neighborhood store

Do you know your neighbor? How about the house just past your neighbor? Most of the people I know do a good job at knowing the families that live near them. But it seems common in the U.S. for people to not associate with their neighbors. Why are we drifting toward this commonality? Is it important to know your neighbor? I think it is, and helpful too. As we building friendships we build a support system. A trusted neighbor can be so many things. A trusted neighbor can help watch your home when you are away, he can feed your pets, or water your plants. A big plus is that you can run to your neighbor’s house to borrow something you need when you are in a pinch, even if you never become long-time friends.

My oldest brother lived in Finland for about two years. He posed the question one holiday: “What would people do if this country (U.S.) shut down like Finland does?” He says that there is not one store open on holidays, the whole country shuts down. What wound happen in the US of A if all the shops were closed for the holidays? More and more stores and entertainments are opening up on holidays; anything to make the extra buck. That is the sword of capitalism! Anyway, would you get along if there was nothing open on Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas? More importantly, if someone knocked on your door and asked to borrow a small quantity of some household staple would you generously accept?

relatively oblivious

So I have lived in a bubble all my life. There are a lot of things that I take for granted and many other things I am simply unaware of. Many things I don't understand on a national level, let alone an international level. There are rules and standards that apply globally and had to be decided by somebody somewhere. I was thinking about time lines today and wonder what global committee took it upon themselves to decide how and where the world would be divided into 24 different time segments? Did some guy just decide this is how it should be and then everyone else just said there is no point in arguing it? What about the International Date Line, who picked the Pacific Ocean? Was it voted upon or did was it just that that is how it was and it worked.

After doing a little research I found that there are actually 40 different time zones around the globe, and discovered several interesting things regarding global timekeeping. One such peculiarity is that the IDL is actually de facto, drawings on maps and charts are simply the construction of the cartographers who make them. There is actually a lot to time zones and international time keeping and can get rather confusing. For example, do to a jog in the IDL there are actually 3 different days being observed for 2 hours of each one revolution of the earth. So it turns out that there is (or was) an international committee that decided on a few necessary items- the International Meridian Conference of 1884. I wonder how many people made it to this conference in 1885 or how many different countries were invited/ represented. They were the ones that decided a ‘Universal Day’ would be midnight to midnight GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and thus the start and end of this Universal Day with the IDL falls opposite this median.

Once again one little intrigue has lead to a myriad of trivial information to be regurgitated over and over in my little brain. Knowing things makes you smarter!

time and money

Time and money are the two things that everyone wishes he and she had more of. It is striking to me the relation between the two and at the same time a stark contrast. Everyone is given the same amount of time in a day and days in a week. Time however is not equal to all. Some have less and some have more- only in the sense that time is lived and we each have more or less to live. Some live to their 100s while others die in youth or young adult life. Each person has only a given amount of time. Money however is seemingly endless, if you can find means there is no end to the money you may accumulate. Time is frequently exchanged for money. Time is a commodity. Just as we may exchange good for good, or money for something of necessity, time is exchanged for money. Time can be wasted as well as money and any other physical possession. Both time and money can be spent on things of little or no value.

So what is my point or the point of these ramblings? I don’t have a point to this, my friend and I were just discussing the topic earlier and I found it intriguing and thought to post it and invite others to contemplate such impractical notions. What if our money were like our time in that we had no idea how much we had left, would we spend it less cavalierly? Do we sometimes live out the time of our lives cavalierly? If money were finite and we only had so much how differently would we think?

hugs

Hugs are great, in fact I wish I had one right now. When life goes sour and the building blocks of life get kicked out from under you a hug lets you know that there is someone there who cares about you and what happens to you. Hugs can be for so many things and they mean different things from different people. They can be for happiness or excitement, for friendship or for appreciation. They can be for encouragement, for sincerity, for pleasure, for affection, or for understanding. Most importantly however, they are for comfort. Hugs provide comfort. The problem with hugs is that they are not given (or appreciated) very well from far away. That is part of what makes them what they are, that they are personal and embracing. Some people don't like hugs- I think they need to live a little. Hugs are two sided, there is a receiving end, which is a great end to be on but there is also the giving end. Hugs are gifts. They are an act of service and kindness. You can't very well have a hug if no one is willing to offer one. The interesting thing is once a hug is offered and excepted than both the giver and the receiver become receiver and both are embraced. In giving we receive! I am going to go find someone to hug. I encourage you to do the same; find someone one who needs a hug and give him or her your all.

