Shallow pool

As the commercial begins, a crowd is gathering in an auditorium to watch someone perform.  A piano sits center-stage.  The crowd grows; then, the camera focuses on a husband and wife.  They ask where their son is, making the viewer aware that the son is small since he still needs adult supervision.  As the couple look around the auditorium from their seats, the light dims and the pianist begins playing.  Panic-striken, the husband and wife realize their son is seated at the piano, his hands pressing the keys to a simple song.  They try to figure out exactly what to do about this when from the side of the stage strides the musician that everyone has come to see.  He doesn't chastise the 10-year-old, call for security, or even stop the boy from playing.  Instead, he joins the boy on the bench, whispers to him to continue playing, and adds a very sophisticated rhythm to the simple notes being played.  The master turned what could have been a fiasco into something touching, showing his true talent in adding sophistication to an otherwise simple tune.  He had the human touch along with his masterful expertise.

It sounds simple.  Focus on the most pressing problem.  Don't waste time in fixing it.  Don't act poorly as you are solving the problem.  The outcome will be touching, astounding.  Zuckerberg put it in the following words.

Focus on Impact

If we want to have the biggest impact, the best way to do this is to make sure we always focus on solving the most important problems. It sounds simple, but we think most companies do this poorly and waste a lot of time. We expect everyone at Facebook to be good at finding the biggest problems to work on.

Is this something that kids 6-18 can learn to do?  First they are the problem, someone helps them with great finesse.  Then, they learn what causes problems.   And, finally they learn to address problems, feebly at first, but with increasing finesse as they become older.  The word mastery means exactly that by age 18, not proficient, or minimally skilled, or regular, or average.  It means seeing a little boy who ventured onto a stage, unknowingly attracted to a piano that invited him to play (he didn't know it was showtime), and walk onto the stage to add zest and life to what the boy has to offer, so that the crowd gives a standing ovation by the end of the song.

Sure someone 18 can do that.  But not by being dumped into a group with 25-30 others their same age for 12 straight years.  Nor by being given less than 15 minutes a day of personal time with someone who teaches basic principles over and over to the mean of the group, or worse yet, to the lowest common denominator of the group.  Not even by allowing "involvement" by participating in group projects.  And certainly not by dulling the mind with mindless repetition, usually with homework, but with the normal "first run" of a concept sometimes.  There is no impact using this method.  And focus is out of the question for content redundantly presented.

So who works for Zuckerberg?  I at least know the pool of people he didn't draw from, and that is a very large pool.

Disparate worlds

Last week Facebook went public.  I guess that was inevitable since it was one of the world's largest corporations.  However, Zuckerberg took the time to write his new investors that the original mission of the company was not to become a company.  He wrote a lengthy letter to his investors to let them know that his mission is the same as when he started Facebook even before it became a privately held company.  The very last portion of his letter is below.

He is right for his own company and he is right in the way the world is beginning to turn around, which is different from the way the world has revolved in the past.  There is a whole generation coming up that will be at odds with itself because they will have to enter a professional daycare institution that is diametrically opposed to the principles below.  

Children from 6-18 will want what Zuckerberg has written about here.  But, they could never work for FB because they will have been trained by a system that will dilute their efforts into mediocrity and deceive their thinking about success, saying that it has made them ready for their future.  It's a sad day when they realize that they have been duped.

Simply reading his five principles will allow a person to see how far the current training is from what the most financially successful young person on the planet says he wants his employees to be known for.   Zuckerberg is pledging that the people who invest and work with him can be reputed for the following 5 principles.

Focus on Impact

If we want to have the biggest impact, the best way to do this is to make sure we always focus on solving the most important problems. It sounds simple, but we think most companies do this poorly and waste a lot of time. We expect everyone at Facebook to be good at finding the biggest problems to work on.

Move Fast

Moving fast enables us to build more things and learn faster. However, as most companies grow, they slow down too much because they're more afraid of making mistakes than they are of losing opportunities by moving too slowly. We have a saying: "Move fast and break things." The idea is that if you never break anything, you're probably not moving fast enough.

Be Bold

Building great things means taking risks. This can be scary and prevents most companies from doing the bold things they should. However, in a world that's changing so quickly, you're guaranteed to fail if you don't take any risks. We have another saying: "The riskiest thing is to take no risks." We encourage everyone to make bold decisions, even if that means being wrong some of the time.

Be Open

We believe that a more open world is a better world because people with more information can make better decisions and have a greater impact. That goes for running our company as well. We work hard to make sure everyone at Facebook has access to as much information as possible about every part of the company so they can make the best decisions and have the greatest impact.

Build Social Value

Once again, Facebook exists to make the world more open and connected, and not just to build a company. We expect everyone at Facebook to focus every day on how to build real value for the world in everything they do.

Thanks for taking the time to read this letter. We believe that we have an opportunity to have an important impact on the world and build a lasting company in the process. I look forward to building something great together.
Mark Zuckerberg

Brilliant anomalies

Today was a beautiful day.  It started nicely - 60 degrees, increased to 73 during the day, and is back to 62 at the current hour.  Most of the morning was cloudy with the sun popping in and out of clouds.  The afternoon was the opposite, mostly sunny with the clouds covering the sun just every once in a while.

But today is an anomaly.  There aren't many days that have been close to this one in the history of record keeping for January 31st.  I love anomalies.  They happen in life once in a while.  And, when they happen, life is as brilliant and radiant as a nova burst.  There is still light in my life from  my most recent anomaly because nova bursts are intense and shed light for many light years.

