Yes, Virginia, it was a Rabbit Hole

The Strange case of mixed messages is resolved. In pursuing the matter it became evident that one of the authority voices was speaking an untruth. In plain English, he was lying to us.

The other true representative of The Company did exactly as had been promised.

We have recovered from this Rabbit Hole experience. The moral is that when thing seem contradictory it is like that deception is happening. Be On Guard.

Alice in Wonderland World is Alive and Well

Within the last hour this happily married couple fell into a rabbit hole just as Alice did in her Wonderland. The story that follows is actually true.

In order to keep our cell phones working we went to a local store that claims to represent The Company. We outlined our understanding of what is supposed to happen according recent interviews with several other representatives of The Company.

The young man with whom we were dealing contradicted practically everything that the other representative said as recently as two days ago in the same store. The young man today spoke with certainty that his understanding of The Company rules is absolutely the truth.

At this point we looked at each other and said the magic words: START OVER

Now the simple act of renewing our cell phone service has turned into this federal case of interviewing more people from The Company in order to figure out what we really have as options. It all seemed so simple and hour ago. Then we fell into this most recent rabbit hole.

We thought we were anxious about a medical appointment later today. Now we have moved beyond anxiety to some condition of mind for which no word comes to mind yet.
Medical decisions have more impact on one's life than do cell phone decisions. Just going to a doctor's office suddenly becomes way more than an appointment.

There may be a later report on the labyrinth into which we have either descended or ascended. Can a person fall up rather than down?
Delton

Remembrance Times

Today, September 11, 2011 is actually given over to public remembering. In this era of "the moment" it is rare to actually pause to call to mind an event from ten years in the past.

This impresses me as a sign of hope in American culture. History is made up of a flow of events that just keep on happening. The flow soon covers over previous events some of which can assist in learning more effective methods of managing life itself. It takes a conscious effort to pick out events worthy of remembrance.

Traumatic events like the 911 attacks of 2011 and The American Civil War of 1861-1865 are formative events in American culture. Violent events seem most likely to be the focus of public remembrance times. It apparently takes such shock treatment to get the attention of a society.

Delton

Not a car, or a Plane, but an Amusement Park Ride!

On a walk yesterday I was fortunate as to meet up with 41 year old man who is a Roller Coaster Mechanic and Manager. He is a skilled mechanic and even does some work at Mall of America.

R.R. said that statistics show that Roller Coaster and other Amusement Park rides are proven to be safer than cars. That is not hard to believe. When he said that they are safer than airplanes my attention was claimed. So I did some research and found all kinds of conflicting information. One authority said that Roller Coasters are safer than lawn chairs.  For me that would be true since I no longer frequent roller coasters.

This is the kind of information that slows down the information revolution and its glorious future. I could find a number of weblogs where people like me were making truth statements about the complexities of carnival rides.

It appears that no knows enough about much of anything to be trusted. The more limited the subject the greater the chance that a skilled and informed person could maybe get one thing clear for a limited period of time. Which leaves us at the train station of progress with no idea of when the next train is due. 

As for airplanes go to http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm for the inside scoop. 

The Postman Cometh Being Followed

On a walk this morning I chanced  upon a postal delivery person who had just stopped his vehicle to take a bag of mail and deliver it on the selected street.

Being a creature of little common sense, I opened my mouth and said, "And what is the mail about on this day?"   Just after the words left my mouth, my eyes noted that the post person was not alone. There was another postal person with a notepad and pen in hand who was in fact following the postal deliverer rather closely.

So now the inspector had something to write on his clipboard. It may have said, "Citizen interferes with postal person by asking inappropriate question. Delivery person gave two word reply "Bed and Bath". Delivery person passes trick question test."

I have noted a postal delivery truck being following by another delivery truck but this was a first personal watcher in my limited experience. Perhaps the intent is to count the aggressive dogs or cats, the broken sidewalks, or other menaces to a government employee.

This was no doubt a serious and necessary strategy. Having just been to see HMS Pinafore at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis it is difficult to avoid thoughts of songs like, "I am the inspector of the Post Office!"  There is a tune for those words which is now engraved indelibly in the mind of us all - even you.

