather was compared to last year but, frankly, it was still too cold for my old bones and reminded me why we moved to sunny California. Two dozen years in Boston and Seattle were my penance, I guess. If I don't see another cold day or another snowflake for the rest of my life, that will be fine by me.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We enjoyed our time there, going to Broadway shows, eating excellent food in fancy restaurants, walking down Fifth Avenue with the crowds, and spending quality time with relatives. A great time was had by all. Being a curmudgeon, though, means I have to dwell on the miserable experiences intertwined with the fun.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most agonizing two days of the trip, of course, were the ones when we had to travel by air. Each flight, there and back, was delayed by about three hours due to bad weather, turning a supposed six hour cross country trip into a day long nightmare. Even worse, I came to realize that the very vessel that took us to New York was really nothing but a flying petri dish full of germs this time of year. It’s well known that </span><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-we-get-the-flu-mos/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">more people catch a cold in the winter months</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the same time of year that we choose to travel to visit family. The recycled air in an airplane basically guarantees that a single person with a cold passes it to as many as two or three hundred other people - all trapped together against their will for hours on end. Those people then go on to pass it to their friends and family in not just one but </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">two </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cities in quick succession.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it should be no surprise that we carried a plethora of germs with us to New York. Our niece was so excited to see us that she woke up at 11:00 PM, when we finally arrived, to give us hugs and kisses. A lovely gesture that, in hindsight, may not have been a good idea. By the end of the trip, four out of five of us had fallen sick with flu symptoms. My daughter called from Seattle to report that both she and her husband were also sick with the flu after returning from a trip to Minnesota to spend the holidays with his family. Both of them missed work days as a result.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think I'm starting to see a pattern here. Cold weather, millions of travelers on planes and jammed together indoors, flu season, contagious disease theory, … remind me again why we think it's a good idea to visit relatives for the holidays when they live in a cold climate reachable only by GermMobiles we call airplanes? Not only that, the cold weather at the destination means we spend most of our time cooped up in closed spaces, giving us plenty of opportunities to make each other sick. Wouldn't it make more sense to spend the winter holidays with your immediate family, avoiding the miserable experience we call modern air travel, and then get together with the extended family some time in the summer when weather conditions are better? Seems like a win-win to me.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/05/frank-costanza-many-christmases-ago-i.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">proposed the same thing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in another blog last year:</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed our time with our new in-laws, but the experience left me wondering: Why do we always have to enjoy time with family in terrible weather? Why not opt for “virtual holidays” in the middle of summer instead? We have virtualized everything else in our world. Why not the holidays? Why not have a virtual Christmas in July and be done with it? We can all enjoy spending time with friends and family - and we don't have to freeze our asses to do so.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So here’s my idea… Introducing Virtual Christmas – it’s just like Christmas, only warmer. It's the festivus for the rest of us!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s face it – the Europeans have a much better vacationing system than we do, everyone pretty much taking off for the month of August. We could have a similar month long summer vacation, perhaps starting with the Fourth of July festivities. I claim this results in better productivity in the office by having everyone engaged at the same time (how often do you have to postpone decisions because some random person is on vacation?), but also improves extended family bonds over time by promoting longer family-oriented vacations. Of course, this goes against our 24x7 lifestyles - some services may not be available for the month of July as businesses close for the holidays.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was half joking at the time but I still think this is a good idea: just think about the billions of dollars we would save in cold medications and missed work days. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The alternative, of course, would be to get the airlines to offer face masks and hand sanitizers at the gate instead of, or in addition to, headphones. But I suspect that's too obvious and/or would require congressional oversight.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-13252338688731249792016-11-21T15:58:00.000-08:002016-11-21T16:15:42.390-08:00Frozen Popsicle Man Takes to the Road: A Curmudgeonly Travel Narrative<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Wednesday, November 28, 1520, we debouched from the strait, engulfing ourselves in the Pacific Sea. We were three months and twenty days without getting any kind of fresh food. We ate biscuit, which was no longer biscuit, but powder of biscuits swarming with worms, for they had eaten the good. It stank strongly of the urine of rats. We drank yellow water that has been putrid for many days. We also ate some ox hides that covered the top of the mainyard to prevent the yard from chafing the shrouds, and which had become exceedingly hard because of the sun, rain, and wind. We left them in the sea for four or five days, and then placed them for a few moments on top of the embers, and so ate them; and often we ate sawdust from boards. Rats were sold for one-half ducado apiece, and even then we could not get them. The gums of both the lower and the upper teeth of some of our men swelled, so they could not eat under any circumstances therefore died. Nineteen men died from that sickness.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Antonio Pigafetta. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First Voyage Around the World (1519-1522): An Account of Magellan's Expedition</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Jake: Hit it.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blues Brothers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Lester Siegel: You don’t have a better bad idea than this?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Tony Mendez: This is the best bad idea we have, sir. So far.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Argo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few days ago, on a whim, I decided to take a brief vacation. You see, the retired life is so hard that I need a break from it. Seriously, though, here’s what actually happened.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the past few days, I went on a few too many chilly rainy rides up the mountain. You don't have an appreciation for what that means if you haven't “enjoyed” going downhill for twenty minutes non-stop at speeds of up to forty miles an hour while getting pelted in the face with thousands of cold liquid missiles coming at you diagonally. As you hurtle towards your death down the slippery road, you also get to “enjoy” feeling that your toes are frozen solid, that your nose is dripping, and that you haven't actually felt your fingers for the past hour. The fact that you just spent an hour climbing the mountain and are sweating profusely just means you are even more wet, cold, and miserable. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point, you are basically a frozen Popsicle. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, none of your extremities come even close to your rear end when it comes to pain. Try sitting on a road bike for three to four hours a day and you'll know what I mean. If that's not masochistic enough for you, try having a flat tire in the middle of the aforementioned rain storm while riding in some Godforsaken nowhere woods. As you stand there soaking wet and try to fix the flat with numb fingers, you have plenty of time to daydream about sunnier days. Ah, how I love biking! It's good for you, I keep telling myself.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyway, I looked at my iPhone Weather app and saw that the Bay Area was up for at least another week of cold and rainy weather. Being the resourceful guy that I am, I jumped on Expedia after checking the weather reports for half a dozen places “close enough” to the Bay Area for a quick two or three day trip. I settled for Palm Springs. Warm and sunny with temperatures in the high seventies, close to Joshua Tree National Park and the Salton Sea. I can go for quick day hikes and maybe even <a href="http://benfa.smugmug.com/">drag my camera</a> along for some desert photography. Quick one hour flight to LAX, hop in a car for a couple of hours and we’re there. Brilliant. I even patted myself on the back for the quick thinking before asking my wife if she wanted to join me. She declined. She is a wise woman, as will soon become obvious. I also pinged a few friends to see if they wanted to join me. But, they were all either working or had other obligations. Never mind. I'll go it alone. How bad can it be? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixbfDy2mxAQtHG6-WoAiIFjqcYj1k0YsQYE7lMEiDelDtJ78Fv8sepFlq4V-s6umDk6dVAy8AIGVdOdEdC_mxNClSF7JOpYWn5nxycvv1LOWKL6cepvQFRNOdzbo9rpzN3mkwt9fQomw/s1600/IMG_7730.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixbfDy2mxAQtHG6-WoAiIFjqcYj1k0YsQYE7lMEiDelDtJ78Fv8sepFlq4V-s6umDk6dVAy8AIGVdOdEdC_mxNClSF7JOpYWn5nxycvv1LOWKL6cepvQFRNOdzbo9rpzN3mkwt9fQomw/s400/IMG_7730.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point in the story, I should mention that I absolutely refuse to sit in real restaurants and wait for food when I'm traveling alone. I just feel so self conscious sitting there alone for anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. It just feels too weird. So, when I travel alone, by and large, I eat on the run. Anything to get the excruciating ordeal out of the way as quickly as possible. Fast food, burritos, fish and chips at a pub, slice of pizza at the airport, anything that does not require sitting down alone at a table in a restaurant. For some reason, sitting at a bar is permissible but an actual table is not. I don’t understand the logic either. Needless to say, this aversion (it’s involuntary, I can't help it) also makes many magical destinations much less enjoyable when I'm forced to travel solo.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I booked nice midday flights so I would get a chance to bike in the morning before jumping on the plane. I find that helps with the guilt of knowing that I wouldn't get nearly as much exercise for the next few days. No, thank you. I'm not taking my bike to Palm Springs. It's not worth the hassle. It's just a quick one hour flight.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, I got up at the usual time, did a quick hour or so of biking and took a shower, ready to go to the airport. That oughta make up for all the junk food I’ll be eating. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I received a text message from the airline that the flight had been cancelled due to “weather problems in San Francisco”. Hmmm… the weather out the window actually looked pretty good. Just a little rain and wind. Nothing special. I even went on a quick rant about Californians who didn't know how to run an airport. “If this kind of weather results in flight cancellations, then they’d have to shut down the entire airport for six months out of the year in Canada and Denmark.” Later, I came to find from other passengers that the plane had had engine problems, too. The airline just chose to blame weather publicly. Not our fault, bad weather.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyway, at least I got the notification in time and didn't spend several hours along with thousands of other travelers walking around the airport like zombies. Instead, I jumped online and booked myself on the next available flight out, still arriving in LA before 4:00 PM. Once again I patted myself on the back and congratulated myself for saving the day. Well, the next few hours were spent reading a succession of text messages informing me that this new flight, alas, was being delayed - in half hour increments. To make a long story short, the plane finally took off at 5:00 PM and deposited us in LA before six. Just in time for rush hour traffic. Joy!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s amazing how many multi-car pileups Angelinos get into on a regular evening commute. By the time I got to the hotel in Palm Springs, it was 9:00 PM. An entire day wasted getting from the Bay Area to Palm Springs. I could have driven there faster. Three hours, my ass! We have made air travel, and travel in general, so inefficient and painful that it almost makes me give up on travel altogether. I'm sure I'll have a similar day long ordeal going back home. A “quick” trip shouldn't require two full days of travel. I used to actually enjoy travel but am finding it increasingly difficult to justify it given all the hassles involved. In hindsight, I should have booked the flight directly to Palm Springs but that severely limits the number of available flights and is not much better. Okay, maybe it’s not as bad as the days of Magellan and urine soaked biscuits but we seem to have massively regressed in the past few years when it comes to travel. As an aside, did you notice that that entry was dated 1520 and that the trip didn’t end until </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">two years later</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? Yikes!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, lying in bed, I was too agitated to sleep. New bed, noisy air conditioner, combined with stress from the sheer stupidity and waste of the previous twelve or so hours. So I lay there thinking about the next month. In my infinite wisdom, I somehow committed to five more similar “quick” trips coming up between now and Christmas. Two for business, three for family. Great job, Ben. Right in the middle of the holiday season and the worst time of year to travel. By the time I fell asleep, feeling sorry for myself, it was 2:00 AM. And, of course, I was up bright and early at 5:00 AM like every day at home. I’d forgotten to shut off my biological alarm. Oh great. Now that's what I call a vacation.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I rolled around the bed for a couple of hours before getting up to go to Joshua Tree National Park for a hike and some photography. I have to admit I wasn't up for it. I hiked a couple of the trails and took a few pictures. It was a beautiful place and I enjoyed it but, it seems, in my rush to book the trip, I hadn't bothered to think about the fact that flowers bloom in the spring, November is not the best time of year to go there for photography.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkTqTXhpB3lc3WhyrEy253Ocs3SFtk3stk9t66QkUGmrADubaybpdqH3z5zHztiFCgOLEVt_mWyqDfvSexC3W4neEMEoN5q9n2g38dPMAzupuqUiCJg6CqUgNZ926pQoILzP5jWWj714/s1600/IMG_7754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkTqTXhpB3lc3WhyrEy253Ocs3SFtk3stk9t66QkUGmrADubaybpdqH3z5zHztiFCgOLEVt_mWyqDfvSexC3W4neEMEoN5q9n2g38dPMAzupuqUiCJg6CqUgNZ926pQoILzP5jWWj714/s400/IMG_7754.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By 3:00 PM, I was back at the hotel, in a new much quieter room overlooking the golf course and a man made lagoon. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting at the poolside bar enjoying a beer and the sunshine and writing this text. Let's face it. This is why I came here. To get out of the rain and cold and to get a few more days of sunshine and warm weather and relatively clean mountain air before settling in for the cold winter. The hiking and photography were just excuses to fool myself into thinking I wasn't slacking.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did I mention that three of those trips next month are to Seattle, Toronto, and New York? Brrrr. The older I get, the more I need sunshine and warm weather. My old bones and joints prefer it to freezing rain and forty mile an hour winds. I've paid my dues for years in cold and inhospitable climes. To those of you still living in those kinds of places, I have to ask: “Why?!?” I guess I'm getting old. I'm actually starting to understand people who move to Arizona and Florida. Now, there's a scary thought.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was determined to get a good night of sleep so I went to bed early the second day and managed to fall asleep by midnight, only to be awakened at 3:30 AM by the shrill sound of the fire alarm in my room. Why is it that fire alarm batteries only die in the middle of the night? Somehow, that doesn't seem right, statistically speaking. It took quite a while for someone to come and replace the batteries. By then, my ears were ringing so hard that any thought of sleep had to be abandoned. Just call me “Sleepless in Palm Springs”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Salton Sea? I enjoyed the solitude but there isn't a whole lot to see other than water and dead fish. I was told I could drive another hour to a wildlife refuge if I wanted to see birds but I was too tired from lack of sleep to do another two hours of driving. I have no reason to believe the return trip tomorrow will be any less painful than the one coming out here. The sunshine has been great but let’s just say I'm ready to go back to being Frozen Popsicle Man on my bicycle until the next adventure.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzIVgAZrgc7KIszIJAqQ2ySvlK7VI146_dfLudS9Osk7kNRsQXA9a8ZCcMWxnOT2Uh2DFmMW5GGGtE-tJSGU34A-AWMLMR4J-lFDduY96GPJ2hiMIRX__KoB8QKquYmw4pS-bzlbVtqew/s1600/IMG_7772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzIVgAZrgc7KIszIJAqQ2ySvlK7VI146_dfLudS9Osk7kNRsQXA9a8ZCcMWxnOT2Uh2DFmMW5GGGtE-tJSGU34A-AWMLMR4J-lFDduY96GPJ2hiMIRX__KoB8QKquYmw4pS-bzlbVtqew/s400/IMG_7772.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-38236661906755070252016-11-18T19:09:00.000-08:002016-11-18T20:25:56.034-08:00Please Change My Password When I Go on Vacation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The regulations read, ‘The supervisor and compositor shall be flogged thirty times for an error per chapter; the printer shall be flogged thirty times for bad impression, either too dark or too light, of one character per chapter.’ This helps explain both the reputation for accuracy earned by the earliest Korean imprints and the difficulty that Koreans found in recruiting printers.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daniel J. Boorstin. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Discoverers: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I live the life I love</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> And I just love the life I live.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Muddy Waters. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I Love The Life I Live, I Live The Life I Love</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Once [Sir Isaac Newton] inserted a bodkin—a long needle of the sort used for sewing leather—into his eye socket and rubbed it around 'betwixt my eye and the bone, near to the backside of my eye as I could', just to see what would happen.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bill Bryson. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Short History of Nearly Everything</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've now been <a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/10/early-retirement-first-day-of-rest-of.html">officially “semi-retired”</a> for six weeks. In my case, that means I no longer have a day job. I am trying to avoid brain rot by staying engaged with the industry: advising a few startups and sitting on the Board of Directors of one. But I've otherwise given up the day to day office hours, the daily commute, and more importantly, the responsibilities of a full-time job. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Six weeks in, I have to tell you I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. I feel more refreshed and relaxed, I spend 3-4 hours a day biking, have dropped fifteen pounds in weight, my chronic back pain is under control, I'm in a better mood all the time, I sleep a full eight hours a night, I spend more time with family and friends, I am more patient and reasonable with people, I am just basically a happier human being. Highly recommended.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don't mean to gloat. I know that would be mean since most people out there reading this still need to hold a day job and collect a paycheck. My main point is that, after thirty five years of working like a madman, I feel I'm just now realizing what life is supposed to be like. And it feels glorious.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I realize now that I have obsessed over work to the exclusion of all else for the past thirty five years. Okay, I knew this all along but I never stopped to think what it really meant. It has left scars not only on my life but also on the lives of those around me. It is only now that I recognize the obsession with work, the twenty hour days, the lack of sleep and relaxation, all of it - was taking a huge physical and psychological toll on me. I loved working and work seemed to love me back. So all else be damned. It's a virtuous cycle (or a vicious one, depending on your point of view). The more you work, the more successful you are. The more successful you are, the harder you have to work.