Patterns of behavior

 I love the term Language Behavior.  I never knew the term until I was about 30.  I had never really thought in terms of language having behavior.  It's a personification, however, that has a lot of meaning.  Language does behave a certain way because of all the patterns in it.  Patterns show up in language in nearly every linguistic area.  Grammatically, patterns fill the language books, such as the regularization of verbs.  Prosodically, patterns fill our tones and melodies, such as the way questions are intoned.  Semantically, patterns can be seen in ways that signal what a listener would expect if sentences are said a certain way, such as the use of a stock phrase, a dialectal phrase, or a borrowed phrase from another language.  There are many patterns language fits into.

This idea makes it possible to reduce language to quantifiable terms and measure it.  For example, if people in their writing would have certain sentence lengths, like t-units, then their writing would be much more readable.  If sentence length and vocabulary frequencies are combined, then those that read written language can be measured into imaginary units, such as the lexile.  And, if stretches of utterances are recorded and sifted for repetitive words versus unique words, such as the Type-token Ratio, then one could find topics of discomfort for those who are speaking.

Knowing the behavior in language, one can start to draw some conclusions.  For example, it seems ludicrous for vocabulary study to be undertaken without an eye toward frequency in language.  Likewise, it is absurd to teach any part of grammar without the noticeable patterns that occur with words and their placement in sentences.  And, it's impossible to teach writing with any competence unless the writing follows patterns to organize around or the strategic use and placement of words exhibiting sophistication.

Our language behavior gives us away in every area of life because people know how to read the behaviors.  And I'm guilty.  Very measurably my patterns have given away exactly where my heart is.  And it underlies my hope and faith so obviously.

Front

Facades are great because people use them to present what they want people to see.  They can decorate them and make them beautiful to gaze at.  Facades have something very different behind them than what they represent on the front of them.  Movies use facades often.  They can create, for example, a whole main street of a western town - a general store, a saloon, a hotel, a bank, a jail, a blacksmith shop, and a doctor's office.  But if you were to go through the front door of these facades, you would see nothing of what you would expect.  Go in the door to the jail, expecting to see a cell, and you see nothing but dirt.  It's a facade.  Go in the door to the general store, and you don't see rows of things to buy.  You see dirt or mountains or desert or whatever is behind the facade.  Go through any of the facade doors and you know that nothing is behind the front of the building.  It's just a store front.

What I see everyday in myself as I work or go about my daily business is genuine in that I work at what I want, but I know that behind the door of the job is no heart, no real passion.  What is all the busy-ness fronting for?  For something?  For someone?  My heart presents what I want people to know and see. Deep care and reason for life have been deep-sixed.

Facades can be replaced with the real thing, of course.  The heart can show its passion, its life, its reason for carrying on.  I trust that that will one day be resurrected.  It's just not this moment in time.

A champion at 9

The Stars played Anaheim tonight.  It was a pretty good game, nothing to write home about, but enjoyable nonetheless.  If one were to look at the shot count, Dallas never should have won.  Anaheim had to have had twice the number of shots.  Much of the game's action took place on the Anaheim end of the ice.  But, Dallas was lucky.  They won 1-0. 

It's a thing of beauty to watch talented athletes skate over the ice at high speeds all the while working on maneuvering a puck into a goal.  Talented skaters every one.  As I was watching this game, I was reminded of a young man who turned 9 today.  He's a hockey player.  He's talented at skating and works hard at being a great athlete.  He's a champion.  His amazing mother has raised him to be the best he can be in hockey and in every other arena in life.  In a year and a half he'll get to go to the camp for champions in the Hill Country.  Happy Birthday my champion young man!

Cycle of the sensational

When I was growing up, I never heard of what is going to be happening tomorrow.  The phenomenon had not been discovered yet.  As a young adult, I heard of the discovery because NASA had begun watching the sun.  Just 5 years ago, I had heard of this recently discovered happening and seen a few catastrophic scenarios of the sun's hyperactivity during one of its anniversaries in an 11-year activity cycle, but it was not within my daily experience. 

But today, the phenomenon was reported with the weather as if it was a common occurrence.  The weather anchor reported a coming rain storm that would have 100% coverage of the area.  He reported on the drought.  And, yes, as if he was reporting the same routine information, he reported that the sun was at its peak in activity and had released a flare that would reach earth tomorrow.  Three pictures showed the flare, but there was no fanfare.  The anchor merely reported that people could expect interrupted cell phone service periodically, broken internet service from time to time throughout the day, but not particularly strong radioactivity.  Only in some parts of the world would people get radiated to the extent of taking an x-ray....  Next item.

Wow.  What a step forward in weather reporting.  Sun activity and its effects on Earth as a part of the daily routine.  I wouldn't want to live in any previous age.

I think there's a lesson here.  As civilization progresses, it gets smarter.  And, the sensational becomes the mundane as time progresses, making way for something else to be sensational.  That's the normal pattern.  It works just like short and long term memory.  Our educational system needs to also learn this lesson.  They seem to hang on to what was sensational behind us in time and perpetuate it as sensational.  But, the landscape is ever-changing, allowing the stupendous discoveries and events to be important for a time, then cycle through to the ordinary.

In August of 2012, a very sophisticated Mars laboratory will land on that planet.  I look forward to hearing the weather of Mars on newscasts not too long after that.  Sensational today, ordinary tomorrow.  That's the natural way.  I wish those who teach would follow the natural way, not keep youth looking backward.

Closing in on signature time

More on the disappearance of reading and writing:

The new commercial advertising Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet shows the user flipping screens.  The narrator's voice is telling what the Kindle can do with each flip of the screen.  It streams movies for you to watch.  It contains apps for you to touch and go to.  It lets you play games.  It plays YouTube videos that people make or attach to Facebook or other social media.  It contains programs for you to work in.  And then, as if by after-thought, the narrator says, "And, of course, you can read..." 