mothers

Mother's Day was the other day and I got so busy with preparing my talk that I forgot to write my thoughts on mothers. My mother is a very special mom. She is amazing. I love my mother and I am glad that she know that. Without mothers I firmly believe that the world would fall apart, reverting to chaos and disaster. "Family: A Proclamation to the World" says that the disintegration of the family (of which mothers are a key part) will bring upon communities, nations and countries grave calamities. Without mothers society would be a chaotic nightmare. With this thought in mind this past week, thinking that without mothers nations would fall, I read a familiar church hymn and realized that though it is not about mothers its words speak of mothers and what they do.

They the builders of the Nation blazing trails along the way;
Stepping stones for generations were there deeds of every day.
Building new and firm foundations, pushing on the wild frontier,
forging onward ever onward

Service ever was their watch-cry love became their guiding star;
Courage their unfailing beacon, radiating near and far.
Every day some burden lifted, every day some heart to cheer,
Every day some hope the brighter

As an ensign to the nation they unfurled the flag of truth,
Pillar, guide, and inspiration to the hosts of waiting youth.
Honor, praise, and veneration to the founders we revere!
List our song of adoration Blessed, Honored Mother Dear!

I am certainly grateful for mothers. I am especially grateful for my mother. She has taught me so much and continues to teach by her loving example.

life and technology

What is the life span of a laptop? My laptop is now 2 years old, it had its birthday this earlier this month and it is showing its age. They talk about dog-years and human-years but what about computer years? If I were a computer I’d be dead now! Or sitting in some antique shop or Smithsonian. I think that as far as laptops go two years is getting up there in age; desktops seem to have a little longer life expectance but maybe because they are more easily adaptable. Perhaps it is similar to the difference in life expectance between guys and gals. Anyway, the life of a computer is not so much based on how long it will last but the technology it contains (with the exception perhaps of PC’s blue screen of death). That computer from 1989 that my dad has sitting in the corner gathering dust will still turn on and play that DOS based, 5 ¼ floppy of Super Solvers but that is all it will do. Remember the days before there were mice (mouse’s)? The days of Oregon Trail in the school computer lap on brand new Apples. Weren’t those the days! There are flash drives now with more memory than the memory of that entire computer. My laptop is what is know as a “convertible,” it’s screen can fold over and I can use it as either a regular laptop or as a tablet. I am surprised that I do not see more of them than what I do around today. I think MAC has successfully taken much of their market. So, my computer is old but is still very much alive and kicking. I have had to replace the hard drive and I have dinged it up a little but it gets the job done.

plain ink

Every time I go to Wal-Mart I find something to blog about. You remember my last blog about Wal-Mart. And consequently they have sidewalk chalk now and I bought some. Anyway today we discuss index cards. I went to buy 3x5 cards today because I ran out. I bought my first pack at the UVSC book store but found that they were not the cheapest. So looking at 3x5 cards at Wal-Mart I discovered to my dismay that the lined cards cost about 80% more than lineless, blank cards. What is up with that! I like the blank cards because I can print on them, and you would think that they would be cheaper because they do not use require the ink for the lines. But No, that is not the case and once again I am dissatisfied with another trip to Wal-Mart. The cards were cheaper than the ones at the bookstore but still! That’s not right!

point of view

Every story has two sides. That is the trouble with life. That is the one thing that causes the most problems. I think I said once that it was humanities forgetful nature but I think that the inability/ unwillingness to understand is greater. If each person could simply understand where the other person is ‘coming from’ and respect that then life would be much more passive. Today there was an event at my work that I was not a witness to but was given the details of by my coworkers who played a role in it and then, later this evening I was given the opposing sides story as related by the sister-in-law of the costumer involved. Both sides I am sure have truth to them but I also understand that I was told the one side by a direct contributor and the other by a third party, merely a relay of one sided information. Both sides are naturally bias so where is the truth and how is it uncovered? It is just a curious thing that the same thing, whatever it may be, can be seen so differently by different people just standing at different angles to the object. Point of view is what people are made of. We all come from different circumstances and thus perceive things differently. And it is amazing to me how different the views are sometimes.

eco me!