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what's my point? Barring the ability for most common folk to quit their jobs and start exercising like madmen, what am I proposing?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take vacations. No. I mean really take vacations. Insist on taking real vacations. Ones where you unplug. Ones where you cannot connect with work except for emergencies. Ideally for four weeks or more per year. It should be a law enforced by congress that we should lose all access to our work related email and chat accounts when we go on vacation. I wish employers would just change the employee’s password for the duration of their vacation. If they need you, they will call. We have your number. Don't call us, we’ll call you. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I say this as I remember the last vacation I had with my family while still working. Last year, my daughter and son-in-law gave us (my wife and I) the gift of a vacation in Mexico. They spent five days with us in Puerto Vallarta. It was a lovely trip and we all had a great time but it was two days into the trip that I realized something. I had spent more time on my laptop and on the phone, working, than I had with my family. Every five minutes I had to check my email. Check a dozen Hipchat channels to see if there are any disasters in progress at work. Dial in a couple of meetings every day. Check Twitter to see if there are any major DDoS attacks in progress or any customer issues that need immediate attention. You get the idea.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, the bigger problem is that even when we are not looking at the screen, our brains are working on the most recent set of problems we just heard about in an email chain or on a call. And we call this a vacation? No wonder we return to work more exhausted than when we left.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Business trips are even worse. On my most recent business trip to London last year, I found myself awake every night until 6 AM conversing with folks back in California, falling asleep at 7 AM for a couple of hours, before jumping up to go in for the day with the London office. Of course, you are also likely to catch a nasty bug on the flight out. Or, more likely, on the flight back when your immune system is weak from jet lag and sleepless nights. The flights used to be the only time when you could unplug. No more. I've spent entire fourteen hour flights arguing with colleagues - in real time. Thanks to In-flight wifi.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, I realize that I'm describing my own personal problems. My obsession with work. But I suspect it resonates with a few of you out there. What I realize now is that my brain was on overdrive. Non-stop. Twenty Four Seven. And that can take a toll on you over time. Physically, mentally, and socially. The least we can do is shut it down - I mean really shut it down - once in a while. Hence the proposal for the vacation thingy.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-76928208337328843692016-11-14T19:11:00.000-08:002016-11-15T08:23:31.852-08:00Whiplash: What Half of America Feels Right Now!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "I don't much care where –"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”’</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lewis Carroll. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: italic; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alice in Wonderland</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We are all faced throughout our lives with agonizing decisions. Moral choices. Some are on a grand scale. Most of these choices are on lesser points. But! We define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are in fact the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly, human happiness does not seem to have been included in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love, that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying, and even to find joy from simple things like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Woody Allen. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: italic; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crimes and Misdemeanors.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I say you know it's funny I think we were on the same boat back in 1694.”</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indigo Girls. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shame on You</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Shaming of the Sun.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been vocal on political topics in my blog in the past so I hope you will forgive me for the addition of these thoughts on the current situation.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I recently called for a rewriting of the </span><a href="http://v/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">US Constitution, call it version 2.0</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, updated for the modern times we inhabit, free of rules designed for Eighteenth century Agrarian America. Maybe version 1.1 would be more appropriate terminology.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've also </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/12/an-open-letter-to-mr.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">complained bitterly</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (to Mr. Obama, no less) when I thought the US was enacting xenophobic laws under his watch: </span><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/158" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HR-158</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the so-called “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202a43; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015”, a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">law that allows profiling of our own citizens when crossing the border - based on national origin - if you are from a Middle Eastern country. Never mind that each of the countries in the Middle East is a mishmash of Moslems, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Atheists, Baha'is, and the adherents of a dozen other belief systems. Never mind that the region encompasses everything from Turks to Arabs to Persians to Armenians to a dozen other ethnicities. We now have a law on our books that legally permits profiling them as they enter the country, coming back from an international trip. Never mind that they have lived in this country for their entire adult lives (or perhaps even born here). Never mind that they are, by and large, hard working tax paying law abiding citizens. How do we end up with such laws on our books?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Replace </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Middle East </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Italy </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ireland </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Japan </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">China </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> India </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or any one of a dozen other world regions over the past two hundred years and you are guaranteed to find similar experiences by each of those ethnicities. If they weren't profiled at the border, they were rounded up into internment camps, they were used as indentured labor to build the country's infrastructure (first the one in the physical world and now the one in the virtual world), they were shunned and ostracized as outsiders. But every one of those ethnicities is now broadly accepted in America and has found a way to not just integrate with, but also to change, the culture of America for the better.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Middle Easterners and Mexicans being vilified and discriminated against today are a resilient bunch. They are already merging with the rest of American society at a faster pace than previous ethnicities. The Japanese had it worse. The Irish had it worse. The Chinese had it worse. The African Americans had it worse. The list goes on. No one said it would be easy. But it’s the only way forward.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But, meanwhile, what has this extreme shift to the right done with American politics? Is it any wonder that the republicans were emboldened by how far they could push partisan politics after passing this bill? Is it any wonder that the same congress bold enough to pass xenophobic laws would have no trouble holding up the nomination of a Supreme Court justice for an entire year? We can complain about Donald Trump all we want, but the problem is bigger than Trump.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, to all those of you out there that are feeling dazed and confused right now, walking around asking yourselves “What just happened?”, “How did I misunderstand America so much?”, I have only this to offer. I know it feels like half the country just experienced the biggest whiplash of their lives. I know it feels like you were rushing headlong to meet the future only to be brought to a screeching halt by the other half of the country. I know it feels like you were sucker punched. I know you feel like you are following Alice down the rabbit hole. I know you are afraid of a dozen catastrophic scenarios. I am, too, but I think we will be alright.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many times in the past, we have swung to extremes of left and right. I admit this one is more bizarre than any of the ones in the past but I blame the media and the internet for that. Most of our presidents, including the founding fathers, had sordid personal lives. Yet they managed, by and large, to move us forward as a country. We just didn't have the Internet and Wikileaks and Facebook and Twitter yet so we didn’t get as clear a view of their personal lives and thoughts as we do now. I bet the next election will be even more contentious. And every election after that, too.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Please don't read my comments above as any kind of an endorsement for Donald Trump. I abhor everything the man stands for. And I bet most other Americans do, too. But, by concentrating on Trump, we are missing the point. We are personifying our complaints about “the other side” and ignoring the issues behind the vote, the whiplash to our progressive ideals expressed by half of America. Even more importantly, we whitewash the fact that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">allowed this to happen. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">created this. We, the people. These are our representatives in congress. We elected them. Even after all the petulant behavior, we just voted most of them back into office again!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Much will be written about massive external influences on this election cycle (Russia, FBI, lobbyists, dark money, social media, fake news, etc). But, once again, we are missing the point. We are blaming others for what we, as a people, have created. And we are the only ones who can fix it.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This may all seem like too much doom and gloom but, to be honest, I'm actually optimistic about the future of America. We are moving in the right direction - in the long run. We have become a more inclusive country, we are more prosperous, crime is down, the</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">better angels of our nature</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are winning the war. The government of the people, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by the people</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, will eventually do the right thing. Over the long term. But, for that to happen, we the people have to engage. We have to get out of our cocoons and participate in the process. Not just the process of electing the president once every four years, but also the process of governing our country on a day to day basis.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This picture is by far the most optimistic one I have seen in this election cycle:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="a.jpg" height="344" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FKLGikAT3760bsPWf6CXbDRWe3FvcTe9u69ShTE-tsuJB5bvhnaU7FeqvwmI7NEw0F9TnjNKDn5vUiSD42KBn02OlXLZq6BGymZ3ZReuh9DuIcOgdwhFRiTryAgsnvhkEaJOKsG" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="372" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just remember that. We will take this country, kicking and screaming, into the future. The next four years will hopefully only be a bump on the road to progress.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are not happy with what is going on, then please engage. Here are few concrete things you can do:</span></div>
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<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sign </span><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/sign-the-petition-abolish-the-electoral-college?link_id=5&can_id=3c72b66196bc102edfd1de78b1c393d2&source=email-sign-the-petition-end-the-electoral-college-elect-presidents-by-national-popular-vote&email_referrer=sign-the-petition-end-the-electoral-college-elect-presidents-by-national-popular-vote&email_subject=sign-the-petition-end-the-electoral-college-elect-presidents-by-national-popular-vote" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this petition</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to support the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">National Popular Vote Interstate Compact</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. As far as I can tell, it is the simplest, most obvious, way to get rid of the electoral system. And it doesn't even require approval from the federal government. I'm tired of arguing about why we should continue to use a system that was designed over two hundred years ago to favor slave holding states. I don't care that it helps better representation for smaller states. That logic makes perfect sense for enforcing adequate representation in congress - not for picking the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">President</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">! Either we are all equal in the voting process or we are not. We can't claim one but practice the other. It may have been convenient historically but is no longer warranted in this day and age.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Understand how </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gerrymandering</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">works and </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-up-to-voters-to-end-gerrymandering/2016/01/15/213b0e9a-ba45-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">work to outlaw the practice</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Get involved for the next round of elections for congress. The clock is already ticking.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, a personal note. I have lived in this country and prospered for almost forty years. I have been a citizen for over thirty of those years. I admit to having largely ignored politics during most of that time. I was too busy working, raising a family, and whatever else it is that normal people do. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Mea culpa</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I voted this time. For the first time in my life. It mattered this time.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I voted for Hillary. But my vote didn't matter. I live in overwhelmingly blue California. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simultaneously, and perhaps fortuitously, I've also been reading several books on US history, about the creation of the republic, and about the founding fathers. Believe me. They were no saints, either. But they rose above their petty personal differences because they believed in an ideal. The ideal that the government of the people, by the people, is the only just form of government. In the long run, I believe, they have proven themselves correct. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have already lived through a monarchy turned dictatorship, I’ve lived through <a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-autobiography-of-ben-bob-chapter-12.html">anarchy (before fleeing a theocracy)</a>, and I’ve lived in a democracy. I bet you won't have much trouble figuring out which one I prefer, in the long run.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, maybe Bernie would have won. Maybe he could have won. But that's beside the point. We, the people, didn't vote for him. Besides, the result would be exactly the same as what we have today. Just reverse the two halves of the population and their reactions. And he would have been totally blocked by a republican congress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, instead of complaining, let's engage in the political discussion. I know the most obvious reaction is to clam up and say “not my president”, “not my congress”, “not my government”; but, right now that is the worst thing we could possibly do. Yes, it will take time away from other precious objectives but I think it is required of us. If we are serious about this government by the people thing, anyway.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-22470265747785005992016-11-09T13:26:00.002-08:002016-11-09T13:26:49.860-08:00An Ode to Mr. Zimmerman: In Defense of Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crane: [Jokingly referring to Bob Dylan in the third person] He's quite the put on artist, isn't he?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Dylan: Nah, God.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Crane: [Teasing] You're </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">terrible</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Dylan: Nah. I don't want to be categorized.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Les Crane Show. February 17, 1965.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It’s either fortune or fame</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> You must pick one or the other</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Though neither of them are to be what they claim”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob Dylan. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just Like To Thumb’s Blues</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Highway 61 Revisited.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Crimson flames tied through my ears</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Rollin’ high and mighty traps</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Pounced with fire on flaming roads</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Using ideas as my maps</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Proud ’neath heated brow</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Ah, but I was so much older then</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I’m younger than that now”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob Dylan. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Back Pages</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Another Side of Bob Dylan.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As friends and family will vouch, I am a maniacal Bob Dylan fan, my obsession with him only intensifying over the years. It's not enough for me to have every one of his albums (over two hundred at last count, every concert and bootleg included), but I also obsess when it comes to listening to him. I end up listening to his albums in alphabetical order, chronological order, and based on every other criteria imaginable - but always from beginning to end, never piecemeal. I start with the very first album (say, chronologically) and don't stop until I get to the end: all two hundred albums - one after another. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I will listen to and enjoy other artists on a regular basis but I always come back to Bob sooner or later. “Let’s see now… we haven’t listened to him in reverse chronological order yet, have we?” And we're off to another journey with Bob. I've done this half a dozen different ways and I encounter new songs, new words, and new ideas every time. I hear new pearls of wisdom masquerading as poetry masquerading as music every time.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As you can imagine, this process can take several months since you can’t really absorb more than one or two Dylan albums on any given day. When I'm finished, I go off and live in the normal auditory universe that the rest of humanity inhabits but sooner or later, I come back to Dylan.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The trick to Bob Dylan is to start with the oldest recordings and the bootlegs. Everything he recorded from 1961 (when he was only nineteen) until his motorcycle accident in 1966 - every track, every album, every concert - was world class, flawlessly executed, and sublime. Many of his newer albums have become classics as well and I don't mean to take away from any of those accomplishments but what Dylan accomplished in the first half of the 1960's is nothing short of heroic - in scope and in execution. Rolling Stone magazine has listed an amazing eleven studio albums by Dylan, more than any other artist, in its list of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone%27s_500_Greatest_Albums_of_All_Time" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top 500 Albums of All Time</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, including two in the top ten. But it's only when you listen to his official bootleg series (dozens of albums released recently with the artist’s supervision and help) that you begin to realize his genius. Every song, every performance is amazing. You will find yourself stopping cold every once in awhile and gasping: “These are his </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">discarded </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">works?!? These are the ones he thought weren't good enough for his studio albums?!?” Suffice it to say that his castaways would be the envy of any recording artist today.