The very reason for Kindle in the first place several years ago has now been relegated to an after-thought because, in order to keep up in the modern world, a user has to do many more important or rewarding jobs on a screen than simply sit, do nothing, and read.  The message is that reading is pretty unproductive... which it is in the future... life is interactive, so any device worth its productive weight will be interactive as well.  Amazon is right on target following the money path to the future - streaming and allowing people control of what they want to SEE AND DO...  oh, and still allowing something passive like reading, too... but it's last, and outmoded, and a really unproductive use of time.

The death warrant for reading and writing will be signed at the close of 2017.

Watching the note

I happened to watch the decade memorial showing of the 9/11 episode of CSI:NY on a replay earlier tonight.  It was very well written.  The writer had the major characters of the show in modern day flashing back to where they were and what they did on the day the twin towers fell.  It was moving.  The main character, Gary Senise's character, Mac Taylor, was shown in a flashback sitting with his wife on a subway, then getting off at his stop to go to work.  They sat lovingly next to each other during the ride and kissed before he left her.  He didn't know at that time that it would be their last moment together.

At the end of the show, Mac went to a waterfront beach near the towers at the end of a memorial ceremony a decade after 9-11 and placed a note to his wife in the water letting the tide drag it out to sea.  He missed her, and the camera showed Mac in a pensive mood watching the note of his expression of love being washed out to the larger ocean.   In the background a voice repeated the last words on the note, which had been shown a little earlier when Mac wrote them... I will wait.

We wait on people who are really important to us.  Sometimes we get separated from them... but our hearts still send the message... I'll wait.

Dynamic and deep

When a person learns the vocabulary of a language, (s)he learns that words fit into grammatical categories that start with a root and subsequently use suffixes to represent grammatical categories.  These categories using the same root are often referred to as word families.  An example of this is found in the root beau-.  This root yields the verb beautify, the noun beauty, the adjective beautiful, and the adverb beautifully.  A great number of words follow this model.

But, occasionally, a word doesn't change or add suffixes even when changing grammatical categories. One such word is love.  The verb is love; the noun is love; the adjective is love (as in love interest).  One could add some suffixes if wanted, for example, love-r and love-ly.  But, the additions just enrich the word with more forms than other words have.  Stock is another such word.  The noun is stock; the verb is stock; the adjective is stock (as in stock item).  This can be enrichedby adding a noun suffix (stock-er).  There is a trade-off, however.  In these two cases there is no adverb.  The family line is cut short in one place, even though enriched in another.

It seems to me that much of life happens according to models that families have, their family traditions.  My family certainly has its share.  But parts of life aren't meant to be according to some steady model.  They take on other characteristics.  Some of life seems to act on its own, enriching us in some areas, keeping matters the same in some areas, cutting off some of life's known forms in other areas.  Like language, life is dynamic, a thing of beauty.  Sometimes places and times cause life's enriching moments, sometimes it's people.  I have such vivid pictures of those times and places, and such enjoyable snapshots of the people along the way... and such an awesome, amazing, revered spot for the one whose dynamic place is deep, so deep within.

Plee-ready

Words do funny things through history.  In Rome, the people didn't mind talking about movement and maneuvering, using the word plicare.   It was an action.  The action form, verb form, was retained in the languages that derived from Latin after the Roman Empire died out.  One version of the word, in French, had quite an influence in England where the American version of English derived.  So, when the French during the early Middle Ages wanted to speak of movement and maneuvering, they didn't mind using their derived action word ployer (modern plier).  The British turned the French word into two words because speakers of English dialects heard the word differently.  In the north, Scotland, people used ploy as an action and combined it with prepositions em- and de-.  The British in the south, London and Sussex, pronounced the word a little differently, ply.   But, Londoners spoke the prestige version of English, so modern English adopted this form of the word when needing a word for maneuvering something if they meant to shape it.  Those hillbilly Scots didn't know anything, of course.  So, their usage of ploy was stripped of its action.  It was left in the language, but only as a noun.

It's strange to see words move around in the history of language.  People too often think that the language they have learned is static.  And for the most part it is - during our lifetimes.  But, history teaches that the language we speak is dynamic.  I don't know what will happen to ploy in the future.  It could be that the word will drop from the language altogether in favor of maneuver, shape, or bend.  It could be that it will be stripped of its priority status over ply and be reduced to a noun.  Then, it would compete for survival with ply.  It could be that a new pronunciation of the words will merge the two words by pronouncing them both the same. If so, the spelling might be changed to reflect that new pronunciation.  Then both words would become one, maybe plee.  And, if writing were to disappear, plee would survive in spoken form only, captured, of course, by video and holograph of people speaking it in speeches, movies, and music.

Both the current forms, ply and ploy, don't resemble the original Latin word plicare much, nor would any future derivative. But, following the history of the word makes the changes plausible and traceable.  My own life resembles this word's history so much.  I began with a certain form, but as life has happened, changes took place and for good reasons, much like the influence of the prestige of Latin on French, French on London English, less influence on Scotland, and London and Scotland on America.  My latest form doesn't resemble much the original form, I know.  But it's OK; it's to be expected; it's the natural order.  And, I am looking forward so much to the catalyst that will change both ploy and ply to plee, making my journey complete.

I have looked over

Experiences in life are classified using a number of different analogies.  One classification is the mountaintop experience.  That analogy is used for only the very best experiences in life.  They are the ones that add majesty to your life, and laughter, and unspeakable joy, ecstasy in time, clarity of vision, and reinforcement of the moment for recreating at any future time.  Whenever I do think of those mountaintop moments, one peak is higher than any other in the range. To look at that peak is to see the shining splendor of feeling whole.

When my mind goes to that one peak, I am reminded of the inspiring words from a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have been to the mountaintop... I have looked over, and I've seen the promised land."

I have no greater enjoyment!

