I AM A SENSITIVE KIND OF GUY

But my wife is more sensitive to cold than I am. The thermostat setting in our house is the only thing we ever argue about. In the winter, the energy saving experts suggests a setting of 68 degrees. My wife says she can’t be comfortable at less than 72 degrees. I maintain that if she would dress appropriately, she would be comfortable at 68. She says if  I would take off some cloths I would be comfortable at 72 (degrees not age). We have argued about this for a very long time without reaching an agreement. I will quietly sneak it down. She will surreptitiously turn it up. Using a heating contractor’s formula, I determined that the additional monthly cost for increasing the temperature from 68 to 72 is $20. I have decided to spend the extra $20 per month in order to make my wife happy. It is better to be kind than “right”. It only took me 44 years to capitulate. Yes, I’m a sensitive guy but a little slow! 

REDICULOUS, STUPID HOLLYWOOD AWARD SHOWS

Did you watch the Golden Globe Awards show? I am embarrassed to admit that I watched some of it. It struck me that it was a group of attractive, shallow, egotistical, celebrity, rich people giving themselves awards, gift baskets, and telling each other they are God’s gift to the planet. There was no ground swell of support from fans who want to show actors how important they are. It was another night of silly people patting themselves on the back for doing their pretend jobs. They spent millions of dollars on designer gowns, fancy hair dos and plastic surgery so that they could strut and pose while telling each other how great they look. Almost made me gag! They do this 3 times every year. There are the Emmys, The Golden Globe Awards, and the Oscars. How come retired geezers like me can’t have an award show? With my plaid shirt and striped pants, I could win the “best dressed” award for the geezers. Then, I could give a speech thanking all my relatives for helping me to become such a snappy dresser.

I say cancel all those stupid Award Shows and use the money to buy food for poor people. If the Hollywood actors did that, I would applaud them instead of make fun of them!

BLACK OR WHITE? TRUE OR FALSE?

What is truth and what makes it true? It has been a slippery topic for thousands of  years. It can depend on a point of view or an opinion or a theory. The basic idea is that what we believe or say is true if it corresponds to the way things actually are—to the facts. The problem is, we don’t  always agree on how things actually are. For instance, is there global warming and if so, is it caused by the activity of the human race? What we perceive is not always what is happening. For example, does the sun go around the earth or does the earth go around the sun? Iron clad facts have been known to change into falsehoods.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, used to be an oath given  by a witness in a court room before testifying. You had to raise your right hand and place your left hand on the Bible. Did you know that practice has been done away with? Now, it is only necessary to make an affirmation to tell the truth to the best of your knowledge. Times are changing and so is the “truth”. During the Medieval period convicted felons were branded on the palm of the right hand. Thus the custom of displaying your right hand came into practice because felons were disqualified from making an oath. 

Truth is the end of inquiry. But we never reach the end of inquiry. Truth is ever evolving and changing because of new discoveries and new facts. Keep that in mind before you call someone else’s truth a falsehood. Keep an open mind and be willing to consider another person’s point of view. Let’s be rational and civil! 

IT’S A BRAND NEW YEAR

At the beginning of a new year you think about self improvement. Resolutions are made to develop good habits and drop bad habits. Then, you expect instant results. Too bad it does not work that way. All things worth attaining take time. Developing new character traits will take patience and hard work. In order to succeed, you must be motivated. So, the question is, “how do you get motivated?” Visualize achieving your goal and its benefits. What your mind conceives you can achieve! Wow, you will look great after losing some weight. After sticking to an exercise program you will have more energy to do the things you want to do. Sticking to a better diet will keep you healthy for a longer life.

Remember to start with simple, easy goals and then progress to a little higher goal. Reward yourself for attaining a goal. Look for ways to make the activity fun and enjoyable. Keep a diary to remind you that you’re making progress. Be flexible about your routine. If you’re too busy or don’t feel up to it, take a day or two off. The important thing is to get back on track as soon as you can. Follow these tips and get moving! You will soon be a perfect person like me. Actually, I am still working on it. It has been a challenging 71 years. Don’t let anyone tell you that life is easy_it’s not.