My previous post makes me wonder, Do I have more epidermis than some short fat guy of equal displacement? If me and some short guy displace the same amount we are of equal volume but if I am tall and skinny it will require more surface area to cover me. ?? That's not weird!

eco this!

I was lying bed last night finishing up some reading before going to sleep and I reached over and grabbed my bottle of water to take a swig. It was then when I noticed the words “Eco-Shape” on the side of it. Arrowhead claimed my water bottle to use 30% less plastic than other bottles of that volume. I found that to be a little striking. I do not know if you have ever seen the eco-shape bottle before but it is filled with ridges and waves and dimples in the molding. So how do they say that this is an “eco-shape”? Most people know that the shortest distance (in this case least material) is accomplished in a straight line. So what’s with all the contours and the dimples in the bottle?

That is what started this blog but then upon further investigation I found an even more interesting fact. The “eco-shape” bottle is taller and skinnier than its predecessor. That brought to mind an old algebra problem I had once about a farmer and his fence, you may remember it. A farmer wants to corral his animals in a given area with 4 sides but wants to do it with the least amount of money, so with what dimensions will the fence be cheapest? The fence will be cheapest with four equal length sides. A square. It turns out that you will always use the least amount of material with a square as opposed to any rectangular configuration. The same holds true with 3-Dimensional objects. You can contain the same volume in a short stubby container with less surface area than you would in a tall skinny container. So this Arrowhead “eco-shape” container isn’t really doing anything for me. I will give it its thinner plastic but everything else about the bottle doesn’t really cry out eco friendly.

falling

It is quite an exciting feeling when you are cruising along at about 15 hundred feet all find and dandy, when all of the sudden, you are falling. What a thrill! At 1700 ft/min it is quite a rush. Now I have never jumped out of an airplane for such a rush but I think this is more fun, but it won't stop me from doing it if the opportunity presents itself. Today in flight class we did auto rotations, the ability of the helicopter to "fly" (really more like fall safely) in the event of a power failure. The blades continue to spin and you still have control and most importantly- the ability to land gracefully. It is such a cool experience. The reasoning behind my thinking that auto rotations are better than parachuting is because you don't have any sudden yank, smashing your acceleration as if against some invisible concrete wall- you can gently roll on the throttle giving you a gentle return to reality. Another up side is you don't have to jump out; that is silliness (once again this would not necessarily hinder me from doing it)! So those are my thoughts on falling, one of the most happy feelings in the world if done with the right equipment and as long as when you touch the ground it is done softly.

brace for impact

I thought about it today and it seems that that is not necessarily a good idea. As I understand it the more limber and loose you are the greater your chance of making it though uninjured. We read about auto accidents where the victim is injured or even killed and the selfish drunk that was too wasted to clearly determine that he was drunk and shouldn't drive walks away without injury. How is that for unfair? The drunk is loose and mellow, the victim screaming in terror, pressing himself firmly against the back of his seat with his hands against the steering wheel and foot floored against the break.

On a less sobering note I recall an article I read once about cats. Among other things it was mentioned that a cat will relax itself as it falls from a high plain. Said the article, "Relaxing also causes the impact force to be spread out over more area when the cat lands, resulting in a decrease in injuries to cats' limbs when they fall seven or more stories." That sounds pretty amazing. So why do we "brace for impact"? Another thing too- is there really any point to closing your eyes? it doesn't help anything, and you miss all the action.

weekdays

I wear black pants every weekday. What does this mean? It is different than if I were to say I wear black pants every day. But they are all week days. So who decided that there were week days and not week days? But you know what I mean when I say the first. So is a week really only five days in length? I suppose it can be argued to that point. And while I am on the subject it seems only right to call it the “weekends.” There are two of them. Yes they do touch each other, but there are still two of them, and sense they aren’t week days I am going to call them peak days. Most people amongst the masses look forward to these two days. One is a peak play or get-everything-that-you-need-to-done-in day and the other is naturally the peak day of spirituality. It is great. Two days that the world definitely could not do without. So why are they not weekdays?