Holes of enjoyment

How many times do we find ourselves at various junctures in life wondering how in the world something happened?  Life didn't ask for permission to take.  It simply took. I should have known life was like this when it took my favorite college professor, whom I was taking for the second time, in mid-semester.  I learned from this man like I had never learned anything before or after him.  But, I wasn't asked if I approved.  Life took him... He vanished. But I do some of my work in life based on what he taught me, and it gives me joy.

I look in my heart these days.  It has much for which to be thankful, no doubt.  So, in that regard my heart is full.  There are also these times when what is absent comes to the foreground.  I ponder those times and see the holes.  Life did some more taking.  So, when I look deeply into my heart, I try to see what is joyful and appreciate the fullness those times bring.  And I see the holes and fill them with the one whose essence has supplied me with much laughter, joy, and zest for life.  The holes disappear for as long as I can maintain those thoughts and give me periods of sheer enjoyment.

The character of this year

Years have different characters to them.  2010 was a year of taking three steps forward and two steps backward.  There was a net gain perhaps, but at what cost!  2011 was a year of learning to be content with what life dealt out of its hand and trying to make sense of its events.  I look at it and tell people it was all right, but there was something missing.  2012 is hidden right now. 

One of the differences this year will be that the hope I have had is swallowed by faith.  That's a game of semantics to a lot of people.  But, not to me.  Hope is about a journey with a brilliant palette of colors against the backdrop of the sky.  Faith allows me to see what has been invisible... the rainbow, for sure, but the pot of gold at its end too.  It's still about a journey, but it has a destination at some point. 

So this year, I strike out in faith.

Oh, it's all right

The day started beautifully.  I went out to eat at a restaurant I had never been to before for breakfast.  It was good, but it was overbilled in its recommendation to me.  Next came working some on projects I had going.  That went well enough, but not perfectly.  For the day I was up on currency trading, but it was down for the week as a whole (but the month was in the positive column).  On other projects, I made about 50% progress on them.  Tonight I went to a movie.  I watched the entire film - almost.  With about 5 minutes to go, the picture disappeared from the screen.  It was a mystery movie, so the last 5 minutes were important to the ending of the movie.  The explanation by the manager was that the end had been erased from the memory chip.  We all got free passes for that happening... but still.  My aunt called out of the blue after I returned home.  She wanted to know how my day went.  I told her it was all right.

Today's description is so much like life...  trade offs, dissatisfaction, work getting accomplished but not all of it, anticipation of a good time, actual good moments, disappointing moments.  All in all it's all right, I guess.  It seems, though, there should be more.  Something's missing... I figure that is what 2012 might be for.

Shift in the natural order

The brain has a function by which it takes information, particularly from the past, and reduces it to the gist of what was said or what happened.  This is proven in a number of different studies.  So, what does it mean when a thought doesn't ever get reduced to its gist?  It means that what was said and what happened get replayed so often that they are reinforced to the point that reduction is virtually impossible.  It means that the emotions involved in the event are held intact.  It means that storage networks connecting what was said and what occurred have top priority of all networks.  It means that, in the world where events occurring a long time ago normally overshadow recently occurring events, a shift of the natural order has occurred.  Simply, it means the thoughts are the most treasured in the mind.

My mind contains just such treasured places, cherished words, and closely held happenings.  They are irreducible... sacred... highly prized... eternal!

The weather today

Today was a little cool to be outside.  I was waiting on my daughter for several minutes while she had to make a brief stop in a shaded area.  However, I had to move to the sun to wait on her.  It was warm and made the whole environment around me comfortable.  After those several minutes, I had to go back into the shade where it was cool and uncomfortable since I had not exactly dressed for the cool weather.

Warmth in life is like that.  Much of it catches you in an environment you haven't exactly dressed for.  But, there are those pockets of warmth, those events that allow you to enjoy life, that someone who makes the whole environment warm and worth living.

But today it was a little cool to be outside.

It is proper

In the midst of busy-ness it's always proper to stop and award honor to whom honor is due.  Such a beautiful person... for all kinds of reasons... making sure your son is a champion among peers and your daughter is a princess among all other daughters in the world... giving generously of your talents... sharing the smile that makes others' day... performing flawlessly and efficiently on a hectic, draining job... ensuring that your friends receive encouragement.  Happy Birthday!!... to an effervescent, prescient, dazzling, and grand person!!!

Enduring embers

My dad did a lot of visiting to people who needed help with their mental states.  He also did a lot of speaking.  He told a story in his speeches of a visit he made to a person who had not visited the group he spoke to in a while.  He sat by the fireplace in which a fire burned while they talked.  Finally, when the fire died down, he took the poker, separated an ember from the rest of the glowing coals, and watched it die out.  He made the point that the person need not stay away too long or he was in danger of having the ember's life.

While that story does make a good point, there is another point about embers, one that tells a different and polar opposite story.  Heat and oxygen keep embers alive.  Blowing on an ember provides its needed oxygen, thereby fueling and heating it, keeping the ember alive... indefinitely... until the ember completely burns itself into ash.  My heart holds such an ember.  Not the kind that is separated from the fire and soon dies, but the kind that lives, continuing to glow and burn until it turns to ash someday in the very distant future.  The oxygen of life's most pleasant moments gently blow over this ember, fueling its life... producing an eternal flame... closely guarded from ever being extinguished... always replenished by the breeze of the most enjoyable minutes life has offered.

SD^...n

Right now I am working on a project requiring a touch of statistical analysis - the standard deviation.  It's all about the bell curve, norms, and the extremes that don't fit inside of norms.  The extreme ends are graduated outside the norms, the standard.  So the first gradation out is standard deviation 1.  It's possible to have a number of standard deviations if the data set has a lot of numbers over a considerable spread.  But, I am used to dealing with a smaller set of numbers in a distribution, thus one or two standard deviations to catch anomalies in the way people word their thoughts.