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My personal struggles with OCD notwithstanding, I do wonder if anyone will ever understand Bob Dylan without obsessing over him. The problem with Dylan, you see, is his encyclopedic breadth and prolific output. He defies categorization as an artist, having innovated in fields ranging from prose to painting and more. But his biggest accomplishment, in my opinion, is the mesmerizing and profound lyrics in his songs. Most people listen to his scratchy voice and give up in frustration after a few tries. They can't figure out what the often surreal lyrics mean or how to interpret them. This is unfortunate because if you just manage to break through and hear the message, there is much to love and learn. He has written over seven hundred original songs at last count and almost none of them are your typical pop song. They cover every topic from civil rights to religion and so much more. Many of these songs are, in fact, world class </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">poems</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">; the music is often there only as an accompaniment. If you would only stop and recognize that you are listening to poetry, as opposed to popular music, you would appreciate Dylan a lot more. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've seen articles and blogs denouncing the award because Mr. Dylan is principally known as a musician and not an author. Here’s how I think about it. What if the committee gives the award to a graphic novelist next year? Would you have similar complaints about a “painter” getting the award simply because that is the medium chosen by the artist? How are pictures any different than music in this regard? Perhaps the quibble is over written vs. verbal delivery of the content. Well, feel free to go buy Mr. Dylan’s lyrics/poems in print and enjoy them without the accompanying music.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At a time when American culture and politics are being misunderstood, ridiculed, and vilified around the world, I, for one, welcome the Nobel Committee’s willingness to “think outside the box” and recognize positive American culture and, more specifically, Mr. Dylan as its representative around the world, with an award that he well deserves.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, until there is a separate Nobel Prize for Poetry, I can think of no other artist, dead or alive, who has touched the lives of more people around the world over the past half century nor can I think of another artist who deserves the Nobel Prize in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Literature</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> more than Mr. Zimmerman. </span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-18768414463602955672016-10-30T12:20:00.000-07:002017-01-29T07:46:26.862-08:00Constitution 2.0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a City, a County, a Province, or a Kingdom; but of a Continent — of at least one-eighth part of the habitable Globe. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed-time of Continental union, faith and honour. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound would enlarge with the tree, and posterity read in it full grown characters."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Thomas Paine. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Common Reason</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">James Madison. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Federalist Papers No. 51</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. February 6, 1788.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Are not popular assemblies frequently subject to the impulses of rage, resentment, jealousy, avarice, and of other irregular and violent propensities?"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Alexander Hamilton. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Federalist Papers No. 6</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. November 14, 1787.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Winston Churchill. 1874-1965.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Republican Party, and not just Donald Trump, have lost a lot of credibility in the recent past but the Democratic Party is not far behind in blame either. It's not until you take a step back and take a broader look that you realize both sides are just playing the game by the rules. Our government is broken and massively inefficient because two hundred and forty years worth of incremental patches and compromises have turned its magnificent rule book into a swiss cheese of self-serving addendums, tax loopholes, unethical lobbying, and dark money.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I contend that the patchwork of incremental changes to our laws have made them generally better over time as we have grappled with new situations and innovations, just like bug fixes to a program make it more robust over time. But, the same process over time results in complex and unmaintainable code as you also try to incorporate entirely new functionality. Similarly, in the case of our government, every time we have tried to add laws to govern a new situation, we have also introduced compromises and loopholes to appease “the other side”. That is how you end up with a Billionaire not paying taxes for eighteen years. He's just playing by the rules of the game that we put in place.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any good systems engineer will also tell you that, every once in awhile, you have to start with a clean sheet of paper design. The operating environment, the assumptions, and the capabilities of the underlying system have changed so dramatically after a few years of industry evolution that it costs more to maintain the old code base than to start anew. The term "clean sheet of paper" is a misnomer, though. You are starting with all the learnings from your experience with the previous generation of the system. You know which mistakes and pitfalls to avoid. Of course, you will make new mistakes but at least you won’t be spending massive amounts of time and energy maintaining the mistakes of the past.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the same analogy, I claim, it would better to start with a clean sheet of paper and write a new constitution - one suffused with all the learnings of the past two hundred odd years. I hope this isn’t interpreted as treasonous or unpatriotic. I have the utmost respect for the American constitution and its hard fought amendments but I also hate how hundreds of years of political bartering have twisted it into a battleground for illogical and petty aims.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The American constitution was written by some of the smartest and most courageous men that have ever lived. But even an average educated person living today knows far more about the world around them than any of the founding fathers ever did. The document was written at a time when cars didn't exist, planes didn't exist, the Internet didn't exist, modern medicine didn't exist. Hell, even electricity didn’t exist. Continuing to use the same general principles and patching them for the modern world is akin to a programmer trying to patch an MS-DOS program to run on a modern multiprocessor system in the cloud. Sure, it’s possible but is it the best path forward?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am proud to be an American citizen and hope to continue to enjoy all the great things we have accomplished together as a nation but I think it is also perfectly reasonable to want to be the citizen of a better, more logical, more scientific, more rational, more reasonable, more humane country that is not polarized by a two party system drifting further and further apart from each other, gridlocked and with little hope of reform.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Try explaining the electoral process to anyone and you will soon find out what I mean. The fact that we count delegates and superdelegates, the fact that we fight over blue states and red states, the fact that we engage in</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gerrymandering</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for political gain (try explaining that to a newcomer to the country), the fact that we have elected four presidents who did not win the popular vote - these are all indications that the system is unnecessarily complex and fragile and that it is buckling under the weight of its own compromises. This, in an age where we could instantaneously collect and process everyone's vote online. Are you going to argue that our current electoral system is better than one in which we use an automated system to truly offer one vote to each citizen? And please don’t tell me about the potential for online voter fraud. We sent men to the moon when we set our minds to it. Are you telling me we can’t build a system that is more robust and efficient than the current one? And as for the potential for hacking by foreign governments, well - we already have that problem.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the politicians are so busy fighting, playing the game by the current set of rules we ourselves put in place, that they are incapable of reforming the system holistically from within. It's much easier to add yet another patch and avoid the large cost of a redesign - even if the overhaul is the right thing to do for everyone involved.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we prepare to pick from among two unpopular candidates a week from now, as we look back to years of ugly infighting and bureaucracy, as we look agape at the corruption, deceit, and partisan behavior crippling our country, as we scratch our heads at bizarre tax laws and their loopholes, as we grapple with second amendment issues and their consequent tragedies based on laws written for an agrarian society and muskets, and finally - as we look forward to many more years of infighting and paralysis, I think we have to stop and think: Can't we do any better?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interestingly, many other western nations are finding themselves in the grip of familiar existential dilemmas. Brexit is just the most recent example. The reasons, I think, are similar. Democracies were a vast improvement over all earlier forms of government but they have failed to modernize themselves and their rules of conduct. The result is a system in which the participants continue to manipulate the rules for their own political advantage.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The politicians have a vested interest in keeping the current system intact. Their jobs depend on it. And, as many pundits have pointed out, we can expect many more years of discord and obstructionism ahead of us regardless of who wins the election. In other words, no opportunity for fundamental reform.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, if the current government is incapable of reforming the rules of the game, what choice do we have?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The founding fathers of this country were businessmen, politicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers, philosophers, and scientists. So were those who brought us the French revolution and the Enlightenment. They wrote documents that have largely withstood the test of time for hundreds of years and have simultaneously modernized the Western world, ushering in an era of unprecedented prosperity and liberty. Yet, even these texts were written for pre-industrial and pre-digital eras and have had to be amended repeatedly as we discover new truths and learn more about the world we live in.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The time has come for a new group of thinkers to come together and modernize our constitution, brush aside the cobwebs of history, streamline the special interests, and remove the loopholes - for the next two hundred odd years, for our children if not for ourselves. Will it be easy? I dare say not. Nothing worthwhile has ever been easy.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-82403129102285046312016-10-29T20:23:00.003-07:002016-10-29T21:23:45.812-07:00Workaholism and Its Discontents<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">H.L. Mencken. 1880-1956.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Most people spend their time on the 'urgent' rather than on the 'important.' ”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robert Hutchins. 1899-1977.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There's definitely no logic to human behavior.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bjork. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Human behavior</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Debut.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a classic workaholic, it's only been in recent years that I have fully realized how much I ignored my family in favor of work throughout my career. At every opportunity, it seems, I tried hard to choose work and career above family and friends. I was often aided in this by the technological advances of the past few decades.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I always used to work late into the night. Initially, that meant being at a physical office which, in turn, meant not even being physically present at home. Later on with the advent of high speed connectivity, it became easier to "work from home" - for me as well as pretty much everyone else on the planet, . For many of us, though, that didn't mean spending fewer hours at the office and more hours at home. It meant the exact opposite. The home work hours were </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">additive</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In my case, it meant I spent just as many hours physically at work, often late into the night, then went home to jump on the computer again. It meant spending weekend days working from home instead of going into the office but it didn’t reduce the aggregate number of hours spent in the office. It meant even more immediate access to “work” regardless of time of day or night. There was always work to fill the empty hours. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I used to jump up at 3 am to send an email or to check on the status of something - be it the status of a long compile, be it the status of some projects through various project management tools, be it the status of some critical alerts or other operational issues, be it whatever. It seemed like there were always more and more things to keep an eye on. The result was obvious. I may have </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">physically </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">been at home but I wasn't there </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mentally</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. My face was glued to the screen on my laptop even as I sat next to my wife and pretended to watch TV. My eyes were focused on the same screen as I pretended to spend quality time with my daughter or help her with her homework. Even if the </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/05/if-your-laptop-is-open-youre-not.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">laptop wasn't open</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, chances are that I was thinking about a bug I was working on, an upsetting email I had just read, or one I had just sent! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Worse yet, I now resented the fact that my family was interfering with my concentration and encroaching on my obviously important work. Couldn’t they see I was busy? My responses were often curt, filled with annoyance, often requiring a repetition of the context since I hadn't been paying attention the first time around (see my </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/06/put-down-phone-and-step-away.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rant about multitasking here</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">).</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fast forward a few years and we've taken another huge leap forward - or should I say backward - in the ways in which work intrudes on our personal lives. That damn smartphone or tablet is surgically attached to our wrists - even when we are walking, driving, eating, or lying in bed. The invasion is complete and total. For workaholics like me, this means every waking moment is spent checking on stuff - either in a chat tool or on instant messenger or Facebook or Twitter or even (the horror!) email.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a society, we seem to be heading in the opposite direction. Our families have given up on us or are themselves preoccupied with their own work or school or friends - all from the comfort of the dinner table. It's become routine to see </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">members of the family sitting around the table each with their own iPhone or iPad and headphones. Physically there, mentally elsewhere. I think I now understand the reason behind recent </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2014/04/frances-6pm-e-mail-ban" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">French attempts</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to limit employee access to work email after hours. I contend that the insidious connection between workaholism and our ever increasingly connected and online world will not result in a happy populace over time - not unless it's carefully checked and controlled.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know some people have (or at least claim to have) achieved work-life balance. I don't know too many people like that nor was I ever able to achieve it myself. For me, </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/10/early-retirement-first-day-of-rest-of.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it's too late</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thankfully, my marriage survived. Thankfully, </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-autobiography-of-ben-and-bob_26.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my daughter</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> grew up to be a successful, happy, and compassionate adult. The two of them have been much more forgiving of my flaws than I ever realized. I was lucky. Many others are not as lucky. This problem will only get worse if we don’t address it head on. If you don’t believe me, just wait five years. We’ll all be wearing Augmented Reality glasses so we can multitask surreptitiously as we pretend to spend time with our loved ones.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-62598873979291909452016-10-24T14:51:00.000-07:002016-10-30T07:57:52.488-07:00Early Retirement: The First Day of the Rest of My Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men, to be talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to others, who, through respect to age, might conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, since this may be read or not as any one pleases.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benjamin Franklin. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Funny how the things you have the hardest time parting with</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Are the things you need the least.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob Dylan. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lonesome Day Blues</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Love and Theft.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nelson Mandela. 1918-2013.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been toying with the idea of retiring for a while now and finally took the plunge this past week. It’s a long and tedious story that I won’t bore you with. Suffice it to say that I've had a fairly productive and successful thirty five year career behind me as well as a happy personal life. The decision was based more on personal reasons than anything related to work.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“A bit young” [fifty two], you might say. Thirty five years is a long time in any industry, I would respond. I just happened to have </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-autobiography-of-ben-bob-chapter-12.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">started early</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You'll be bored,” you may say. “You’ll need something to keep your mind occupied.” True, and also what my wife tells me. In her case, she also has a not-so-hidden agenda to get me out of the house and out of her hair. There are only so many ways you can rearrange the junk in the garage or program the sprinklers, after all, even given infinite time and patience. Having spent thirty five years in a niche (and, let's admit it, we’re all working in niches today) has meant many repetitive and boring tasks over the years. There are only so many ways you can manage a project, only so many lessons you can learn by shipping software. So you end up with more "Been there, done that" moments than "Aha!" moments. Of course, there are always new technologies, new ideas, and new companies to get excited about but I find, for one reason or another, I usually end up running an engineering organization and that often amounts to 90% repetition and frustration and, at best, 10% “new” and exciting.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think a more candid objection might be: “You’ll need the discipline of a nine to five job to avoid brain rot.” Perhaps true. I aim to take my chances and find out. I hope I can keep myself occupied without needing the daily grind. If I can't, I have noone but myself to blame for my lack of creativity.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“That's pretty selfish of you,” you might say, “or at the very least self-centered.” Only if I use the time to live selfishly. Not having to go to work every day, in fact, increases the opportunity for more engagement with friends and family, with the community, and with the world at large.