training

I started Helicopter School this week and it has been great. I have been here in UT now for about a month and a half and I am finally starting what I have come out here to do. I now go to the airport every weekday. I have 2 to 2 1/2 hours of one on one instruction from Vincent Baker, my instructor, and then he and I go fly an R22 Robertson helicopter for about an hour. It is wonderful. I am having a blast. I think my favorite part of flying thus far is air-taxiing. It is a blast. I love zipping around 5-20 feet off the ground. Flying at high altitudes is fun too but it isn’t quite as exciting as zipping around the airport or somewhere else. So far I have learned straight and level flight; turning, accelerating, and decelerating while maintaining steady altitude; climbs and descents, and hovering. Hovering is fun too, but is takes a little work to do well. I have not yet perfected it, I have only done it twice, but I am not too bad at it- especially for only doing it twice.

There is a lot to know about helicopters and a whole lot more than what I originally thought goes into flying- that goes for both rotary and fixed wing flying. It is amazing what all effects flight.

All in all, school is great, it is a lot of learning but that is what makes it so exciting. I love learning. If only I loved learning as much in high school as I do know, I would probably be a whole lot smarter.

too perfect

Consider with me a moment perfection. I heard recently an idle remark “it is just a little too perfect.” That doesn’t sound right, too perfect! What is perfect? Perfect is absolute, it is the best, the highest point of achievement. Therefore something cannot be beyond perfection or “too” perfect. “Pinnacle of perfection!” that is a term used often in regards to perfection. So in my mind I have come to the conclusion that perfection, if plotted would resemble an inversed parabola, or perhaps more ideally, a bell curve.

As I ponder more on it, it occurs to me that there are two different forms (definitions) of perfect. There is perfect which is often associated with middle ground or balance- “not too… and not too.., but perfect,” and then there is perfection as associated with supremacy or the best, “as good as it gets,” into which category Godly Perfection would fall. In such instances as the first, as in temperature or judgment, Graph A would appropriately depict the situation, the vertical axis representing degree of perfection, the horizontal axis would respectively be hot and cold or mercy and justice, with the extremes lying at either end.

The latter form which I will call supreme perfection is not a middle ground between two extremes as the former is. It is not a balance. It is a progression. Though supreme perfection has many different examples its best example, and the one that I wish to expound here, is that of Eternal progression, Divine Perfection. It took me a few days to think of what this graph may look like but I think I now have it. As already mentioned Divine Perfection is not a balance between good and evil, nor is it a balance between body and spirit. It is not a balance of anything. It is a pinnacle. It is the lofty height of humanity to which we each fix our gaze and our path. It is the greatest of greats. I imagine its graph to look much like that of Graph B, the square root function. Part of why I thought of this particular graph is my feeling that the closer something approaches supreme perfection it requires more effort to reach it so the curve will flatten out drastically. So in this instance the horizontal, or y-axis is effort, as the vertical remains degree of perfection. This is actually a watered down version of my entire thoughts on this form of perfection but that is not really the topic of this post. It is a topic for another day; it really does get quite better and at least makes much more sense in my mind.

In the first cast to be too perfect would be to be to the left or right of the climax and therefore no longer be perfect. In the case of the second too perfect is folly. If perfect is supreme, the height of heights, how do you go beyond it? It is a lot of thought and writing for such a conclusion but that is me I suppose. I am not the simplest individual.

All this from an idle word, or remark. Who know that such a thing can have so much sway, or can provoke so much thought in my mind. Be careful what you say around me.

animal of choice

It is a question whimsically asked on occasion, if you were an animal what animal would you be? Or what animal do you feel you most resemble? Now it would be cheating, I suppose, to say ‘a human’ for people forget every now and then that we too are animals. But I have had difficulty with this in the past just as I have had difficulty with choosing favorites. There are so many options, so many good things to be or traits I posses, so many possibilities that I can not narrow it all to one. The more and more I ponder it however I have in recent months settled on a conclusion. The subject of my conclusion, of my settlement is an adventurous creature, full of energy and curiosity. He is tame and docile, yet contains a vein of ferocity and rebellion. He is a wanderer, a nomad at times, yet loves attention and affection, willing to return such affection in abundance. He is playful, generally passive, and struts a tinge of arrogance. These have been my thoughts through the last few months and today I read the following description of this animal by D. H. Lawrence. Said he in his book Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine, “Of all the animals, there is no denying it, the Timsy is the most pretty, the most fine. It is not her mere corpus that is beautiful; it is her bloom of aliveness, her ‘infinite variety’; the soft, snow-flakey lightness of her, and at the same time her lean, heavy ferocity.” I find these words accurate and beautiful. The common cat is a very alive creature and one of note. There are so many qualities that it possesses and I feel it a worthy vessel of an animal embodiment of my personal attributes.