It's beautiful to work with SDs.  It shows where the worst of the worst is, and conversely, the best of the best.  Of course, I am always interested in the best of the best end of the curve.  It's for one who finishes well, particularly when the journey has been hard and exhausting.  And, that is the measure that my heart uses... the anomaly... space for the distinguished one no matter how many are in the distribution (...n).  SD^...n.  The set of a single, heavenly element.

Flashes of life worth living

Reflection helps us see ourselves and our surroundings.  That's why I like reflecting pools.  They're the physical representation of a worthwhile habit.  Reflecting helps us monitor our current status and highlight what works in our lives and what the source of vitality for life is.  Living in the past really doesn't lead to progress.  Very few want to live a stale, status quo life.  But valuing moments that have made life worth living are worth their weight in gold.  Flashes of those moments keep me centered and keep my conscious direction on the path I want life to occur on... because... they allow hope, happiness, and faith.... And because... they allow me to know where dots are connected and remind me to always cherish the one who is my source of life.

Sure, surer, surest

I had a professor once who would always stop when he was teaching about the stories of the ancient world and ask, "What is right? What is good?  What is true?"  Then he would apply the story to the modern world and ask the same three questions.  Many times the answer changed.  His point was to show that right and good and true were terms with relative meanings, depending on era and issue, or sometimes just era.  As life plays out, those are the three questions that have to be satisfied to live fully.  Even from one decade to another in my own life, the answer to those 3 questions change sometimes.  The trick is to align the 3 questions with the same answer.  That leads to being surer about matters.  Even then, the alignment can have a different answer when gauged just a few years apart.  Nevertheless, I think being sure just hinges on charting the direction with a satisfactory sense of right, good, and true and working to walk the path charted.  I have done this.  I am the surest I  have ever been.

Treasures in thought (3)

In English and in a couple of the Romance languages and in Greek, the idea of the number of 3 represents truth and completeness.  This idea has popped up in books, so it is not just an individual observation.  I first came across this idea in 1978 in a book called Three Times and It's True.  In the 1990s, I encountered it again, this time in a book by a linguist who wrote about the legal application of having someone testify about matters in groups of three so the jury would gain a sense of completeness and truth.

In that vein, I want to say that people comment about my sleeping habits.  Some people say I never sleep.  Others say I don't seem to require much sleep.  But, I would like to say that that is a recent phenomenon for me.  I have always liked to sleep.  I require 7 hours and 20 minutes to feel rested.  I seldom get that much during the week, but the weekends are usually kind enough for me to catch up on the average hours for rest.  But it is also true that over the last 2 years, I have slept much less than the 7 hours and 20 minutes I need.  That's because of a striving in my mind.  I have many wonderful, colorful, beautiful, pleasant, desirable, and bright thoughts that are captured in my mind which lie unmaterialized.  Nevertheless, these thoughts bring great happiness, so I lie awake sorting through these wondrous images or write late at night because the happiness of these golden thoughts creates energy for the next day.  There will be a day when sleep will be deep, pleasurable, and long.  It's just not now.  In the meantime, I have an entire treasure trove of scenes to flash across the screen of my mind's eye that eventually leads to sleep (with a smile on my face, I might add).  This treasure trove gives me the energy to face the next day.  I know I have written about this treasure of sparkling times a 3rd time.  But, that makes it the immutable truth.

Splendor of Heaven

The function of light is to disspell darkness.  It does so by piercing through it.  It displaces the darkness and takes over the space darkness once occupied.  As a result, darkness is denser along the edges of the light that has displaced it, making the contrast greater.  The Latin idea for this phenomenon was in the word "splendere" from which we derive splendor.

I find that principle to be true.  I have areas of darkness in my life that are dense along the edge where the light shines through it.  The thing about light is that it is celestial.  So are those special human beings that help us overcome our darknesses.  They are heavenly too.  We all have them and are grateful for them.  And, we all have one who shines more brilliantly than the others for us.  For me, that one is the Splendor of Heaven... and how totally beautiful, colorful that person's refracted light in my life is.

2014: a milestone year

My nephew and his wife recently had a child, so I went to see them in the hospital.  During the course of the conversation, my nephew mentioned that he had a friend with a two-year-old girl.  The girl was given a magazine to look through while my nephew conversed with the girl's father.  But, the little girl didn't know how to turn the pages of the magazine.  She was trying to swipe the page with her forefinger to get it to change.  Just love that story.

I have been on record since the year 2000 as saying that reading and writing were an endangered activity.  At that time, I thought that the year 2017 would be the end of a technological war in which books and  reading and writing would become rare.  If holographic devices come out by the year 2014, then the prediction will be true.

In August, a niece on the other side of my family reported that her two-year old figured out how to circumvent the password she had put on her iphone and played Angry Birds.  The school district in Frisco, Texas, was reported on the news as teaching their 2nd graders keyboarding instead of printing.  Advertisements on TV and news programs continue the trend to use more and more iconic/graphic controls instead of words to control their stream of information.  A current ipad2 commercial shows a basketball coach using the ipad2 to draw a play for his team during a timeout.  Another shows a complete fireplace built out of tablets, all showing fire dancing in a fireplace, one on each screen.  Cars now have displays that control everything in the car from phone to temperature, not counting the other features such as the GPS.  Although not all linguists agree, some think that learning java script is the same as learning a language.  One school even offers Java to fulfill the language requirement.

Humans will always need to communicate.  But the format of that exchange of ideas will change.  Writing will no longer record those exchanges.  Reading that writing will be replaced with eyes recognizing iconic/graphic symbols.  Already reading patterns for web pages have changed children's reading pattern from the Z pattern to the F pattern because web pages use left navigation to move around a page and children learn to scan words rather than read them in order to get quick and sketchy information.  That could be the real reason children find it painful to read books.