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me put it differently. I've </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-good-old-days-or-how-to-build.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">obsessed over work</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the past thirty five years. And, in the process, ignored "life". Having tried and failed to ever achieve any semblance of work-life balance, I’m forcing myself to walk away from full time work. Let's see if I can go obsess about "life" for a while. And, I'd argue, fifty two is exactly the right age for retirement. I have at most ten years of healthy living ahead of me before genetics catches up with me. If I don't have to sit in an office building for the last ten healthy years of my life, why would I?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what am I going to do with all my spare time? I don't have a clue. Right now, I'm enjoying biking several hours a day and getting back in shape. We plan to spend a few months living in Europe next year and travel extensively - something both my wife and I enjoy. </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-autobiography-of-ben-and-bob_26.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My daughter got married last year</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and I hope to be a grandfather one of these days. I plan</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to spoil the little ones every chance I get. Meanwhile, I'm also staying engaged with the industry through advisory roles and coming up with crazy ideas for new startups.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can follow me on </span><a href="https://twitter.com/BenBfathi" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Twitter</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or read </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my blog</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Who knows, I may even </span><a href="http://benfa.smugmug.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pick up a camera</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> again. Stay in touch. Things are just starting to get interesting around here.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-83143407872057392102016-08-21T15:10:00.003-07:002022-04-09T11:11:22.450-07:00How to Build a Supercomputer and Still Lose the War<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The Autobiography of Ben & Bob</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.38;">Chapter 13: How to Build a Supercomputer and Still Lose the War</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone sees the limits of his own vision as the limits of the world.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arthur Schopenhauer. 1788-1860.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I worked with guys who made some tremendous contributions and you have never heard of them.”</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Chuck Elmendorf quoted in Jon Gertner’s </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Idea factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Advertisement placed in local papers by Ernest Shackleton for the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Endurance </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">expedition.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I ran into an old friend recently and we reminisced about the great fun we had working together at </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIPS_Technologies" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MIPS</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Graphics" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Silicon Graphics</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> back in the late '80s and early '90s. As we talked, I was reminded of several anecdotes that have colored my memory of those days. Almost none of these are actually related to the projects we were working on but are rather about the experiences we had together as a team.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SGI was famous for lavish parties and team offsite - to Hawaii, to Tahoe, to Napa. It was apparently a cost effective way for one of the hottest high tech companies in the valley to retain talent. I took my team on one of these trips - to Tahoe. Let's just say it was an expensive trip. At one point during the team dinner at the top of Caesar’s hotel, I came to find that practically everyone in the 150 person team had decided to order $200 cigars and $500 shots of Cognac for "dessert". The next day, we went for a group outing on ski mobiles. Several members of the team managed to flip and totally destroy their assigned ski mobiles, some doing so even before we had left the parking lot of the rental agency. I was worried about the massive expense report but no one at the company even batted an eye when I filed it.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's well past midnight on a cold December evening in Mountain View, CA. Several of us have been pulling an all-nighter in the lab, hunched over oscilloscopes and logic analyzers and prom emulators. I honestly can't remember now which one of a handful of projects this was - probably the SGI </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Challenge" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Super Challenge</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or the bad ass </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Origin_2000" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SGI Origin</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Those days are mostly a blur now. But I do remember the guys starting to complain that they were hungry and couldn't find a local restaurant that would deliver food after midnight. An hour or so later, someone came up with the brilliant idea that we could go to the local 24-hour Safeway, fire up the grill, and make ourselves some steaks. So it was that I found myself manning a barbeque at 3 am in shorts and a t-shirt in freezing temperatures.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We sit around a table at the </span><a href="http://jalapeno.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/10/prince_of_wales.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prince of Wales Pub</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in San Mateo egging each other on as we eat our habanero hamburgers, tearing streaming down our faces. These burgers earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the hottest hamburgers in the world, a well-deserved distinction given the gastrointestinal havoc they caused. Someone on the team had turned us on to these vile sandwiches and we had turned it into a rite of passage. If you wanted to join my team, you had to eat one. If you wanted to leave the team, well… you had to eat two! We ended up going back to the hole in the wall pub roughly once a month, laughing our asses off and wiping tears from our faces as we introduced new members of the team to “the experience” or said goodbye to departing colleagues. For some reason, no one ever wanted to leave my team.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's 4 pm on a Saturday afternoon. I walk back from the hardware lab to my office down the hall to find my daughter curled up and sleeping on the floor under my desk. I had left her there to study as I went to work in the lab. You cannot imagine the amount of guilt that image brings back. Not only did I just spend the entire day at work but I also managed to ignore my daughter whom I'd taken to work on a weekend day when I was supposed to be spending "quality time" with her. No one was forcing me to be there that day. I was just obsessed with the project, with the company, with the goal, with the code. Work/Life balance? What's that?</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife confronts me at 3 o’clock in the morning as I pull into the driveway. Why are all these memories in the middle of the night!?! "The neighbors think you're having an affair. They won't believe me when I tell them you're just at work." She said it in jest, in exasperation, an "I give up on you" tone of voice. It took me months to convince the neighbors that nothing nefarious was afoot.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are all hunched over a table in the lab looking at the guts of a system with probes hanging every which way. "I think it said [hex] 82". "No way. You missed a bit. Run it again. One One Zero Zero… See? It’s C2." We were counting LED lights - the only way we had to debug the hardware as we brought up a new processor. Somehow, in all our wisdom, we had decided that we should build a brand new massively complex supercomputer from the ground up. Everything was new. The processor, the memory subsystem, the IO subsystem, the BIOS, the operating system, the compilers used to build those piece of software, you name it. What balls we had. It was either that or pure naïveté. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">System bring up literally meant blinking LEDs to diagnose error codes, one bit at a time, because that's the only path in the system we could get to work reliably. Every time we changed a line of code, we ran into yet another compiler bug, yet another CPU bug, yet another cache bug, yet another memory corruption, yet another OS bug. Oh what fun we had! We would spend days tracking down a mysterious bug only to find that it disappeared because we had managed to change the timing in the code or we had managed to force a second level cache eviction, totally invalidating the experiment. You'll have to forgive me when I scoff at developers who tell me they can't debug a problem despite the 30 GB of log files they generate - per hour!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course we had already brought the OS up on a simulator, brought up a 64 bit version of IRIX (SGI's version of UNIX) on an earlier generation of hardware, brought up the CPU on another board, etc. We had done as much as we could with previous generations of hardware and software and simulators. But now we were bringing everything together in the lab for the first time. And, of course, anything that could go wrong did go wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The good news is that the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Origin_2000" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Origin</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was truly a groundbreaking system. Its shared memory NUMA architecture allowed you to build ever larger systems out of what we called "Lego" nodes. In its first incarnation, we built systems with as many as 128 processors. Its architecture supported up to 1024 processors and the company shipped systems that large several years later. By then, however, the industry had zigged while SGI zagged. Loosely coupled clusters of personal computers were now fast enough to undercut the likes of SGI with their proprietary hardware architecture.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When that project started, the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOP500" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top 500 List</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the list of the fastest supercomputers in the world, was dominated by Cray Research. SGI was making the bold bet that it could dethrone that giant - and it did. By the time I left a few years later, roughly 140 of the top 500 supercomputers in the world were from SGI. Cray was in trouble, so what did SGI do? Of course, they “bought” Cray! Somehow, the executives at SGI convinced themselves that it made sense to buy the dying company - for their "brand name" and “customer loyalty”. It’s odd to use the term "buy" in this case because SGI was actually smaller than Cray in almost every sense - market cap, employee count, revenue, etc. No worries; we'll just borrow some money!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the end, the combined company collapsed under its own weight. The once lucrative high end 3D graphics industry had shifted to using clusters of Intel x86 based servers instead of tightly coupled shared memory multiprocessor systems. The cold war had also ended and the government no longer needed as many supercomputers to simulate nuclear weapons. SGI had missed an inflection point in the industry because they were too busy dealing with their existing customer base and their needs - typical </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">innovator’s dilemma</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nevertheless, SGI was an excellent company with a superb cadre of individuals at all levels. I thoroughly enjoyed my years there. The company was hip, a Silicon Valley high flier as well as a Hollywood darling. I honestly don't remember how much my equity in the company was worth at its peak. Not that it matters. I never sold the stock, hanging on to it, continuing to believe in the dream - long after it had crashed and the company was on its way to not one - but two - bankruptcies!</span></div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-91444944160233182932016-06-28T20:10:00.000-07:002017-02-07T18:04:23.390-08:00Digitally Addicted!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">“We will embarrass our descendants, just as our ancestors
embarrassed us. This is moral progress.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Sam Harris. <i>The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine
Human Values</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">“There’s nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the
shortcomings of other people.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Jeff Anderson. <i>Clerks</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">“Next time your kid's watching television, just come up behind
them when they don't know you're there, and just turn it off without any
warning. Just go--pfft. Watch what happens. They go-- [Screams] Do you think
that's a good sign? You think it's a sign that it's healthy for them? That when
it's taken away they go-- [Mutters] because you've created such a high bar of
stimulus that nothing competes. A beautiful day is shit to a child now. A
gorgeous, panoramic day with hawks catching fucking mice and flying away and
bears with fucking fish in their teeth. And the kid's like, [screaming] ‘I want
to watch the television! This is <i>nothing</i>!’"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Louis C.K. <i>Hilarious</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
I recently published a <a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2016/05/if-your-laptop-is-open-youre-not.html" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">blog</span></a> (about banning laptops and smartphones in
meetings) that received quite a bit of attention. It has had two orders of
magnitude more views than I normally get as well as lots of comments on <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11658174" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">HackerNews</span></a>, where a colleague kindly posted
it. Interestingly, the comments seem to fall into several broad categories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
As usual, there were those who agreed with me wholeheartedly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
A few people pointed out that it was idiotic of me to ask people not to use their
laptops. They needed the devices to take notes in the meeting. Yes, of course
it’s perfectly reasonable to take notes in a meeting. I said so in the second
sentence of the blog: “</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">... if they were
used for the purposes of the meeting itself - to take notes or to make a
presentation.” These are not the people I’m talking about.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Some people commented that they suffered from ADHD and that they actually
perform better when they multitask. Great for you. You’re not the people I’m
talking about either. Roughly <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">10% of the population</span></a> has been diagnosed with
ADHD (and that’s after a 40% increase in the past decade). That leaves the
other 90% of the population. Those are the folks I’m talking about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
There were also those who pointed out that my meetings must be awfully boring
if people are resorting to laptops for entertainment. Yes, I agree
wholeheartedly that it's the job of the presenter to make the meeting content
useful and the meeting itself interesting. I said so as well: “</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As the meeting organizer, I should, of course,
strive to make the meeting relevant and the decisions concrete. Otherwise, I
deserve to be ignored for the latest tweet or alert.” But, here, I want to
refer back to Louis C.K.’s words. You are likely to find your digital world
more entertaining than pretty much <i>any </i>meeting content - exactly because
it’s constantly changing and updating and new and increasingly relevant to you.
It would be pretty hard to find a speaker and a topic that can compete with a
dozen simultaneous social media feeds, news sources, email, and chat
conversations. To do so for an entire hour or two would be a Herculean task
when compared to ten popups a minute.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
I would even be willing to buy this argument if the folks I'm talking about
open their laptops and pick up their phones only in a subset of the meetings
they attend. And I definitely see some of those folks - fully engaged when the
meeting is relevant and their attention is needed, but also with their heads
buried in their laptops when the meeting is irrelevant. More power to you if
you can do that consistently. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Instead, what I've found is that even the best of us become bewitched by the
digital genie in our laptops and phones. The email, chat, IM, stock ticker,
Facebook, Twitter, and the browser tabs with my favorite news sites - all conspire
to create a massively compelling and constantly engaging digital universe that
no meeting can match. Cue Louis C.K. As soon as there is a lull in the meeting,
the first thing we do is open our laptop or grab our phone. This digital
universe is so compelling that it becomes addictive. Pretty soon, the same well
meaning folks are slumped in their chairs in every single meeting, grabbing
instinctively for their digital crutches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
These are the folks I'm talking about: the Fellowship of the Digitally Addicted.
Believe me, I know the disease of which I speak. I'm not only the president,
I'm also a client. Over the past dozen years, it seems, we have become so
addicted to our devices that we don’t even notice any longer. I keep finding
myself buried in my phone for hours on end while commuting on the train, just
trying to catch up with the news or some urgent mail from work, reading and
responding to email at 3 am while lying wide awake in bed, even thinking about
a dozen burning fires at work while spending time with family and friends. It's
relentless and it has become so commonplace so quickly that we don't even
realize it's not normal. It's not healthy. It's not smart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
I do admit to having found one small saving grace - one small silver lining -
in all this digital addiction. On weekend days, I usually go for a three to
four hour bike ride. Doing so forces me to walk away from the digital world for
a few hours. This is the only activity that seems to clear my head of all the
clutter of the past week. I often find myself coming back from these rides,
taking a glance at my inbox, and instantly recognizing a solution to a nasty
problem, some common theme between multiple projects that is really the root
cause of our problems, or even a new idea that we should be pursuing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
I don't claim that these are all my ideas. In fact, I’m sure I have heard bits
and pieces of these same ideas from colleagues over the past week or month.
It’s just that I've been so busy with the details of a spreadsheet or
responding to emails or keeping up with Hipchat or handling operational issues
at work that I have failed to see the forest for the trees. I just didn't have
enough time to put two and two together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
We have to give ours brain a chance to digest the barrage of information, to
draw parallels amongst the various threads, to actually <i>think </i>instead of
being told what is “new” every second and every minute of the day. Then and
only then do the answers become palm to forehead obvious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Yes, of course, we are all slaves to information and hungry for more of it. We
used to get our news, at most, once a day. And we used to spend the rest of
that day pondering the ramifications. Now, we get our news every minute of
every day through a dozen channels and it’s tailored to our exact requirements
- be it work related or personal. Even assuming we need to know all the
minutiae that that entails, you have to admit that our brains need some time to
make sense of it all. The endorphin rush of constant stimulation is indeed
addictive but allowing others to tell you the “right” answer every minute of
every day is not a recipe for success. And the main problem with constantly
plugging into the digital world is that our brains are so busy processing the
incoming flow of information that they don’t have a chance to think for
themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
So my advice to you is this: Put down your phone. Close the laptop. Step away
slowly. Stop jamming all that information into your brain every minute of every
day. Clear your head. Stop looking at the screen. Get out. Do something analog.
Maybe even get some exercise! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
It’s that simple.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
I’m sure this will be ridiculed by some as obvious and by others as
impractical. I would have said the same thing a few years ago. But, I promise.