think to yourself

Is there any other kind? You often hear “…I thought to myself…” and I wonder if there is any other kind. I even say it myself! If you think about something you are obviously thinking about it to yourself, it would be rather difficult to think something to another person. You can definitely think about another person but you can’t think to another person. Our thoughts are our own so why in English do we say that we thought to ourselves? It is proper to differentiate between those we speak to by adding a pronoun and where better suited a proper noun but to think is not to speak. Thinking hopefully comes before speaking. I suppose that collectively a group of individuals can think on a subject and that is what we are differentiating in the case of thought. But in that case we would be ‘thinking with.’ One would not say that he is thinking to a group of friends, he would say that he was thinking with a group of friends. So why do we say we think to ourselves? Is it proper? I think it is redundant.

soap

Maybe it is because I hardly ever watch TV, but it is not like I watch it a whole lot in my younger years… What happened to soap commercials? I was lathering up the other morning with a bar of Lever 2000 (for all my two thousand parts) and I thought to myself that I don’t think there are soap commercials on like there used to be. And then I thought “why would that be?” Soap is still a daily part of all hygienically stable people’s lives. There is still market for it. Are people just not interested in what kind of soap they use? Perhaps there are other things now days that people are more interested in. Clive Barnes has been quoted as saying that “television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.” TV, including commercials is what ‘the people’ want, if they don’t want it, it quickly becomes not TV. So it is not that people don’t want soap, it is just that there are “more important” things to advertise.

For someone who doesn’t really watch TV I sure have a lot to say about it.

four, floor & flour

The letters o-u can make both the “ow” sound and the ō sound. Why is it that four says ‘for’ and flour says ‘flower’? All you are doing is adding an “L.” And to think that a person floating down a stream is not a flow-er! What is going on here, I haven’t even made it to the thought that the word floor has the double ‘O’ which every first-grader knows makes the “ooooo” sound in words like food. This only goes to show that American’s not only enjoy braking rules (or is it rools), they seem to look (luke; wait a minute, double ‘O’ can’t make too different sounds too!) for new ones to make up just to break them. Maybe that is not what it proves (proov’s) but it seems to show that we enjoy to complicate things. If you take our and put an 'F' in front of it you get four but that 'f' now magically changes the way the 'our' sounds, add an "fl" and we are back to 'our' again. It is a good thing we do not teach kids all these words at once so that they have time to forget some of the rules before learning the next word.

read the following line out loud as fast as you can; it's a killer.
our, hour, four, flour, floor, flower, slower, flow?

punctuation

I have said previously that words are materials with which we build. I wish to take that as my basis for the topic of punctuation. Punctuation seems to me to be the element that brings those sentences, those paragraphs to life. Not just that but can you imagine reading with no punctuation. I have actually done this and it is not very easy. Several of my brothers in writing letters fail to punctuate so in attempting to read meaning may get lost, or worse, misinterpreted. Every individual has his or her unique style of thinking and consequently his or her unique style of both writing and reading. The way we create sentences is derived from the way we think. Because I think up sentences different from the way that even my brother may think up sentences punctuation is the key, the cipher if you will used to comprehend that sentence. True also is the fact that a sentence can take on an entirely different meaning if punctuated differently. Now, I am by no means an English major, in fact English was one of two least favorite subjects throughout high school. However, even though I am not very schooled in the art of punctuation it seems to me a not to difficult task to punctuate my thoughts. I know I mess up but it is better to try and fail than to not have it there at all. Punctuation is the top hat on the Frosty of words. It’s the pixie dust to their happy thoughts. It does something magical to them. It transforms them. It brings them to life.