Choose a Character

The assignment:  Choose one of the birds to represent yourself. Decide on a course of action. Now picture the reactions of the other characters to your decision. 

How does it feel to be in charge of a flock?

Photons for Breakfast

So at breakfast this morning the discussion had to do with photons and entropy. Are single photos obedient to time? Is the universe totally chained to entropy with an inevitable final condition of equal distribution of atoms across infinite space?

You might think this was happening at some exotic campus breakfast hangout involving students with nothing better to do than solve the issues of the ultimate universe early in the day. No - these were the subjects of discussion at a chain restaurant in a city of the American prairie a long way from the Ivy League or the Berkley/Palo Alto atmospheric heights.

This was church men having a quiet morning discussion.  Religion is obviously not always an exercise in escape from worldly matters and complex reasoning. Stereotypes of religion are so 20th century.

Photos at breakfast are way outside of the usual menu. Entropy is enough to quell any "have a happy day" outlook. Religious topics? It depends on the customers.


Delton

The Data Divide Challenge

With an increasing number of documents available on the web the fact is that most people do not know how to sift through them and make practical use of the data available. Governmental, economic and business transparency means little when only the technicians can make use of the information.

The data divide is between the technicians and the population in general. Jesse Lichtenstein points out that when in South India the information on 20 million land titles became digitally available it was corporations and the wealthy who hired lawyers and predatory land agents to challenge titles, export gaps in records, identify targets for bribery and snap up land titles. Transparency in itself does not guarantee good results for society.

The same misuse of data is likely happening in the US. However, the divide that is clear and certain here is between the technicians and the vast majority of people who do not have the training or time to both access and understand the implications of the data. This will continue to be a lost opportunity for productivity and decision making on all levels.

Data.gov  is subtitled "Empowering People" and provides Data and Apps, Communities, Open Government, Learn, Semantic Web and Developer's Corner.

Sunlight Foundation is subtitled Making Government Transparent and Accountable.

MAPlight.org is subtitled "Money & Politics: Illuminating the Connection".

The these three sites illustrate some of the data now available. If the data divide is to be managed the citizenry will need to become increasingly educated in the skills of accessing then understanding what the data means.  This starts right here at home.

Writing from a Balcony View of Life

When writing a commentary on life I am obliged to take a balcony view. A certain objectivity happens when one steps back from events and the daily flow in order to reflect enough to put into words the fragments of experience in which one is a participant.

The balcony view also complicates life by looking in on whatever else is going on in the lives of people within view. Here is the problem - is this process an invasion of their privacy? To be honest, the balcony view does tap into a the inner mind of fantasy. The balcony view prompts one to enter mentally into the experience of another person without investing self in that other universe.

An Irish author speaking in an interview on MPR this morning prompted me to consider the various writing formats that I am using as elements of one "book" being written by Delton. Whether it be a journal entry, a statement to a public group, a weblog, a letter to a grand daughter, a list of obligations, or a scrawled note at a Mall - all of this is a book of life. The weblogs are public but not as public as a webpage that has wide distribution.

Attempts to discipline all of this writing lead to paralysis of mind and voice. Better that I write as ideas arise. Better that I be more aggressive about inviting others to read my writing. They can easily avoid my scattered thoughts - but - some one person may find in these words a curious idea that prompts them to reveal themselves in writing. Good enough for me.

Hearing More than Words

The restaurant/bar was in north central Minnesota up in the lake country.  At the table just behind me there were four men who were evidently from the area - probably regulars at this establishment.

One of the men said, "Danny ain't dumb. He just kinda looks it." 

It dawned on me that this was not a put down. He was speaking of someone that they all knew. The man doing the speaking was no fashion plate or cultured icon. He was a guy speaking about another guy. This Danny was friend who is not any more perfect than the men around that table.

Man talk. Well, yes, men are given to blunt evaluation of each other. We do sometimes give the impression of just coming out of the cave of primitive existence. We usually aren't dumb but we often kinda look like it.