It works. Try it. Not for five minutes. But for five hours. Can you avoid
touching your phone for five hours?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Admittedly, meetings were the first digital-free zone for me. My time on the
bike is a second such digital-free zone. I hope, one day, there will be
“PDA-Free Zones” just like we have “No Smoking” zones today. I hope, one day,
to be strong enough to stop reaching for my phone even when talking to a friend
or having dinner with my family. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">#DigitallyAddicted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">#LeaveYourLaptopAtHomeDay</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">#StepAwayFromThatPhoneDay</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">#DigitalFreeZone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Update: </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/fashion/monotasking-drop-everything-and-read-this-story.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0" style="font-family: arial;">Interesting and relevant
article</a></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> in the New York Times on
the same topic.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-6099570898584138222016-03-17T06:55:00.005-07:002021-05-01T08:00:23.336-07:00Nation of Reason: Coming out of the Religious Closet Together<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-00885dd1-7fff-14f9-87f0-48bb5c79f437"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There are almost five thousand Gods actively being worshipped by humanity. But don’t worry. Yours is the real one.” - Anonymous.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” - Richard Dawkins. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The God Delusion</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nation of Reason:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coming out of the Religious Closet Together</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summary: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Traditional monotheistic religions came into vogue roughly two millennia ago as we struggled to understand our place in the universe. These religions used slightly modified creation myths, handed down through generations for thousands of years, to teach life lessons to a largely illiterate populace through thinly disguised morality plays. Crucially, for the first time ever, they were able to write down these stories for future generations to read.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We haven’t moved beyond those simplistic stories yet. Islam is going through its "dark ages" fourteen hundred years after its inception just as Christianity did at the same age, some seven centuries ago, with the crusades. The only difference in the equation is the invention of weapons of mass destruction and the ability of a few to control the destiny of many. The root cause of many of our ideological clashes today is our inherited belief system in an imaginary creator and a totally irrational expectation of eternal damnation if we displease him. Just look at history for two thousand years of proof points.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We no longer need these fictions to teach us morality. As an educated populace, we can live a moral life for its own rewards, not because we want to please our imaginary friends or are afraid of their retribution. Just like we graduated from villagers' tales of creation myths and idol worship to a few monotheistic religions, the time is now ripe for another step function forward in our social and cultural evolution as a species: the creation of a global community based on logic, reason, science, and compassion - the very traits that make us human.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Atheists of the world, unite! It is time for us to take charge of our own destiny, time for us to come out of the closet together. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first part of this document revisits the historical arguments for and against theism while the second part offers an optimistic look forward and proposes specific actions for the formation of a new online </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nation</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reason</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">---</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.” - Winston Churchill.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We stand at the beginning of the twenty-first century of the "Common Era" but the past two thousand years are just the tip of the iceberg as far as human history is concerned. As a species, we’ve been evolving for millions of years. We’ve uncovered a mountain of scientific evidence about how that process has unfolded over millennia. There are many things we still don’t understand but, thanks to our inquisitiveness, we understand a lot; and we’ll keep peeling this onion until we get to the bottom.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We humans are at our best when we act with compassion in a logical, scientific, and rational way. When we see something we don’t understand, we study it; we tear it apart until we uncover how it works – be it at the subatomic level or at the intergalactic level. This so-called “scientific method” relies heavily on skepticism and requires us to seek empirical evidence for our hypotheses; it’s the strongest weapon in our arsenal when deciphering the world around us and a requirement for any healthy democratic society. We are also, at the same time, social creatures – we want to form bonds, to be part of a group, to belong; be it to a family, a nation, a sports team, or a church. When it comes to God, however, these two traits are at odds; our scientific discoveries are often in direct conflict with our religious beliefs.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scientists have proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Earth is over four billion years old but orthodox Christianity wants us to believe that God created the world six thousand years ago. We know humans evolved over millions of years yet we’re also expected to believe that God created man in a single day (Genesis 1:27). We know that a person cannot survive without oxygen for more than a few minutes but we’re also told that Jonah lived in the belly of a whale for three days (Matthew 12:40). We know that the moon has a circumference of almost 11,000 kilometers but we’re also told Mohammad managed to split it in half with his sword (Quran, 54:1-2). We know that inanimate objects cannot come to life yet Moses supposedly turned his staff into a snake (Exodus 4:3). We know that the planets have been orbiting the sun for billions of years but we’re also expected to believe that the sun and the moon stood still at one man’s request (Joshua 10:13). We know that the human body will turn to ash in minutes when subjected to fire yet we also think that we’ll burn for eternity if we misbehave. I could fill a book with such absurdities. For some reason, we lose all “reason” when it comes to God.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called religion.” - Robert M Pirsig.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Lila: An Inquiry into Morals.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The truth of the matter is that somewhere along the way, we lost track of the distinction between fact and fiction in scripture. We placed value on the stories instead of the lessons and, of course, once we’ve done that, it’s only human to claim that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> stories are better than </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> stories. Many of the stories in our religious books are just that – myths: fables that were created to teach an illiterate populace moral lessons. If we just admit that to ourselves, our lives would be so much easier.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just because we can imagine something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. Even today, we come up with all kinds of stories of super-intelligent extraterrestrials for commercial, entertainment, and educational purposes but most people realize that E.T. and Superman are not real. The problem is that the probability of the rise of intelligent life is so infinitesimally small, given the laws of physics and natural selection, that we need some other logic to explain our existence; and hence were born creation myths. There’s nothing wrong with that – as long as we don’t forget the word “myth” in that definition, as long as we admit that these are just stories.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.” - Yuval Noah Harari. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a social species, it’s natural for us to bond together and form teams; and doing so, by definition, means excluding “others”. That, in turn, results in taking sides and attacking those who don’t adhere to exactly the same beliefs as we do. No one ever bothers to stop and ask whether any of this makes any logical sense or, even, whether it really matters in how we live our daily lives. My imaginary friends are better than yours... and I’m willing and ready to kill you over it.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As children, we believed that a bearded man lives at the North Pole and comes once a year bearing gifts. It was only later that we realized this was just a story meant to deliver a moral lesson: “Be good and you’ll get a reward; be bad and you’ll get punished.” As humankind enters adolescence, it’s time we realize that all religious texts are basically fables, similar to this one, handed down through the generations. “In the beginning” is no different than “Once upon a time”. They’re both preambles to a story used as a vehicle to deliver life lessons. Santa Claus is not real; and neither is God.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free - free to think, to express my thoughts - free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free! I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all worlds.” - Robert G. Ingersoll. 1833-1899. Orator of the United States.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Religious scholars would argue that the laws of mere mortals don’t apply to God and his angels, that we can’t possibly understand the mind of God, that the word of Allah is sacrosanct and can’t be questioned. It is exceedingly odd that we question and probe statements in every avenue of life but simultaneously choose to believe the stories of the Bible or the Koran at face value even without a single shred of evidence and</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">despite all their obvious inconsistencies</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In a modern democratic society, we rely on citizens to be well-informed and rational in their thought processes, able to make reasoned predictions based on observations and past outcomes. Religion, by contrast, teaches us to ignore the predictive power of the scientific method and instead accept statements on faith, even when there’s no evidence presented or proof possible. This pernicious shift undermines our ability to be critical thinkers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ask yourself honestly: Which is more likely? That men created origin stories to explain the mystery of their own existence or that a force beyond all of our imagination is responsible for creating the entire universe and is watching every movement of every one of us even as we speak?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If Jesus or Mohammad showed up today with some of these same stories, we would promptly lock them up in a lunatic asylum. Note that I’m not talking about their teachings, their moral lessons – just the stories of supernatural beings, miracles, rising from the dead, two of each species on a boat, people turned into pillars of salt as punishment for minor infractions, and other obvious fictions. It would be one thing if these stories were presented as fables but religious doctrine insists they actually happened even though they defy all logic and fly in the face of scientific reasoning.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This, combined with our strong desire to bond with our team, our family, our kin - the simple social psychology of our species - often results in competing religions forming battle lines against each other, eventually resulting in cruelty and bloodshed, as we have seen again and again and again over the past two thousand years.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Epicurus. 341-270 B.C.</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even in cases where one religion started out accepting the legitimacy of others, the end result is often catastrophic when interpreted by extremists. Islam, for instance, has always taught that Jesus and Moses are true messengers of God, that all these religions believe in the same God, and that all “</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Book" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people of the book</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” are equal in the eyes of God and should be treated peacefully (Quran 22:17).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet, even a brief glance at world news today shows how that peaceful message has been corrupted by latter day extremists. The call to jihad against “infidels” (a term originally reserved for the</span><a href="http://www.evolutionofgod.net/question_koran" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">polytheist idol-worshippers of antiquity</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) has been twisted into a rallying cry against the same people that are supposed to be accepted by Muslims as legitimate brethren. Even if the original teachings were positive in spirit, they are often hijacked and used to form schisms. It’s just human nature to create “us vs. them” situations.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Homo sapiens</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> evolved to think of people as divided into us and them. ‘Us’ was the group immediately around you, whoever you were, and ‘them’ was everyone else. In fact, no social animal is ever guided by the interests of the entire species to which it belongs. No chimpanzee cares about the interests of the chimpanzee species, no snail will lift a tentacle for the global snail community, no lion alpha male makes a bid for becoming the king of all lions, and at the entrance of no beehive can one find the slogan: ‘Worker bees of the world – unite!’” - Yuval Noah Harari. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What's so sad about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Muslim-Infidel conflict, the Turkish-Armenian conflict, the Sunni-Shiite conflict, the Indian-Pakistani conflict, the Hindu-Sikh conflict, the Serbian-Bosnian conflict, and so many other human conflicts of the recent past is that if these people would just stop and look each other in the face, they'd realize that the participants on both sides can usually not be told apart - genetically speaking.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You know why? Because we really </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all the same. We are so closely tied to each other genetically that our stupid little ideological differences seem childish in retrospect.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By some estimates</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, there were less than a thousand human beings on this planet seventy thousand years ago. In other words, we’re all really part of the same extended family. On the other hand, monotheistic religion, as most of us experience it today, did not even exist two thousand years ago. Many of the national borders we recognize today, especially in the Middle East, did not exist even </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hundred </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">years ago. Our genetic bonds run much deeper than any of these recent artificial distinctions. What does it mean, then, to base our decisions in life on faith and religion and political party affiliation and national flags? When is it time for us to stop bickering as a species and start working together toward a better future - for </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of us?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“But because of the stupidity of the average man, he follows not reason, but faith. And this naive faith requires necessary illusion, and emotionally potent oversimplifications, which are provided by the myth-maker to keep the ordinary person on course.” - Noam Chomsky. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manufacturing Consent.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can it be that we wrote down exactly what the omnipotent creator told us - word for word according to some religions - and yet, two thousand years later, we find that almost everything he told us is scientifically incorrect and, instead, more akin to tales told by illiterate villagers? The guy who created the universe seems to have been confused about the earth's shape and its place in the universe, the age of said planet, the causes of disease, and the genetic relationship between species, just to name a few obvious examples.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This same "benevolent" lord seems to not have given a damn about the fate of his creations, leaving us to fend for ourselves for thousands of years, killing, maiming, enslaving, and generally abusing each other and the animals around us mercilessly, getting killed by the millions from diabolical diseases. Mind you, he was not busy with other stuff. He can hear every word and every thought that every single one of us has every minute of every day. He just can’t be bothered to do anything about it. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But wait. You can’t apply human logic to God.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Really? How convenient. And why not? He’s much smarter than us, so I’m sure he’d understand the logic.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why is it that we rely on science for every single thing we do in our lives, be it brushing our teeth, balancing the checkbook, performing heart surgery, or flying to the moon. But the moment the topic of God comes up, the moment we ask the most important question of all, the question about our existence, all those scientific principles, the same strict rules that hold our universe together, are thrown out the window and we’re asked to believe "on faith" and not question the obvious discrepancies and improbable tales.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I tell you that an extremely hairy half man half ape with big feet lives in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, you would, justifiably, laugh at me. You would insist on seeing proof. Not that it matters to you one way or another whether such a creature exists but because you know what makes sense and what doesn’t; based on evidence, based on science, based on logic, based on experience. And you can’t reconcile such a creature with the rest of your scientific and logical knowledge. Why does the most important question of all have to evade the same “reasonable” rigor? Every one of us believes in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy for a few years but even a child opens her eyes and, in the presence of data, revises those beliefs.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why is it, then, that we </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">refuse </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to do so about the most important question of all? And why are we so flustered when anyone asks why? Why can’t we engage in logical discourse, in scientific argument on this one topic? Could it be because we can’t defend our position?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As James Randi once said, you can't prove a negative. The burden of proof should not be on us, as atheists, to prove that God doesn't exist but rather on the believers to prove that he </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">does </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- based on the same laws that govern everything else in our lives, not based on some comical and obviously fictitious logic that makes sense only if you also believe in fairies and a flat earth.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values. Obviously humanism does not deny the possibility of realities as yet undiscovered, but it does insist that the way to determine the existence and value of any and all realities is by means of intelligent inquiry and by the assessment of their relations to human needs.” - Raymond B. Bragg.</span><a href="http://americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_I" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Humanist Manifesto I</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. 1933.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You also don’t get to pick and choose your beliefs. Either these are truly the words of God and need to be obeyed to the letter or they are outdated lessons from antiquity that need to be reformed. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim that homosexuals should be put to death because the bible said so (Leviticus 20:13) unless you’re also willing to obey the bible when it tells you to stone your children if they are disobedient (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) or that it’s perfectly reasonable to sell your daughters into slavery (Exodus 21:7). That’s just hypocrisy.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interestingly, the overarching moral lessons of all major religions are often very similar, if not identical; and, just as often, valuable. So, the question remains, why do we even need these stories if we know that they can’t possibly be true? Is it possible to extract the moral teachings and adapt them to the modern world without having to also accept the fables? And, if those teachings are basically all the same, why can’t we distill them into a single list that we can all use to guide our lives in this scientific age and shed the stories that no longer add any value?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any student of history will tell you that most of the stories in religious books evolved from prehistoric tribal “creation myths”. The stories of heaven and hell, God and the devil, angels and daemons have been present in prehistoric belief systems and were only slightly modified as they were incorporated into the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). There is not a single shred of historical evidence to support most of the events described in the texts, that in an age where we refuse to believe in a theorem without scientific proof and evidence. Somehow, when it comes to religion and God, we suspend disbelief and accept whatever we are told without demanding proof. The problem is that the stories are presented as irrefutable fact and even a hint of skepticism results in backlash.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Humanity, to survive, requires bold and daring measures. We need to extend the uses of scientific method, not renounce them, to fuse reason with compassion in order to build constructive social and moral values. Confronted by many possible futures, we must decide which to pursue. The ultimate goal should be the fulfillment of the potential for growth in each human personality - not for the favored few, but for all of humankind. Only a shared world and global measures will suffice.” - Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson.</span><a href="http://americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Humanist Manifesto II</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. 1973. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s now time to abandon these stories in favor of logical, rational, scientific facts. They’ve served their purpose. They may have been useful in an age of ignorance but have no place in today’s scientific world; we simply don’t need them any longer. Two thousand years ago, almost the entire population was illiterate. Most people never travelled more than a few miles from their villages. Even as recently as 1970,</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">almost 40% of the world population was illiterate</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Today, by contrast, that number has dwindled to less than 15%. People know the difference between fact and fiction. They understand the scientific process and pursue logical reasoning in every avenue of life. They can travel to the ends of the earth or look up answers to any question instantly. The typical teenager today knows more about the universe than Galileo did a few centuries ago.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two thousand years ago, even two hundred years ago, we may have needed those myths to teach the moral lessons behind them. We may have needed those threats of eternal damnation in order to behave ourselves. Today, given everything we know, we no longer need them. In fact not only are they not helping us, they are actively hurting us. We don’t have to be scared about the afterlife. We can simply live a positive life because it’s the right thing to do, because it will improve our lives and the lives of those around us. Genetic evolution and kin selection are perfectly good and logical reasons for wanting to help our brethren. It’s time we throw away the myths of the past and believe in a universe ruled by science and logic. There is no reason why we can’t live an ethical life without organized religion now that we understand the science behind life.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about "Intelligent design", you may ask as you gaze at the complexity around you? Bah humbug! This is not really an argument as it stands on intellectual quicksand. Its basic premise is that we should believe in supernatural and illogical explanations of phenomena we don’t understand: “It couldn’t possibly have happened by chance, so there must be a creator.” This is not an argument, it's an abdication of responsibility. We don’t understand something, so someone or something smarter than us must be responsible for it. Really?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Intelligent” design would never have designed bone cancer in children or the Ebola virus or the bubonic plague, just to name a few obvious examples. An “intelligent” creator would simulate atrocities and calamities on a computer instead of unleashing them on real beings; even we lowly humans have figured out how to do </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. An intelligent creator would be benevolent, not capricious.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living in a quite different world.” - Christopher Hutchins. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God is Not Great</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s perform a thought experiment. Let’s say everyone agrees not to teach their children about religion or God – not a single word. Instead, we educate them about history and science and art and teach them to behave morally towards other people and animals. We would also teach them about the scientific process, about the laws of physics and chemistry, about genetics and biology and mathematics. Then, when they become adults, they can learn about God. By then, having studied history, they would be aware of all the atrocities and bloodshed caused by religion. Having studied genetics, they would understand evolution. Having studied physics, they would grok gravity. How many of them do you think would become religious?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” - Voltaire. 1694-1778.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did God create man in his own image? I think not. I think this is exactly backwards. Man created God in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">his </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">own image. God is our creation. As such, we can stop believing in the concept now that it has served its purpose. We needed it throughout history, but not going forward. It’s time for us to behave like we deserve our position as the most advanced species on Earth and take control of our destiny instead of waiting for some divine being to tell us how to behave.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why is it that atheism is on the rise in western countries and among educated people? As much as 30% of the population in some Western European countries</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> self-identify as atheists</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with another 50% on the fence. This is because they can no longer reconcile what science and logic tell them and what religion wants them to believe.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"An atheist loves himself and his fellow man instead of a god. An atheist accepts that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth – for all men together to enjoy. An atheist accepts that he can get no help through prayer, but that he must find in himself the inner conviction and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and to enjoy it. An atheist accepts that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help lead to a life of fulfillment. He seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god. An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man. He wants an ethical way of life. He believes that we cannot rely on a god or channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in a hereafter. He believes that we are our brother's keepers and are keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons and the job is here and the time is now." - Madalyn Murray O’Hair (1919-1995).</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abington_School_District_v._Schempp" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Murray vs. Curlett Supreme Court case</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. 1959.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's only the atheist, the stark realist, who looks at the evidence and says: “There is no God. We are </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. We are responsible for this place. Let’s get to it.” Not only is this an amazingly positive message, it’s also an empowering one. This is a much more elevated ethical stance, in my opinion, and can be used as a force for good in the world. And only the atheist can take such a stance.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took Christianity hundreds of years to come to its senses and stop the persecution and slaughter of innocent people in the name of the almighty. Now roll forward seven hundred years - not so coincidentally also the same number of years as separate the birth of Jesus from that of Mohammad. It should be clear that Islam is now going through its own "dark ages" - exactly as Christianity did. The only problem is that, with the advent of modern weaponry, we no longer have the luxury of a few hundred more years of warfare - be it of the guerrilla variety or the state sponsored type. We live in an age where a few can control the fate of the many.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Now, it has long been understood, very well, that a society that is based on this principle will destroy itself in time. It can only persist, with whatever suffering and injustice that it entails, as long as it is possible to pretend that the destructive forces that humans create are limited, that the world is an infinite resource, and that the world is an infinite garbage can. At this stage of history either one of two things is possible. Either the general population will take control of its own destiny and will concern itself with community interests, guided by values of solidarity, sympathy and concern for others, or alternatively there will be no destiny for anyone to control.” - Noam Chomsky. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manufacturing Consent</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may say you agree that organized religion is a big part of the problem but you’re not religious. You are agnostic. You believe there is a higher power, a creator, a life force that is beyond us. You will argue that we should not allow the actions of a few fanatics to confuse the true message of God.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are missing the point. Believing in a fictitious God and allowing him to control </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">any </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">aspect of our lives, even with the best of intentions, just opens the door for fanaticism. Not everyone believed there were witches in Salem in eighteenth century New England; but enough people did. The result was persecution and death of innocent people. Not everyone believed the Spanish Inquisition was necessary yet it persisted for hundreds of years and resulted in the imprisonment, torture, and execution of thousands of people.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Religious extremists will continue to feel cornered as science moves us forward at an ever increasing pace. The fact that we then find ourselves needing to step in and take military action against the radicals shows that we’re headed in the wrong direction. They have a "cause", a reason to believe they are "right". They will blow themselves up and wake up with seventy two virgins and a river flowing with wine. Heaven and hell are exactly the same in Islam as they are in orthodox Christianity. Draw your own conclusions about the depth of their fervor and their willingness to die for the cause. You may draw on the historical precedence of Christianity.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The men who committed the atrocities of September 11 were certainly not 'cowards,' as they were repeatedly described in the Western media, nor were they lunatics in any ordinary sense. They were men of faith—perfect faith, as it turns out—and this, it must finally be acknowledged, is a terrible thing to be.” - Sam Harris.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The problem is not that Christianity is right and Islam is wrong – or vice versa. The problem is that we have allowed our imaginary friends to control our lives. Such a state of affairs is guaranteed to end in disaster - as we’ve seen time and again. We don't have hundreds - or even dozens - of years to waste. We can't wait for human nature to take its course and for people to wake up and stop hating each other for no good reason. We must act now.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So let’s see if we can come up with a set of rules that govern our lives without the superstitions of religion and yet allow us to lead a positive life. Let us be the logical, scientific, moral, ethical beings that we are ready to be.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What I propose here is a virtual “Nation of Reason” - one in which logic, reason, science, and compassion ultimately guide our actions and form the tenets of our society. Now, then, we hold these truths to be self-evident:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First,</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that all humans are born equal, that they have certain unalienable rights - that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is nothing more than a rephrasing of the statement from the declaration of independence. Not all </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">men</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but all </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">humans</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Not </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">created </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">born</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This is a profound statement at heart; removing references to the creator doesn’t diminish its value but rather amplifies it by acknowledging the scientific, social, and legal advances of the past two centuries. We are all equal at birth and have the same potential for success. What we do during our lifetimes is how we should be measured, not some arbitrary set of traits we cannot control.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second,</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that we should do unto others as we’d want them to do unto us.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This “Golden rule” is common to all major religions but, more importantly, it is morally and ethically unassailable. It succinctly subsumes many other teachings (thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, honor thy mother and father, etc.) and, as such, is a simple yet powerful and ethical code of conduct.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow. This is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.” - Rabbi Hillel. 110 BC – 10 AD.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Third, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that all things are connected.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most people immediately pursue a metaphysical explanation for the above sentence, but I mean it in a strictly scientific sense. We know for a fact that all beings on Earth share much of their genetic makeup. We know that we share 97% of our genes with our closest primate relatives but did you know that we also</span><a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/125-explore/shared-genes" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">share a quarter of our genes with a rice plant</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?! We are biologically connected to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">other living things on this planet.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But why stop with living things? Sir Isaac Newton didn’t just prove that the Earth has a gravitational force that causes apples to fall from trees.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Newton’s law of Universal Gravity</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> states categorically that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">any </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">two bodies in the universe (yes, even rocks) attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to their distance from each other. Go back and read that sentence again: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">two objects in the universe attract each other. There is, in fact, a force that connects all things in the universe and we have shown how it works - scientifically.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Corollary 1:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If we are all connected to each other and we (humans) are the most advanced species on Earth, it follows that we have a responsibility to protect those that can’t protect themselves. This applies not just to humans, but also to animals, plants, and the environment.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Corollary 2:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If we are to protect life on earth, it follows that violence in all its forms must be abhorrent to us; and weapons of all forms, as instruments of violence, are equally unwelcome.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fourth,</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that there is no God, supreme being, or supernatural force behind the scenes controlling the universe. We, along with all other living creatures, have evolved over billions of years to our current state of being without a “man behind the curtain” pulling the levers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Show me one piece of scientific information to dispute this statement and I’ll be the first to stand in line asking God’s forgiveness. Until then, please stop your bickering. We have work to do to save ourselves and the planet.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Corollary 1: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are responsible for our own future.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no afterlife, no heaven, no hell. This, in turn, puts the burden squarely on </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shoulders. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are the guardians of the universe.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Nevertheless, an iron rule exists in genetic social evolution. It is that selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals, while groups of altruists beat groups of selfish individuals.” - Edward O. Wilson. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Social Conquest of Earth</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Corollary 2:</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A non-existent entity cannot and should not interfere with societal affairs, including affairs of government.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fifth</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that no rule is cast in stone. We can, and must, constantly question what we take for granted and what we believe to be true. Even the very rules written here are subject to review as we learn more about the world around us. By corollary, it is insane to live our lives by rules that were written down two thousand or even two </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hundred </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">years ago. So much has changed since then. We know so much more.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Counterargument: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just for one hypothetical minute, let's say God really does exist. He's just been busy dealing with a revolt over at Alpha Centauri for the past millennium or two. Let's say he shows up tomorrow and wants to know what we've been up to as a species.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which band would you rather be in? The one that says "Well, we spent our time praying five times a day facing in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">direction and killed all these guys over here because they liked your third novel better than your second one."</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or the one that says: "Here's what we learned from the books you left us and here's how we improved upon them as we became smarter - while you were busy with our cousins over there."</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Call to Action: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are only two paths forward, one in which we cling dogmatically to religious texts written thousands of years ago by semi-literate nomadic Bedouin and try to shoehorn them into our post-industrial globally connected life today; and a second, in which we learn from those books but rely on more modern texts to govern our daily lives and social contracts. In case it’s not obvious yet, I’m a proponent of the latter path.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reform for religion must come from within - not just within the religion itself but also from within the individual. Any doctrine unwilling or unable to revise its own tenets when presented with rational contradictory data is doomed to fail in the long run. Similarly, any individual unwilling to review his or her own unsubstantiated beliefs is doomed to a life of servitude.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"A faith which cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets." - Arthur C. Clarke.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our only path forward is to engage those who are </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">willing </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to change, those who ask questions instead of blindly accepting everything they’re told. Let the Muslims and the Christians and all the other “believers” fight each other over their imaginary friends. Let us band together as atheists and write the manifesto for the future of our planet instead of getting dragged into their fights. Ultimately, that is what this document is about.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The founding fathers of this country were businessmen, politicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers, philosophers, and scientists; so were those who brought us the French revolution and the Enlightenment. They wrote documents that have largely withstood the test of time for hundreds of years and have simultaneously modernized the Western world, ushering in an era of unprecedented prosperity and liberty. Yet, even these recent texts were written for pre-industrial and pre-digital eras and have had to be amended repeatedly as we discover new truths and learn more about the world we live in.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no reason why we are still arguing ad nauseam today about gun control or stem cell research or abortion rights or climate change. None that is, other than hanging on to outdated rules that make no sense in our modern society. Most such issues, you will find, are influenced by religion in one way or another.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is now time for a new generation of founding founders to come forth and write a new constitution - one free from the dogmas of religion and informed by the past two hundred years of scientific learning and logical thinking.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of the day, this is a petition, a call to action. I am asking the smartest men and women on the planet to sit down together and write a declaration of independence (from religion) and the constitution for the next two hundred years. It’s an invitation to write the constitution for the Nation of Reason. If such a “nation” becomes the first digital nation, an online entity bringing together like-minded individuals from around the world, so much the better.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What I envision is a new virtual nation where atheism is one of the core tenets and all citizens are logical and reasonable human beings who join because they agree, not because they were born into it. Those of us who agree will then become dual citizens - in our current physical country as well as in our new virtual Nation of Reason. Human history has seen nations formed around every form of religion: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, even Buddhism. Why not one based on Atheism? [Countries such as The Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and Cuba don't count as they are not democracies and their citizens are not "free".]</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Richard Dawkins, Ray Kurzweil, Bill Gates, Dalai Lama, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama, Steven Pinker, Neil deGrasse Tyson… are just a few of the names that come to mind. Add your favorite titan of industry, philanthropist, scientist, or otherwise reasonable person to the list of nominees and we all get to vote on membership for the ones willing to participate.