I look forward to 2014.  It will be a landmark year in the turn in the battle for how communication will go for the 25 years following it.  There is a war being waged right now by those of the old guard who don't think the replacement for reading and writing is adequate.  In fact, iconic/graphic scanning is a quantum leap ahead of the old way of communicating and those of the avantgarde will win this war in every field from technology to business, from music to education.  Children 4 and under today will not have to learn the scrawls and runes of communicating for they will have a speedier, much more efficient way of expressing themselves.  If social media teaches us anything, it is that people love their pictures and will tell their stories in that manner.

I will love the change.  I will not be attending the funerals of those who decide to die first in keeping ancient scripts alive.  The children I am responsible for will be ready to enter the new world.

Flood of sudden light

                            
                   Where once there was hope, now there is faith.

Ever after

I used to read The Frog Prince to my daughter when she was in her pre-school years.

She would listen raptly.  I don't think I was reading it for her to take notice that she might meet a guy that wasn't good looking, that if she would endure with him, then she would have the prince of her dreams.  Well, even if I had read it for that reason, it didn't work.  Marrying during adolescence prohibits a young girl to see anything but the outside.  But the Frog Prince is not about just masking appearance; it has everything to do with meeting someone who makes you so much more, so much better.  You know you have met that person when (s)he makes you feel like a prince(ss).  Through a series of hardships, she understands the principle now.

I still like the The Frog Prince because of what it teaches, so I find the principle of the story in music that inspires me.  I love Dierks Bentley's music because it feeds my soul in just that way.  He sings of the passionate spirit the frog had in pursuing the princess in Feel that Fire.  He writes of the magic the kiss brought about in the song Come a Little Closer.  And the lyrics to High upon the Ridge metaphorically recreate the story and show the frog appealing to the princess for the kiss that would turn him into a prince.  In return, the frog promises the moon.

Won't you come with me upon the ridge where moonlight drips into your eyes. I just want one little kiss when we get high upon the ridge.  The rest of the song implies that the frog became a prince, and he and the princess shared their passion.

Dierks is all about the inner fire that two people share, enjoying true love.  The magic of moonlight dripping into their eyes on a ridge ignites the two to be so much more.  And that spark leads to a sun to ride off into... happily without a doubt!


So much more... better.

Night rain image

Pitter-patter.  The rain came.  I looked out the window into the dimly lit courtyard.  The reflecting pool was dotted with the small splish-splashes of the raindrops.  The drops came constantly.  It was not one of those flash storms that is over in 10 minutes.  It was a steady rain.  It seemed like it could stay for hours.

The sounds of the rain pouncing off the leaves of trees and bushes was soft and relaxed my mind.  The hour of day wasn't important, but the darkness of the 2:00 AM hour amplified the rhythmic music played by the rain.  And the tune was so soothing!  My mind flashed an impression of an image of another soothing, rainy night at the same hour, a mid-autumn occasion a couple of rainy seasons ago.  The image grew stronger.  I reached out to touch it, but my hand came back wet from the pitter-patter, splish-splash of the current picture of bushes and trees glistening and concurrent rings rippling from the heavy splashes of drops in the reflecting pool.

 I uttered an expletive... I wanted the image to be real more than anything in the world!!!

Over and over

This is the season for giving gifts.  I have given my fair share over the years.  I have given to people I love like my children and to people I have not known because they could not afford the gifts.  I have given when it was anticipated and unanticipated.  I have given presents that caused surprise and given presents that were deliberated upon ahead of time.  But, the gift I enjoyed giving the most was one not expected.  I knew one of the person's favorite stores and searched that store for just the right gift, going four times before deciding.  I flew halfway across the U.S. with the gift, at one point being searched by airport security because the glass in it contained lead.  But it was pure pleasure to give that gift.  So, when people speak of gift-giving during this season, I remember most the one that gave me the greatest pleasure, and I still smile just thinking about it, wishing I could give that gift over and over.

Treasures in thought too

This morning started out cold.  I don't drink coffee, and I was out of tea which I sometimes drink hot, so I had to just let the cold shroud me.  Tonight was pretty cold, too.  I have a coat, and that helped.  But it's having a warm heart that makes the body warm all over.  Then it could be sub-freezing weather and it wouldn't matter.

Every day this week is supposed to be cold.  But, my brain sends my heart sensations of a cherub's voice and an angel's eyes, and tender scenes of unparalleled joy and beauty that I have stored and treasured there.  So, I know I won't feel the cold... The scenes make my heart warm... Nothing else matters.

Confluence

10,000 years ago a tsunami crashed into the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.  At least that was the theory of an Italian archaeologist.  No one believed him.  So, he set out to find his evidence to prove his case.  He found villages on the eastern side of the sea that are underwater now, but that had been above water at some point.  He found artifacts at those settlements and dated them - no surprise - to the 9th century BCE.  He also found that the water of the Mediterranean had been at lower levels during the 9th century BCE that would allow the settlements to be above water.  He found evidence off the coast of Italy in the ocean floor that a plate in the crust had moved about the same time.  He found a confluence of evidence all pointing to the truth of his case.

One can look at my life and draw some conclusions.  One is that in my 20s I was certainly a different person than I am now.  A quick interview of some my friends then would certainly tell that tale.  One could also ask me about impact people in my life.  They could hear their names and see the trails of their influence in my life and work.  My Greek professor in college was one of those people.  And a person can see his influence in every decade of my vocation and avocation.  But there was a tsunami that left its mark on everything I think and do now.  I doubt that people would see it and believe it at the moment.  It takes a while for evidence to mount.  However, a day will come when people will have a confluence of evidence that my Earth's floor suddenly moved a couple of years back, setting a wave in motion that crashed the shore on the other side of the sea.