Females wonder about us and our frequently primitive ways. Actually we are not all that far from the Cave but do have some redeeming social value.

Social Network Positive Challenge

http://www.sparked.com/home appeared when researching a suggestion made by Jane McGonigal in "Reality is Broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world" published in 2011. I noted her reference to The Extraordinaries game which is intended to harness people who do internet gaming to positive social change across the globe.

Upon signing up at Sparked for The Extraordinaries the process led choosing a category, in this instance "religion", the choice came to decide on support of a specific non profit venture benefiting people somewhere in the world.  The choice for me was The African Child Foundation in Kenya, Africa. The commitment I made was to call attention to this Foundation on this web site in order to encourage more gaming people to know about and perhaps respond to this social effort.

The "Reality is Broken" is quite a challenge to American cultural notions of how a person spends time and what "work" actually means. It does raise serious questions as to what makes for fun and whether a person should put with a boring life. Apparently the number of people who are into doing games on various devices is considerable. McGonigal makes the case for using gaming for the good of society and to offer personal satisfaction while people learn how have fun and as a side effect discover how to solve life problems.  Time will tell how this works out.

Racism versus Racial Resentment

Research is apparently revealing that American racial relationships have shifted from traditional racism to something called "racial resentment". 

Tension between black and white persons is a long term American experience. As the 150th anniversary of the American Civil began earlier in April of 2011 and will continue for another four years, the issues of Civil War days will be analyzed and played out once more on the national stage.

Slavery of blacks (and others) was and is a cruel and inhuman commercializing of human beings. The economic side of race relationships is a continuing and harsh struggle. Apparently this is where racial resentment is crowding out the traditional nature of racism. Racial resentment is more difficult to recognize and yet has observable impacts. 

The March 2011 edition of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science is focused on "Race, Racial Attitudes, and Stratification Beliefs".  Scholarly essays examine various aspects of the Evolving Directions of racial issues in America. David Wilson and Darren Davis in an article entitled "Reexamining Racial Resentment: Conceptualization and Content" propose that the measuring of racial attitudes using the "Explicit Racial Resentment" measure shows underling racial resentment.


Just why does this make any difference?  I believe that as long as we American pretend that racism does not influence decisions and behaviors we have little chance of moving ahead on a just and fair society. Racism means that powerful sectors of society demean and stereotype other less powerful groups of people as inferior and inadequate, perhaps even less human.  

Marco Polo or Genghis Kahn

This is an exercise in deciding on role models. Such decisions are never ending because age takes its toll and role models disappear.

Out of the infinite choices two historical role models of the past come to mind. How did people of the time choose?  Good question.

Number 1 in time is Genghis Kahn (1162-1227). As the founder of arguably the greatest empire ever - the Mongol Empire - the first of Kahns was a conqueror of no equal in his time.  In the process of gathering most or Eurasia into the Empire the powers of force and communication  were used without boundary or mercy. Those hesitant to become vassals were simply obliterated. This was enabled by the communication across the landmass of Eurasia using horses, horsemen, and regular stations for changing horses.  Genghis Kahn was tolerant of religions so long as the people were cooperative. He himself was not a follower of any particular religion.

Number 2 is Marco Polo (1254-1324).  Father Maffeo and uncle Nicclo were merchants. Son Marco was an Italian explorer from Venice who traveled the fabled Silk Road and went all the way to Beijing in 1226 - the then capital of the Mongol Empire with the Great Kahn in charge - Kublai Kahn. Marco Polo made some 24 journeys across Eurasia and became a confidant of Kublai Kahn. We do know that he carried Christian identity and influence.

The Mongol Empire made travel possible by assuring safe routes and ready access to the far flung tribal constituencies of Eurasia. Europe had economic interests all across the vast spaces to the East. The Mongol Empire had penetrated northern Europe as far as Silesia located adjacent to Prussia in what is now Poland. Genghis Kahn made travel possible. Marco Polo used travel to extend influence and cultural identity.