I RECEIVED 30,000 BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS!

OK, I admit it. I suffer from bibliophillia. I love the feel of a book in my hands. I love looking at books. I love collecting books. And, of course, I love reading books. Over the years I have acquired: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, a leather bound set of the Britannica Encyclopedia, A leather bound collection of the Great Books Of The Western World, Will Durant’s 11 volume Story Of Civilization, The 20 volume set of The Annals Of America, and hundreds of best seller books. In fact, I have no room left for more books. The answer to my dilemma was a Kindle Reader, which I received for Christmas.

When I first heard about the Kindle, I thought I would never want one. How could it compete with real, physical books that you hold in your hands? Why would you want to get eyestrain from a glowing computer screen? Wow, was I ever wrong! My storage problems are over because I can store more than 3000 books on my tiny (8 inch by 5 inch and ½ inch thick) Kindle. As for eyestrain, there is none because of the E Ink technology used by the Kindle. It has better contrast and sharper text than paper and ink. There is no glare like there is on a backlit LCD screen. It looks like paper and ink but better. It can even be easily read in bright sunlight. I find it much easier to read a Kindle than to read a conventional book.

Some of the Kindle’s features that I really enjoy are: Ability to change the font size, Instant definitions from the built-in dictionary, The ability to highlight text electronically, I can make notes as I read, I can share meaningful passages with friends with built-in Twitter and Facebook integration, I can save quotes, notes, and highlights in a file and have access to them when I finish a book. This is a huge advantage of digital over printed books! The price of digital books is substantially less than printed books and I have access to 30,000 classic books that are free; Yes, I said FREE! You can have one of these miraculous inventions for only $139. I recommend that you get one.

AN EXTRAVAGANT "GIFT"? FROM OUR POLITICIANS

It is very clear to me that the long term costs of our growing national debt is far more damaging than the short-term cost of our economic sluggishness. But our government has approved another federal stimulus package that will force us to add $838 billion to our $14 trillion debt. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans made any attempt to cut spending to help pay for it. Instead, they tacked on pet projects and “gifts” for lobbyist such as a tax break for the Rum distilleries. The tax cut deal made by President Obama and the Republican congressional leaders was blatantly irresponsible. If they had trimmed $56 billion from the vast federal budget to pay for extended jobless benefits, that would have made sense. And, if they had made some other spending cuts to pay for continuing the Bush era tax cuts that would have been good. But no, the same people who were voicing concern about the red ink just weeks ago went ahead and, with a shocking and shameful disregard for the reality of our economic situation, spent money we do not have.

Obama calls it a tax cut deal but in reality it was an agreement to not increase taxes by continuing the cuts already put in place by Bush. In itself, that was a good move but they forgot to balance their budget and cut spending. What the government gives, it must ultimately take away from its citizens. A day of reckoning is coming. Our citizens are going to have to pay for what these politicians are giving away. We need to stop them before our country goes bankrupt!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE EXCEPT THE POLITICIANS. TO THEM I SAY, “BAH HUMBUG!!!! GIVE THEM A LUMP OF COAL."

PLUG-INS REVISITED

All right, I admit it. Last week’s blog was a gimcrack one. It was rather tasteless to suggest a plug-in that you place in your ass in order to understand all that Internet information. But, think about it; don’t we need some help making use of all that complicated knowledge? It may not be a smart ass plug-in but we need something to help us. Wouldn’t it be great to actually understand and use information such as “Boolean Logic”? AND, OR, NOT operators could be very helpful, if we knew how to use them. Why, we could even write computer language if we knew how to use zeros and ones. I have studied Homomorphisms and Isomorphisms but I still do not have the slightest idea what the heck they are. Propositonal calculus is way over my head. It would be great to plug in something somewhere and have instant understanding. Unlike Socrates, the only thing I know is that I do not know everything. Maybe it’s better that way.

   “REAL KNOWLEDGE IS TO KNOW THE EXTENT OF ONE’S IGNORANCE.”

                                                               Confucius