unfinished thought

You ever have a thought and write half of it down but then get busy and forget to finish it? Or formulate an idea and start talking only to realize that that idea was only half realized and was interrupted by the opening of the mouth? We have all done it. I have a thought that I started to record one day but did not finish. Now I have a good portion of a thought recorded with no idea where I was headed with it. I suppose I could continue with the thought in a direction that seems suiting but then it wouldn’t really be the same. I can’t just leave it. I have noticed several of these occurrences in my journal- lying in bed at 11:00 or 12:00 at night, tired ready to go to bed but want to jot down the proceedings of the day. So I start and soon realize that I had more than I thought I had to say so I put it down telling myself that I will finish it the next night only to get to the next night and find myself in the same predicament. It is a vicious cycle. It was an excellent stopping point, it really was. It is just too bad that it gives no hint or insight to the next sentence. I know there was more to be said but what? Not what would make sense coming next but what had I meant to say next. That’s the killer. It is just enough to clearly be going somewhere but not quite enough to know where that where is. It was something masterful, something crafty, something thought provoking; I know it was.

what if...?

What does it really matter? You read it or hear it all the time; What if…? To me what if, as far as the past is concerned, never happened so why bother with it. What if I was never born? What if my father married someone else? What if the South won the war? Sure it might be fun to think about every now and then but to me it is not a serious question. In my amateur understanding of the universe no action or event is entirely without cause or effect so to capitulate the notion of one act or event not happening is submit too that the events surrounding it must have never happened or must not have gone down the way they did, and according to the law of snowballs this can have a very serious impact. The example of “what if I was never born?” leads me to think of the classic Jimmy Stewart movie It’s a Wonderful Life. I think the movie does a nice job of capturing the complete change of an entire town in one what if. It is like a completely separate dimension. With each event building on the next in time to remove or alter one is to affect all that proceed. To ask if there would be slavery today if the South had won the Civil War, or if you could have had a chance with a girl (or boy) if you had done something a little different are not, in my opinion, accurate questions. There may be stipulations in which it is appropriate but no event, as individuals, stands alone being affected by only one thing, one instance. Furthermore, that fact is that it didn’t happen so why fret it. As said by Disney, “hakuna matata!”

tv commercials

“You can tell the state of a society by their TV commercials.” In church on Sunday someone gave a talk and they made this comment. It is funny that this was mentioned because a week or two ago I was doing something on the computer and the TV was on and there was some sort of show on, anyway the show wasn’t’ important what is important was the commercials. It seemed that all the commercials were on diets or weight loss pills or exercise programs or something of the sort. The thought came to mind, “What does it say about the show if the only commercials associated with it are diet commercials?” I think I could hear the TV set screaming out “you must be fat and lazy to sit and watch this stupid show so here, try out these products.”

fun with words

Building things with words? I can build things with words! I enjoy building things. Though I have never been a big fan of reading or writing I realize something- writing is building. It is building things with words. Not only is it building sentences but it is building stories, characters, plots, ideas. It is great. You should try it; thinking of it as building makes it so much more fun.

canada

Where does Canada come from? We in the US of A are taught about our blessed nation and its divine origin, with its Heavenly inspired constitution, but what about our neighbors. Now it may have been during one of the many years of schooling in which I was not paying attention, for which I regret immensely, but I do not recall learning of the formation and history of our neighbor countries. Is it important? I think it is; and I am not very much in to history. I am starting to get more and more in to it but in the past I could probably care less. I regret that too. I know we (the United States) ran in to a little trouble with Mexico in our establishing our self as a nation. That I remember, but I don’t recall any thing about Canada. Perhaps I am just ignorant and every other 23 year old out there knows and paid attention in school, but I think it is important to know not only of the nation in which you live and breathe and have your freedom, but of those nations that border it. Often those bordering nations have an influence on how the one nation comes to be. What strikes me is that the America’s were a ‘new’ land in the late 1700s and people of all over Europe traveled, risking their lives, in coming here to escape religious oppression. Canada I believe was mainly French populated, right? So did the French just not like the way the “American’s” were doing things in establishing a constitution and decided to go off and make their own new nation? Did Canada battle with France as America battled with Brittan? Why was I not interested in these things in high school where I may have been taught them?