As I ponder these role models hard choices come to mind. Should a person be dedicated to power and domination in whatever form is possible? Should a person be merchant minded and use whatever is provided by society to extend influence, make commerce possible and gather resources?

Actually both perspectives are alive and well in the Internet Globalized society of the 21st Century. I am working on it.

Epiretinal Membrane Challenge to Sight

On April 8 Epiretinal Surgery was performed on my left eye. During a Vitrectomy  fluid in the eye was removed and then replaced. During the surgery the membrane which was forming on the Retina was taken off.  A person is awake during the surgery with a certain amount of medication to prevent movement and pain. A patch is worn for the first day. Recovery involves using medicinal drops to prevent infection and enhance eye healing.This may continue for a month or more. Gradually normal vision will likely return.

The membrane causes a wrinkling or pinching of the retinal surface which distorts vision and may lead to macular degeneration if neglected.This surgical procedure, invented in 1969, makes intervention possible and enables continuing sight.

Nahum Tells It Like It Is

The Hebrew Bible includes some rather pointed commentaries on society. Several thousand years does not seem to matter in social analysis.

The Prophet Nahum in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament for Christians) has these words at the close of his brief tract.  Verses 16 and 17 of Chapter 3 of Nahum.

"More merchants are in your city than there are stars in the sky--

But they are like locusts that eat everything and then fly away.

Your guards and your officials are swarms of locusts.

On a chilly day they settle on a fence,

But when the sun comes out, they take off to who-knows-where."

In the present situation it appears that the merchants and officials are in a titanic
struggle for who can best run the world. All who are not part of either business or
government are observers and resource providers in the grand design of things.

The Head of the Line

German ancestry makes a person aware of a strong concept regarding the aging process. The idea is that as family members pass on, those who continue alive move closer to the "head of the line". The image of who is now assigned to carry the flag forward makes the concept clear.

In American culture it appears that most senior age people are no longer influential elements of the social mix. Because of health care costs and pensions the continuing presence of people into advanced age is, in the minds of some, a social problem. Efforts to reduce costs of social services strongly affects the very young and the very old .

In an era of technology developments governed by market forces it is the sectors of society with money to spend that are most highly valued. The younger members of society who have minimal experience in care giving and the effects of illness are given to being restless with those who seem unable to keep up with that which is new and constantly undergoing change. That which was once understood to be the "wisdom of elders" is generally dispensed with as irrelevant to the demands of a here and now life style.

It is in this context that persons of age can regain for themselves a greater dignity and sense of purpose. This approach has to be grasped by people of age - it will surely not be presented gratis by eager younger people claiming the high ground for themselves.

Picking up the flag is the task of those who sense a responsibility for the ongoing human family. When a person becomes the eldest of a family the moment arrives to take one's place in the march and carry on with dignity and grace. The flag is there to be carried.

Capitalism Revisited

In my life long project of getting a fix on economics, one of the most difficult tasks has been understanding hard core Capitalism.
On February 5, 2011 in the Business section of the Star Tribune an article by Sharon Bernstein of the Los Angeles Times quotes a merchant who puts capitalism in words that I can understand.
Beth Mansfield, spokeswoman for CKE Restaurants Inc says: "The bottom line is that we're in the business of making money, and we make money off what we sell....If we wanted to listen to the food police and sell nuts and berries and tofu burgers...we'd be out of business."
The issue for the article is whether fast food chains have any responsibility for the health and welfare of their clients or is it entirely a matter of making money for CKE Restaurants Inc. and its owners and stock holders.
The words of Mansfield could be edited to substitute "education", or "medical research" or "my doctor" for "food police".
CKE Restaurants has to make money to stay in existence in the real world. I do not argue that fact of life.
My problem regards who is to pay for the after effects of what the restaurants do in order to stay in business. In a climate when money for social programs like medical care, medical research, and provisions for destitute people are being reduced, how far can an economy go when these costs are not factored into the cost of production and distribution of products?
I can deal with issues when all the cards are on the table. This particular game is not yet in focus or on any table of which I am aware. The search goes on.