I am not sad about it.  It was a beautiful event.  The life I have after is so much better.  In fact, I bask in the hope of a splash to come.

Sacred scroll

Tucked away in the deserts of Israel were some scrolls that had great value to many people.  Jews regarded them highly because they were lost Jewish writings of a sect that had disappeared about the turn of the 1st century ACE.  Christians liked them because they corroborated some of the books of the Bible and shed additional light on the culture of the 1st century in which Jesus lived.  They were sacred because they were regarded highly because of what they contained.

I regard those same scrolls highly, maybe for different reasons, but there are some other writings that have a very special place with me and are esteemed more highly than anything I possess of a personal nature.  On this day of giving thanks, I am most thankful for this other writing.  It is a poster rolled up like a scroll, lying in a place much like the caves around the Dead Sea.  Last week, I decided to take in its contents again since it had been a while.  I could not take my eyes from the pictures of the three most special people in the world standing there talking at a festive occasion.  When finally I did, I read the poem associated with the pictures, then scanned the meaningful songs and places next to the poem.  I spent quite a bit of time, sacred moments, letting my mind once again soak in all that was there. Finally, I rolled the poster and returned the scroll to its container, but it refreshed my day.  My mind was caught up in this moment, caught up in the smile of those in the picture, full of thought, full of reconstitution, full of sheer happiness.

Some consider these two types of scrolls to be on different levels.  Maybe.  I do know that the effect on me was exactly the same with the second type as with the first.  And if the effect is the same, then any difference that may exist is gone.  Sacred scroll... sacred moments... sacred feelings!

Yes, I have seen this one

In 1986, one could look to the sky and see a beautiful, bright star with a tail as long as from the Earth to the moon.  It would not be the first time that celestial body would have been seen by humans.  There are tales of this "star" showing up on a regular basis since 240 BCE.  Other and older reports also exist, but it is unknown whether or not they pertain to this beautiful, bright, long-tailed star.

It was the good fortune of Isaac Newton's friend, not Newton himself, who calculated the periodic return of this fiery but majestic celestial body every 76 years.  Edmond Halley gets the credit for predicting this comet after years of scientific study of its phenomenon.

A person is lucky to see it once in her/his lifetime.  When the average mortality age was 65, one would just have to be born strategically to view the comet's appearance.  Now, with an average mortality age of 80, one has the chance to see it twice.  Still, though, that's a very small class of people.  Once is what most people will see this splendid comet.  Human lives are short, no doubt.  And many people do not see this comet at all in their lifetimes. 

It is my experience that people meet just the right person, their Halley's Comet, once in a lifetime.  Some get that lucky chance early in life, some later.  But, a person always knows when (s)he has met the one.  His/her lips cannot stop smiling.  The joy of living is unmistakable.  The buoyancy of meeting the routines and other mundane matters in life with zest cause life to suddenly be an adventure worth living out.  Having someone to believe in and be believed by is the rare, once-in-a-lifetime pass-by of someone beautiful, bright, and full of vibrance and inspiration.  And, yes, I have seen the one celestial, beautiful, bright Halley's Comet!

Even that is telling

Recently, I got to carry on an extended conversation with a man who was keenly interested in the idea that the way someone says something, that is, the choice of words and phrasing a person uses to word an utterance, can have significance.  He dabbles in language, but it is limited to phonetics because he works on reducing foreigner's accents.  He had not been exposed to the study of semantics, pragmatics, grammar theory, or forensic linguistics.  I love having those conversations.

How people word their sentences does reveal volumes about them. Syntax, word choices, and phrasing all work together to expose one's personality, perspective, orientation, and emotional attachment or detachment.  It also reveals their maturity with articulation.  Piaget pointed out that adults can develop in their cognition to a concrete stage and then plateau.  I think the same is true with language.  Adults can reach a plateau in their ability to manipulate it.  But, even that is telling.  The point at which articulation is arrested says something about the person's personality and perspective. 

I listen to people talk.  It has helped me understand what they are really about.  That has saved me a lot of time and breath.

Let it go

"Let it go."  I hear this phrase a lot in life.  It's good advice from time to time.  I most often hear it said about matters that are minor irritants.  But, I also hear it from professional counselors on television when they advise people to move on with their lives.  They are told to let go of abuse, neglect, kidnapping, verbal lashings, submission, and other behaviors.  It is hard for people to let things go of such a major nature.  It takes time and the willingness to move on without allowing the matter to influence their futures.

So much happens in life that it is easy to let most matters go.  Experience allows a person to learn which battles are the important battles, the matters that one shouldn't let go.  This experience also helps a person build a priority list, values in ascending order.  The higher up the priority list a matter is, the less likely it is for someone to let that matter go.  If  a matter is at the top of the list, a person is not going to let that matter go.

Sometimes, the top priority is a hope someone has; it will remain intact. 

 The person won't let that hope go... ever.  I know this first-hand.  It is the hill worth dying on.

Sentiments for deep sleep

I really, really like the group Sugarland because they blend their voices so well, and their choice of songs to sing are on the themes I identify with.  So I was listening to the CMA awards tonight and heard them sing with Matt Nathanson the song Run.   Love that song for several reasons, but two reasons above all others.

My son used to play the drums for a band.  He was very, very good at them.  In particular, he would play songs using the toms.  The song Run highlights both bass guitar and tom drums all the way through the song.  That sound is so pleasing, and it reminds me of my son's ability on the drums.  For that reason alone I could listen to the song all night long.

The song has tremendous words to it, among them, "When you're beside me, I am so much more," a theme of several of my blogs.  The words occur in the middle of the song, the bridge between the chorus and the verses.  Although subtly placed, the words are not subliminal, but significant.  They speak volumes because I know the person I am when I stand alone.