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Further Reading: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These are some of the authors who have said basically the same thing I’m saying above, only much more eloquently.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Human Nature</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Edward O. Wilson</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Social Conquest of Earth</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Edward O. Wilson</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Meaning of Human Existence</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Edward O. Wilson</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Denial of Death</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Ernest Becker</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The God Delusion</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Richard Dawkins</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Selfish Gene </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by Richard Dawkins</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Steven Pinker</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Steven Pinker</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Steven Pinker</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How the Mind Works</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Steven Pinker</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Language Instinct </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by Steven Pinker</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Carl Sagan</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Sam Harris</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Sam Harris</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Christopher Hitchens</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Christopher Hitchens</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Discoverers </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by Daniel J. Boorstin</span></p><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-23217707618893043522015-12-20T16:23:00.003-08:002017-05-11T07:25:05.355-07:00An Open Letter to Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dear Mr. Obama,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am a naturalized American citizen of Iranian birth. I moved to this country - on my own - when I was fourteen years old. For the past thirty six years, seventy five percent of my life, I've called the United States home and tried to contribute to this country to the best of my abilities. Scrubbing dishes as a dishwasher at $2.60 an hour to pay for college was not glamorous work, but it was required as a first step in achieving “The American Dream” and I performed it dutifully.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having now been present at the figurative birth of many transformative software products, having contributed - however little - to some of the great commercial successes in the field of computer science for the past thirty odd years, and having played a small part in the generation of billions of dollars worth of American capital - having done these was just part of the job. These are just what I did to make a living. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, </span><a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-autobiography-of-ben-and-bob_26.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">having raised a daughter</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who is now a lawyer dedicating her life to helping the downtrodden, I would argue, is tantamount to having paid my dues to this country. You see, I adopted this country long before it adopted me. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As such, I hope you will forgive me if stand appalled at this new bill, </span><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/158" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HR-158</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the Visa Waiver Improvement Act of 2015. For those not familiar with the topic, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/12/25/460940462/u-s-visa-rules-may-burden-relatives-abroad-advocates-say">here is what NPR had to say about it</a>. Basically, if I may paraphrase, this bill states: “I recognize we have a huge problem within our borders with millions of guns and assault rifles and people getting killed every day. But, as an elected member of Congress, I am going to continue to collect contributions from the NRA - arguably the root cause of the problem at hand - while I target a small subset of the problem by attacking the very same people who have built the foundation of this country for the past two hundred years, namely immigrants. Never mind that a statistically insignificant percentage of immigrants and foreign visitors to this country ever engage in crime - San Bernardino notwithstanding. They just happen to be the only ones I can easily identify and stop at the border. Further, in this pursuit, I am going to create unnecessary bureaucracy and paperwork - in the same misguided way that we created the TSA to ‘find’ terrorists hiding bombs in their shoes and toothpaste.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did I mention that one of my cousins designs jet engines, another one is responsible for water for the city of Anaheim, that an uncle of mine is a professor of economics in Atlanta, that my brother in law is a successful money manager on Wall Street, that my sister in law is a pharmacist, that my wife is an artist? We, sir, are not the ones you have to worry about. We didn't come to harm anyone here. We came to build this country. Please treat us accordingly - with a little dignity.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have traveled the world (forty five countries to be exact) thanks to that wonderful instrument called the American passport. I hold it proudly as I go into every country as a goodwill ambassador for the US, whether I am traveling for business or for pleasure. To be told that I may have to apply for a visa to return to my adopted country the next time I travel overseas is not just a slap in the face, it’s a first step towards creating second class citizens - based on nothing but racist principles. This is especially ironic coming at the same time that Europe is opening its doors and its hearts to refugees from the very same countries.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The immigrants now living in this country lawfully are not the ones you should be targeting. They’re the ones that have helped make this country what it is. A hundred years ago, they were Italians, Chinese, Irish, and Germans. Two generations ago, they were European Jews, they were Japanese, they were Vietnamese, they were Koreans. One generation ago, they were Iranians fleeing the Islamic revolution, Indians coming for their engineering skills, Mexicans fleeing poverty. Today, they are Syrians and Sudanese, Sikhs and Tamils. Nothing has changed but the color of their skins and the place of their birth - neither of which do they have any control over. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not the first time that xenophobia has gripped this country nor is it the first time that such paranoia has resulted in misguided persecution. I don’t need to remind you of the lessons of history nor do I need to remind you that these are not the principles that this country was founded upon. I beg you to stand up to congress, look every one of them in the eyes, and say as loud as you can: “</span><a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” Feel free to replace the word “sir” with “madam” where applicable. A few other choice words come to mind, too.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have given up trying to communicate with my elected representatives who are supposed to be looking after my welfare. Instead, I’m appealing to you as a man of reason and a decent human being - one that, lest we forget, is the son of a Kenyan immigrant himself.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">If this bill becomes a law, let me be the first to stand as a conscientious objector and to refuse to comply with it. But I hope we don’t have to go that far. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sincerely Yours,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">An American Citizen</span></div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-41790869688360628112015-09-16T17:29:00.002-07:002017-02-02T12:16:11.080-08:00Chapter 11: “You say you did what when you were fourteen?!?”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I enjoy talking
to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you
happen to be insane.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white;"> George Orwell.<b> </b><i>1984</i><b><i>.</i>
</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">“Stanley Motss: I bet
you're great at chess. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;"> Conrad Brean: I
would be if I could remember how all the pieces moved.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">
Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. <i>Wag the Dog</i>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">“Nick Naylor: I talk for
my job – basically.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;"> Child: Can’t
anybody do that?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;"> Nick Naylor: No –
it requires a certain moral flexibility that most people lack.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">
Aaron Eckhart. <i>Thank You for Smoking</i>. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Autobiography of
Ben and Bob<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chapter 11: “You say
you did <i>what</i> when you were
fourteen?!?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay, it’s chapter
eleven. By now, he must start sharing some actual life events if this is to be
considered an “autobiography”, right? And, what’s the deal with this being the
autobiography of two people? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Who is this Bob guy,
anyway? How come he hasn’t shown up for his own biography yet?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All great questions – to be answered in
due course. Bob has already showed up in this autobiography in a cameo role and
will be back again soon. Meanwhile, I have to disappoint you as this chapter is
also about Ben.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At a recent job interview, I was asked
what Bill Gates is like in person. After answering, I mentioned in an off-hand
manner that I had also worked for Steve Jobs for about a year even though it
doesn’t show up on my resume. The short story is that I worked on a new PowerPC
based system at NeXT which was cancelled days before it was to be announced –
when Steve Jobs decided to abandon hardware and instead standardize on the
Intel x86 architecture and concentrate on software instead. In hindsight, this
was absolutely the right decision for the company but, at the time, being the
hot headed engineer that I was, I left in a pique over the cancellation. How
dare they cancel <i>my</i> project? Of
course, Mr. Jobs triumphantly returned to Apple a couple of years later and the
rest is history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The conversation reminded me of all the
other jobs I’ve had: starting with the dishwashing job at a steak house - at a
whopping $2.60 an hour; to the part time programming I did on the side for one
of my college professors - at a dizzying $7.50 an hour; to the midnight-to-noon
weekend graveyard shift as a sysadmin - at a stratospheric $10 an hour; to the
part-time Teaching Assistant gig at college, working with Math students and
wondering why and how they had gotten so far without understanding fractions or
decimal points in high school; to the part time programming job, every other
weekend, fixing bugs in a medical billing application in some arcane language
on an ancient PDP10 machine which no one else was either able or willing to
touch, at a laugh-to-the-bank rate of $15 an hour. I could keep going but you
get the idea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;">So many odd jobs, the proceeds therein
going to partly fund my undergraduate career as a starving foreign student. The
fact that I often held two or even three of these jobs simultaneously seemed
natural. Working and studying eighty, ninety, a hundred hours a week seemed
natural at the time - a requirement for survival.</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Having landed in Boston as a lone fourteen year
old, fresh off the boat from a war torn country in the grip of a revolution, I
somehow seem to have managed not only to survive but to thrive as well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The less I say about the old country, the
better. I remember skipping school and joining demonstrations in the streets - not
because I agreed with any of the revolutionary groups but mostly just to avoid
going to school. I remember schools being closed for months at a time due to
unrest. I remember the odd feeling of hearing gun shots in the street outside
and seeing cars burning in the streets while the TV news broadcasts calmly
announced that “all is well” - due to Government censorship. I distinctly
remember the day when this policy was reversed and the first time I saw all the
violence on TV. I remember reading books about torture, about communism, about
politics and revolution. It was eye opening to a thirteen year old. You grow up
very quickly in such an environment. My parents, like so many other parents of
teenagers, decided that it would be safer to send me overseas to continue my
education.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;">Having already spent a few months in the
UK, I arrived in the US with ignorance and confidence: ignorance of the
monumental task ahead of me - just to survive in this country - and confidence
built out of that ignorance: confidence in my own ability to put up with
whatever comes along - to roll with it, so to say. Not being burdened by
parents, a host family, or the regulations of a dormitory meant I could - and
often did - get into a lot of trouble. Let’s just say there was a lot of
underage drinking in bars and dancing in discos. No one ever asked me for an ID
back in those days. The only saving grace was that I never got into drugs – too
expensive!</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Somehow, while all this was going on, I managed
to finish the last three years of high school in a single calendar year, even
with the hindrance of English as a second language, and arrive in college at age
fifteen. Fast forward two and a half years and, somehow, I managed to graduate
from college with two bachelor’s degrees - in psychology and computer science -
at the still tender age of seventeen. Washing dishes to pay the bills was just
part of the equation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">I'm not writing this to boast. Friends and
strangers have often wondered in hindsight how I zipped through school so
quickly. At the time, it didn't seem like such a big deal. I was just doing the
tasks in front of me and happened to do them more quickly than others. What's
the big deal? I had much bigger problems to deal with, what with the life of
the lone teenage foreign student with minimal funds amounting to not much more
than moldy basement apartments shared with four guys you just met last week, a
sojourn with an extremely OCD guy as a roommate for a month (we're talking
bouncing quarters off of bedsheets OCD), and another apartment with a
dangerously tilting floor.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;">The point is, I've made so many mistakes in
life and made so many decisions for the wrong reasons that I'm personally
baffled at how I've ended up doing so well overall.</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 107%;">
<span style="background: white;">Despite this hodgepodge of a background and a
similarly checkered career, I seem to have done reasonably well by most
measures. I'm thankful for that - thankful to all the people who have helped me
along the way.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">I've also been blessed with a family that has
supported me in all my harebrained ideas and decisions. Picking up and moving
across the country for a job I like or quitting a job on the spur of the moment
are just a couple of the examples from my professional career. My wife always
says, "That's great, honey. You just go right ahead and do it. As long as
you get out of the house." <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ah, she loves me so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-9612979724021979872015-08-28T21:53:00.000-07:002018-03-24T18:06:30.914-07:00Chapter 10: Redacted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fbf3fec0-0076-3366-7616-36ce3c1462a7"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Autobiography of Ben and
Bob</span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><b>Chapter 10: Redacted</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-90803405227566940342015-07-26T20:20:00.000-07:002017-02-02T12:12:25.770-08:00Rest in Peace, Pookie!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLgoyi_4n1AVjPYWle3qDsNx2TcdMn7Jut6joQdQ3U53UY53kxIKtlt2-z5id7v2y8rgRY5XdO09QQ7B98yM0QV5p7FX-yKLHXVjomOpmCaWYjSTjKGOUTONJfg3E_ODh_zI7mK_LHw34/s1600/IMG_0960b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLgoyi_4n1AVjPYWle3qDsNx2TcdMn7Jut6joQdQ3U53UY53kxIKtlt2-z5id7v2y8rgRY5XdO09QQ7B98yM0QV5p7FX-yKLHXVjomOpmCaWYjSTjKGOUTONJfg3E_ODh_zI7mK_LHw34/s400/IMG_0960b.jpg" width="355" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I knew it was coming and
even <a href="http://benbobsworld.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-autobiography-of-ben-and-bob.html">wrote a preemptive eulogy about it a couple of months ago</a> (this will make more sense if you read that entry first). So why was I so shocked when
it finally happened?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">I could see that he was
getting weaker every day for the past few months, finally weighing in at a mere
5.7 pounds on the day of his death – less than a new-born infant.</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">And I remember noticing that
he sometimes stumbled and fell when jumping into bed, something he never had
trouble with in the past.</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">And I
noticed how he had an almost permanent low grade cold these past few months,
his nose constantly stuffed. He'd look better for a few days and as soon as we
felt comfortable about his health, he would start sniffling again.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">And I
noticed how for the past few months he became quieter and more withdrawn,
choosing to sit by himself under the dining table - instead of his normal
routine of snuggling up with anyone and everyone.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Through it all, through all
the months of sickness, he never complained – not even once. Even the nurses at
the vet - two hours before his death - were amazed by how loving he was,
calling him a "purr machine".</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">His decline was, thankfully, swift in the
end. Yesterday morning he started wobbling and dragging his hind legs, had to
be carried downstairs, and struggled to stand. He was dizzy, swaying and
tumbling backwards, bumping into chairs and doors, barely able to take a single
step.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Within an hour we were at
the vet. Two hours later, back at home, he died quickly and quietly in my arms
as one organ shut down after another. It all happened so quickly that I'm still
in disbelief. This ball of love, this bundle of joy is gone and he has left a
huge hole not just in my heart but in everyone else’s as well who came into
contact with him.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">I was convinced he was an
angel. No earthly creature could be this loving. I even seriously looked into
cloning him - ethical issues be damned. This gene cannot be allowed to die: it's
pure love poured into a compact five pound package.</span> I also jokingly
claimed I was going to put him up for beatification: Saint Pookie, the patron saint of love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
He was a show cat for the first year of his life, a grand champion, before we got him from his breeder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4lEdoCzLrX-2OO85K3zTdZh3zo7ve139ZbAAj5cjuSV58291JcmXX8-kZo5YQ5Xxlbi5TcPKhpVMOISGC3su6bx9OvKIXGhBG-z3lEDoBNdJbHwtVUmX9oHMn2ok1SMclcyX2xi26NAY/s1600/Pookie+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4lEdoCzLrX-2OO85K3zTdZh3zo7ve139ZbAAj5cjuSV58291JcmXX8-kZo5YQ5Xxlbi5TcPKhpVMOISGC3su6bx9OvKIXGhBG-z3lEDoBNdJbHwtVUmX9oHMn2ok1SMclcyX2xi26NAY/s400/Pookie+001.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Due to some congenital disease
(thanks to in-breeding), his jaws didn't open wide enough for him take a good
bite. This meant he basically buried his face in the food to get a reasonable
sized bite and, as a result, his face was always dirty.</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVB-2X1xj5ORw_bkCeeSzWjqark5kBPexzPSis5d95-mK45bxpbx6eq9srzfqeixcwUO-jno4rE5n0SygV3Yq6_QQcdLaGNGKLmDKXhI4DH66ei7WFQP-DVWVGqZYRfaPkSq79TS5cnEY/s1600/IMG_6093b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVB-2X1xj5ORw_bkCeeSzWjqark5kBPexzPSis5d95-mK45bxpbx6eq9srzfqeixcwUO-jno4rE5n0SygV3Yq6_QQcdLaGNGKLmDKXhI4DH66ei7WFQP-DVWVGqZYRfaPkSq79TS5cnEY/s400/IMG_6093b.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We used to clean him
obsessively at first:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguuAOx87oc_d0OlyVScIKbzmbr8UasaQvVUzygc8vuMzo6k3IL_V1W1F2zCPxnWV0Nzbh61eVsPxQNS7fBWB3Smimx3h_TcKx7QjMG9MAxDb91jvqm4WV-Mtq_5Bhomg8fpM5VJUbjXqI/s1600/IMG_0032a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguuAOx87oc_d0OlyVScIKbzmbr8UasaQvVUzygc8vuMzo6k3IL_V1W1F2zCPxnWV0Nzbh61eVsPxQNS7fBWB3Smimx3h_TcKx7QjMG9MAxDb91jvqm4WV-Mtq_5Bhomg8fpM5VJUbjXqI/s400/IMG_0032a.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">But then we realized he didn't care and we
loved him even more with his dirty face:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQeVTFxUYTMMhdbJ4uQwfDBQ6bDK3H5b137_fFESWmvNO4XNAfiAcrcf7k41KGbnYW4L3VcXDRJuX1Dqj3cuLXcjj6oYZ2nMMw1rbmNmPYWD6Ug3G53-2G8dS4klBoRol8xZ8qkt_DH0/s1600/IMG_4617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQeVTFxUYTMMhdbJ4uQwfDBQ6bDK3H5b137_fFESWmvNO4XNAfiAcrcf7k41KGbnYW4L3VcXDRJuX1Dqj3cuLXcjj6oYZ2nMMw1rbmNmPYWD6Ug3G53-2G8dS4klBoRol8xZ8qkt_DH0/s400/IMG_4617.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I held it together at the vet
and even later – after his death - finding a place to cremate him and driving
there. My wife accompanied me at every step. We cried a couple of times but I
was mostly in shock and going through the motions. It was only when I got back
home that I curled into a ball and cried my eyes out for several hours non-stop.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not long enough. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Holy fuck. How do people who
lose children go through with it? Holy fuck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">I guess I just assumed we
would get a few more months with him.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">My daughter called. I talked
for half an hour like a normal person, hung up, and went back to the fetal
position. </span>Several of my friends called and texted. I didn’t respond or
told them to go away. I needed to be alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">In the end he went quickly.