So, tonight I sleep, savoring two of the closest sentiments of my heart.  It will be a deep 5 hours of sleep before rising again.

Star scenes

Franz Mesmer lived at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th.  He developed a new theory for the world called animal magnetism.  His great test case came when he tried to heal a blind woman, a young musician.  Many thought he was a charlatan for so doing.  But he was merely trying to direct the body's energy to one area in order to heal that area.  To do so, he asked her to concentrate, trance style, on the area needing healing.

This method came to bear his name in English as a verb when people wanted to mesmerize someone.  However, the term hypnotize became more popular in the late 1800s, so mesmerize took on a new meaning - to hold someone spellbound.

Tonight, a glance at the night sky holds my eyes there.  It engages my thought.  It directs my body's energy to my fascination of space, and by association, the fascination of those times that have given my life its happiness.  I have been mesmerized.  Reality returns, but not before the stars have bathed my thoughts with spellbinding, healing visuals of the one who inspires me.

Treasures in thought

Treasures come in two varieties - those that you can hold and touch, buy and sell, and those that you can think of and memorize, mull and replay.  I know that a lot of people put stock in the physical type.  Their value can bring an appraised price, something tangible.  But I put stock in the cognitive type.  Their value is personally appraised, something in the deep recesses of the mind.

Treasures of this second type are always available and their replay seems, like wine, to taste more robust with every swish across the palate.  I have a very special set of them that are placed in vintage bottles.  I bring them out for tasting when life needs more vitality.  They're not just empty scenes that flash across the monitor of the mind.  They have life, sounds, laughter, silences, touches, and vibrance.  They derive from a voice, a face, a time of day. They immediately bring a spring to each step, a reason for living.

Their value cannot be appraised for there is not currency enough to buy, sell, or trade even one of these treasures.  They can be embodied in songs or captured in movies.  Books and poems can represent the feelings created by them.  They provide the flames I want to live beside in life, as in Dierks Bentley's song Feel That Fire and the inspiration I need to live fully as in Blind Side, the movie.

These treasures in thought cast a more radiant glow on life than the brilliance of the sun on Earth!

Choosing from a spectrum

Proverbs reflect the values of people and are good to follow many times.  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush is a saying worth understanding and valuable when it comes to negotiating a deal involving money.   But, proverbs are only as good as the people's experience that make them up.  When experiences differ, then proverbs differ.  And those proverbs seem to reflect the rub in life.  Some things in life derive from spontaneity, passion, love for the moment, and fire in the soul.  Other things are driven by planning, implementation, and determination.  Thus, Plan your work, work your plan is in diametric opposition to Stop and smell the roses.  So are the phrases, Stay on the beaten path and The beautiful things in life are off the beaten path.  The proverb The best way to project the future is to look at the past ignores completely the idea that The only constant in life is change.  Some people see decision making as choosing between two colors, black and white.  Others approach decision making as choosing from a whole spectrum of colors, each color rendering scenes having their own distinct and particular beauty. 

I lived a rather principled life early on, but in doing so I suppressed much of the input given to me by my heart.  I was wrong.  That led to a Spartan life.  While hedonism is probably the opposite extreme, guided only by desire, there is something to be said for allowing passion and beauty to balance the austere principles.  Every life should enjoy the beauty and hope of springtime, not merely the winter of despair, the dropping leaves of autumn, or the dog days of summer.  Listening to the heart permits us to drink from the wellspring of life.

Comfortable sleep in due time

At the end of last month, it was two years ago that I walked away from the comfortable and routine and ambled toward a rainbow of possiblities.  There was one aspect, however, that I didn't want to leave. :(  Since then, I have been able to accomplish some of the possibilities afforded in that rainbow.  The sweetness of the potential of most of the rest of the color array isn't complete, but will be realized I am pretty sure... except one aspect.

Life cycles around, sometimes slower, sometimes faster.  I just have to remember... Everything in its due time.  Until then, I will only somewhat sleep at night.

At the root of language learning

It's very interesting to hear scholars speak about how language (in all of its aspects) is learned because most of them assume an evolutionary origin for it.  If one follows the logic of evolution, then the reason for its development in the beginning  was to give an edge to the human species for survival purposes.  This it has done because humans now dominate all of the other species.  Through language, humans could hunt, know where to go to get the best kill, make the best tools, and migrate at just the right times.  That stage was followed by knowing what plants would grow, when they would grow, how long and in what regions.  Then came civilization along the river valleys.  At that point, language took a bent it had not had before.  People learned to control others through language.  Other facets for having language surfaced, such as to provide posterity with a record and to serve as a medium for perpetuation of progress.  There are a few other facets as well.

 So, when I hear about learning language (in any or all of its aspects) and the origin for language is excluded, then I have to wonder about the accuracy of such a learning.  At the root, language is learned to survive.  After that need is insured, then other reasons come into play; however, one has to still ask the question of what need is being fulfilled for learning language.  One learns the language of utility in order to survive. Then, there has to be an external and internal motivation involved in learning or nothing would get perpetuated.  The external motivation can be either negatively or positively reinforced.  Beyond that a person might just have an interest in something or a respect for someone or something which creates a need to learn. 

These five governing principles interact with the plethora of inherent personality traits and that dictates how much of a language a person will learn and which dialects/registers one will learn, and everything else about learning a language.  Techniques for learning a language play into language learning very little, maybe not at all.

Even if a person were to negate evolution as the origin for language, there would still be the need to answer the question of why people learned language to begin with and why they still need to learn language.  Answering why keeps one from straying onto the path of trying to straightjacket young people into learning sets of words that are meaningless outside of the context of language learning principles and personality.