His eyes dilated, his breathing got shallower – so shallow that I thought he
was gone. I touched him, he gave two long sighs and then he was gone. He must have been in pain, but he never complained.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Last night, I woke up several
times with a start, tears forming in my eyes within seconds each time as the realization
came back to me. Pookie is gone. My Pookie is gone. My wife reported a similar
experience.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Memories keep flooding back
to me aided by old photos and videos: of him "hiding" in a box:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWg3OfInmpurbgFCKHPJoEnk1SbeUspmPGgjie35FWPaFiZegV_biMuHXQnzSkuBKQU2Nu5-1yNLZzYzjWaLr_oG5gzgw0aIaspjuSelXRJfrvgRuhEyp6vLMB9dev1w1yNzjtkU0LTY/s1600/IMG_5990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWg3OfInmpurbgFCKHPJoEnk1SbeUspmPGgjie35FWPaFiZegV_biMuHXQnzSkuBKQU2Nu5-1yNLZzYzjWaLr_oG5gzgw0aIaspjuSelXRJfrvgRuhEyp6vLMB9dev1w1yNzjtkU0LTY/s400/IMG_5990.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or "stalking" me from under a chair:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJNkZXak6NN7yXh4ZXWypwUi8r2cAJ0dxoG8dmYukkZLTVYDmOWuyQrxfMED99G0-cf9AINhFRrNefoSpb0kVtEUgaFmStdvKFnq9k-k3yczCm9za36tpx1s8sgNyQjwQgOqlqUdM9nk/s1600/IMG_1788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJNkZXak6NN7yXh4ZXWypwUi8r2cAJ0dxoG8dmYukkZLTVYDmOWuyQrxfMED99G0-cf9AINhFRrNefoSpb0kVtEUgaFmStdvKFnq9k-k3yczCm9za36tpx1s8sgNyQjwQgOqlqUdM9nk/s400/IMG_1788.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Snuggling with us under the blankets - just like a toddler would:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5Sbdw2hKYCrr9avOVx9TXBM5yF3UHMIsTikft1HURS77VLUDRiZZVI0Ez_NX6JvSmqem_1Q6DA4LS3ZUc8jI2GXc7-3jzCkQOaqPjp-4k5eVxNobyrkLa2Ne8jBR7FYK8Kx-VlGof5c/s1600/P1000485-2059471405-O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5Sbdw2hKYCrr9avOVx9TXBM5yF3UHMIsTikft1HURS77VLUDRiZZVI0Ez_NX6JvSmqem_1Q6DA4LS3ZUc8jI2GXc7-3jzCkQOaqPjp-4k5eVxNobyrkLa2Ne8jBR7FYK8Kx-VlGof5c/s400/P1000485-2059471405-O.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Massaging or grooming one of the other pets in the house (a daily occurrence):</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxLV_iSvp6lgtn-g0uN7oEAivmn2cYLiMNlKRAPEfvj3FFwkWJx9-hHBuIkWdSyEaLfMI4fCbL2DoEiDkanNA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Here is our other cat, Mishka, getting frustrated with Pookie’s
perennially dirty face and doing the licking for him:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzzdCCV7TpTGJfeW2r_J4GsE0MosB7i7aUWgFnBwKrZbZurbUKds2sukjjPz-2PjLMSYfVBr6v81P1wLWVKiA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The memories are sweet and
tender. The tears are because I suddenly realize a few seconds into the recollection
that Pookie is gone. A huge part of our lives has been extinguished. Sweet Saint
Pookie is gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Should my wife and I be
accused of animal cruelty, I wondered. Here's a clearly sick old cat. Why
didn't you take him to the vet sooner? Perhaps they could have saved him.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">We made an appointment about a month ago
to take him in for a check-up. Then Pookie spent the entire morning before the appointment
purring on my belly, so clearly happy and content that we cancelled the
appointment.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">This cat was happy. This cat
was loved and this cat loved everyone he came in contact with.</span> Call me a
sentimental fool for writing an obituary for a cat, but this was no mere cat.
He was an angel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">May you rest in peace,
Pookie. You gave us so much love and you will be missed dearly.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-34056993004322178162015-05-28T16:48:00.002-07:002017-02-02T12:11:17.526-08:00Chapter 9: Grandfather of the Bride<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“If you
have an argument with an older person, you should listen to them. It doesn’t
mean they’re right. It means their wrongness is rooted in more information than
you have.”</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Louis
C.K. <i>Oh My God!</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Benjamin<span style="background: white;">: Hey Rosie, am I doing anything right?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Rosie: You're handsomer than the other dads.
Lots of them don't have hair. So that's good.”</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.375in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Matt
Damon and Maggie Elizabeth Jones. <i>We Bought a Zoo</i>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Susi: Dad, there’s
an old man down here who wants to sell us an 84 carat stone.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Doug the
Head: Where does he come from?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Susi: I don’t
know. Hard to tell. He’s got a thick Russian accent.”</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
Tina Collins and Mike Reid. <i>Snatch</i>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Autobiography of Ben and
Bob<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chapter 9: Grandfather of
the Bride<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My parents just arrived last
night for a visit - in preparation for my daughter’s wedding next month. A
"visit" from the old country, in this case, qualifies for a minimum
one month stay given the trials and tribulations of cross-continental travel for
two septuagenarian cancer survivors.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It became
immediately obvious that my father had suffered a stroke about a year ago – and
that all of his many doctors had failed to diagnose this. Even his simplest
statements were clear indications of the symptoms commonly associated with
strokes: "The left half of my body has had no feeling since the accident"
and "I don't remember what happened. Suddenly I was on the ground with a
big gash on my forehead that required several stitches."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay, so right now you’re thinking
this is a story about bad medical practitioners in third world countries. But,
as originally promised, this is actually a story about the virtues and pitfalls
of stubbornness, the full extent of which will become obvious soon:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Dad, how could all these doctors possibly not recognize
your symptoms?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">I agree… They’re useless.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Did you tell anyone that the left half of your
body had no feeling?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">No, not exactly.</span> Now that you mention
it, I don’t think I ever told the doctors about that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having forcibly removed my
jaw from the floor where it was now resting, I tried to explain to the old man
that he had to actually inform the doctors about his symptoms if he expected to
hold them accountable for the diagnosis. The concept seemed foreign to him. For
the rest of the day, I kept hearing the TV commercials constantly reminding you
to “tell your doctor about all your symptoms. Tell your doctor about all the
medications you’re taking”.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">But wait a minute, dad.
We've been talking on the phone every week. I keep asking you if you've been to
the doctor and whether everything is okay. And you keep telling me you're in
excellent shape, no problems, etc. How is that possible if you had this massive
stroke and multiple stitches and hospital stays and …?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"It’s not
a big deal. I just fell down in the street, broke my arm, and required several
stitches to my forehead. We didn't want you to worry, so we said everything was
okay.”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sigh.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-39091680350483602222015-05-26T15:12:00.001-07:002017-02-02T12:08:46.213-08:00Chapter 8: Father of the Bride - or - Rent-a-Baby<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="color: #333333; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">"I don’t get nearly enough credit in life for the
things I manage not to say."</span></div>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333;"> Meg Rosoff</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">. <i>How I Live Now</i>.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">“Nick Taylor: If your parents told you that chocolate
was dangerous, would you take their word for it? </span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: inherit;"> [Children say no] </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: inherit;"> Nick Naylor: Exactly! So perhaps instead of
acting like sheep when it comes to cigarettes, you should find out for
yourself.”</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: inherit;"> Aaron Eckhart. <i>Thank You for Smoking</i>. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: inherit;">"Those are my principles. If you don't like them,
I have others."</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> Groucho Marx. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="color: #222222; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Autobiography of Ben and Bob</span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>Chapter 8: Father of the Bride - or - Rent-a-Baby</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">My daughter is getting married in a few weeks and asked me to
say a few words at the wedding. </span><span style="color: #222222;">It’s hard not to get sappy at such occasions. After all, I have
only one child and I hope she will only get married once – so, by definition,
this is a once in a lifetime opportunity: not just to tell her how much I love
her and to welcome my new son-in-law to the family, but also to reminisce about
her childhood and have some fun in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUj6x0to1ZShs4SN56IWdfftz3QDD0kUpuVR-Xrth7EhWls9dD6LkcTmaj0TSNswoqVRvBQ1-vZbsvkisVkGftfa6Jam47mT05w0npP4nF6o21LougpXq4RDZy6v56EqeA8ODJhaBgVw/s1600/IMG_4539a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUj6x0to1ZShs4SN56IWdfftz3QDD0kUpuVR-Xrth7EhWls9dD6LkcTmaj0TSNswoqVRvBQ1-vZbsvkisVkGftfa6Jam47mT05w0npP4nF6o21LougpXq4RDZy6v56EqeA8ODJhaBgVw/s640/IMG_4539a.JPG" width="425" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">Once,
when she was two or three years old, we found her behind a sofa at home emptying
single serve packets of sugar onto potato chips and eating them with obvious pleasure.
After scratching our heads for a few minutes, we informed her that this was an
unusual choice and that one did not typically mix those two particular food
items together. Years later, the story would come back to haunt us as more and
more snacks started showing up in the market with both sweet and salty
ingredients: chocolate covered pretzels, truffles with sea salt or wrapped in
bacon, kettle corn, you name it. It became obvious that we had stifled the
creativity of a Julia Child in the making. “I coulda been somebody… I coulda
been a contender,” she tells us mischievously when we remind her of the
episode.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Of
course, like any other father, I think my daughter walks on water and am very
proud of her. Not just because she’s highly educated (how many other kids out
there have a doctorate in law and a masters degree in international relations
and a bachelors in French literature?) or that she is simultaneously adjunct
professor at two universities while also joggling a full-time job, but because
that job – and her calling in life – is to help the poor, the downtrodden, the
refugees, the immigrants, and the homeless. She is truly helping her community be a better place - first hand.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Even
as a college student, she would go off to Africa to work on the war crimes
tribunals in one country or to help the refugees in another country. Her favorite topic when looking for a new book to read? Genocide! I once
asked her why she chose this path in life. She looked at me like the answer was
obvious and said, “It was because of you, dad. You made me watch all those
documentaries as a child and you made me read all those books.” I felt at once
proud and guilty.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Later,
as part of her job, she helped form legal policy and pass regulations to help
the homeless and the poor. I used to joke that I didn’t know where she got her
social conscience from, given that her father was an unrepentant capitalist but
what I came to realize was that she shared many of the same ideals as I do; she
just had the guts to act on them. And for that I admire her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">When
she was a baby, I made up a secret word to describe her: “bingly”. The word was later
broadened in scope to include all things cute and cuddly and is still used by
the two of us to signify the sighting of a cute baby at a shopping mall: “Watch
out… Bingly at two o’clock”, or an adorable puppy on Youtube. Later I found out
that there was a Mr. Bingley in <i>Pride and
Prejudice</i>, but by then the word had caught on and we continued to use it in
our own way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">The two of us even came up with a great (tongue in cheek) business idea around our obsession with cute babies: Rent-a-Baby. We would open a store at the local shopping mall where parents could drop off their kids to play - just like the ones that already exist in many shopping malls. Except, we would also optionally allow our <i>other </i>customers (newlyweds and couples planning on becoming parents) an opportunity to spend quality time with these same kids - paying us for the chance to "rent a baby" for an hour to see if they're ready for the real experience. Of course, the secret motive behind our business idea was that the two of us - the proprietors </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #878787;">- </b><span style="color: #222222;">would get to play with all the binglies, too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">So
my advice to my future son-in-law is to take good care of her. Not just because
she is a great human being, but because she is also very bingly.</span></div>
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308043776555796707.post-70979142465317303622015-05-24T08:11:00.000-07:002017-02-02T12:08:15.329-08:00Chapter 7: The Future - or - The Coming Singularity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”</span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;"> Mark Twain.</span><br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">"</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;">For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> Then Something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> We learned to talk."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;"> Pink Floyd.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;"> </span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;">Keep Talking</i><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;">. The Division Bell.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculous_cervical_lymphadenitis" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Scrofula</a>, a kind of tuberculosis, was in England called the 'King's evil,' and was supposedly curable only by the King's touch. Victims patiently lined up to be touched; the monarch briefly submitted to another burdensome obligation of high office, and - despite no one, it seems, actually being cured - the practice continued for centuries."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> Carl Sagan.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>The Autobiography of Ben and Bob</b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>Chapter 7: The Future - or - The Coming Singularity</b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Not a whole lot of "autobiography" in this chapter I'm afraid... mostly musings about science.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">In the <a href="http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-law-of-accelerating-returns">Law of
Accelerating Returns</a>, Ray Kurzweil explains how the rate of scientific learning
is not linear but rather exponential: “</span><span style="background: white; color: #212121;">So we won’t
experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like
20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate)."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #212121;">This
is not exactly a new idea. Way back in 1982, Buckminster Fuller said the same
thing in his book,<i> The Critical Path</i>. He estimated that it took 1500 years for humanity to double its
knowledge of the world – as compared to everything we knew back at the
beginning of the Christian Era. The next doubling took only 250 years, till
about 1750 CE. By 1900, one hundred and fifty years later, knowledge had
doubled again. The speed at which science discovers new facts about the
universe around us is getting faster and faster – it’s not linear, it’s
exponential. The doubling speed is now between one and two years.</span></span><i><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Think about it. We know twice as much about the laws of the
universe today as we did two years ago - in every aspect of science, be it
physics or math or biology or genetics or evolutionary theory or what have you.
And<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="aqj">two years from now</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> we
will know twice as much as we know now. Wow!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">This claim
may seem hard to believe at first but a few real life examples will convince
you of its veracity. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222;">Just
look at how far we have come in the last few hundred years in terms not just of
scientific advancement but also educational, cultural, medical, agricultural,
and every other angle you can imagine.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> Five hundred
years ago, we had just figured out how to print books. Four hundred years
ago, we still thought the world was flat. Three hundred years ago, the average
life expectancy was still in the mid-thirties. Two hundred years ago, we were
still hunting witches. A hundred years ago, most people didn't have
electricity, let alone telephones, televisions, or even refrigerators. Fifty
years ago, most people had not traveled more than a dozen miles from their
homes in their lifetimes, nor had they ever stepped on an airplane. Thirty
years ago, almost no one had a personal computer. Twenty years ago, most people
were not even on the Internet. Ten years ago, most people didn't have a smartphone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Today, we have computers that can defeat our best human grand masters
at chess (Big Blue), computers that can drive cars (Google), computers that answer
our questions (Siri), computers that can translate between different human
languages in real time (Skype Translator), and computers that are embedded in
practically every aspect of our lives (Internet of Things). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">We’re no longer even limited by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law">Moore’s law</a>. Yes, of
course computing power is doubling once every year and a half – but we’re not limited
to programming just one at a time. The symmetric tightly coupled
multi-processor supercomputers of the past decades (the ones that I built my
career on) have now given way to the cloud – a loosely coupled collection of
elastic computing nodes that work together to solve the hardest computational problems. Why
be limited to just doubling the speed of a single processor? Harness a hundred or
a thousand computers together and you’re now growing your capacity orders of magnitude
faster. Our rate of innovation is limited only by the size of our budget and
that of our imagination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">If you are skeptical because those examples are just in the
field of computer science, then also consider that we can now clone humans, we
have doubled our own life expectancy, we have massively increased <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_productivity">crop efficiency</a>,
we have cured most infectious diseases, we can grow human tissue (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacanti_mouse">sometimes in the oddest places</a>), we can kill millions of people with a single bomb, we know the history of the
universe back to a nanosecond after the big bang, and we’re working on
colonizing Mars – all advances in the last hundred years and much of it fueled by our increased technological powers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">We are learning faster than
ever in every aspect of human knowledge. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity">singularity</a>
is not just a vague idea. It will happen sooner than we think. If you're not familiar with the concept, I recommend the following <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cITA2ysR4z0">passionate two minute video by Jason Silva </a>as well as this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uIzS1uCOcE&feature=youtu.be">Q&A with Ray Kurzweil</a>. For a much deeper dive, I highly recommend <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Singularity-Is-Near-Transcend/dp/0143037889">The Coming Singularity: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzweil</a></i>.</span><br />
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Ben Fathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08846664167155717636noreply@blogger.com2