Don’t Forget

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
―    J.K. Rowling
.
On This Day In:
2016	I Was A Percentage Man
2015	It Waits Patiently
2014	Unknown
2013	Explaining Love?
2012	Echoes of 1%
2011	Salaam, Egypt!!
	Where Do You Learn?

Read Full Post »

We Cannot Afford Enemies

We cannot afford enemies any more …  Within a generation or two human society will be in total destructive disarray.  Heaven knows how bad it will be.  The most optimistic view I can take is this:  Things will get so bad within a dozen years that it will become obvious … that we must, whether were like each other or not, work together.  We have no choice in the matter.  … Technologically, we can stop overpopulation, but we have to persuade people to accept the technology.  … Babies are the enemies of the human race …  Let’s consider it this way: by the time the world doubles its population, the amount of energy we will be using will be increased sevenfold which means probably the amount of pollution that we are producing will also be increased sevenfold.  If we are now threatened by pollution at the present rate, how will we be threatened with sevenfold pollution by, say, 2010 A.D., distributed among twice the population?  We’ll be having to grow twice the food out of soil that is being poisoned at seven times the rate.
—    Isaac Asimov
.
On This Day In:
2016	Love Is Just A State Of Mind
2015	Waiting?
2014	Big C, Little B (II)
	Where God Has Not
2013	Chasing His Dragon
	Shaped And Molded
2012	Believe In Yourself
2011	Cultural Equivalence
	Why Not?
	Books About Books
	The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

Read Full Post »

Seems Reasonable To Me

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
―    Langston Hughes
.
On This Day In:
2016	We Can Get Through This Together (In Time)
2015	How Long Is A Piece Of String?
2014	Heathen, n.
2013	Wisdom’s Folly
2012	When The Student Is Ready
	Disconnected Leadership
2011	The Complex Richness Of Life

Read Full Post »

Developing Translations

Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
—    John F. Kennedy
.
On This Day In:
2016	Think Like A Hero
2015	Reductionism
2014	Gravitation, n.
2013	Ups And Downs
2012	Nerd Heard – And Good-Bye
	Your Continuum
2011	Career Tips (Part 2)

Read Full Post »

Knowledge Pays

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
—    Benjamin Franklin
.
On This Day In:
2016	Brief Glimpses And Full Glances
2015	Pursuing Perspective
2014	Wearing Down?
2013	Labouring Under A Curse
2012	Listen To Yourself
2011	Career Tips (Part 1)
	No Captain Dunsel

Read Full Post »

Timely Planning

You can never plan the future by the past.
—  Edmund Burke
.
On This Day In:
2016	Just Too Easy To Know Fewer And Fewer
2015	A Fine Balance
2014	Next Rung
2013	Super Bowl Prep
	Romantics
	A Goal For Zen?
2012	Mutant Powers Of Obsession
2011	Federal Stars
	Mud Pie

Read Full Post »

In The Mind

Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
—    David Hume
[I would argue this is only true for subjective beauty.  A person’s beautiful inner spirit exists even when no one else contemplates it.  But, that’s just my view.    —    KMAB]
.
On This Day In:
2016	Dreaming
2015	The Best Medicine Is Also Contagious
2014	Eyes Off
2013	The More Things Change…
2012	The Delicate Moment Of Giving
2011	Ready, Shoot, Aim!!

Read Full Post »

Apt Enough?

He who has no inclination to learn more will be very apt to think that he knows enough.
—    Thomas Powell
.
On This Day In:
2016	Now Or Ever
	21, Pause, Restart
2015	I Am Shocked, Sir, Shocked…
	Lucy & FSND-2
2014	Less Difficult
2013	The Spirit Of Liberty
2012	The Essential Freedom Of Aloneness
2011	A Problem Of Scale
	Fred Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
2010	Another Book, Another Jog…

Read Full Post »

Getting It Done

The dignity of labor depends not on what you do, but how you do it.
—    Edwin Osgood Grover
.
On This Day In:
2016	Getting To Know Me
2015	Why I Pay Taxes
2014	Inequality Of Sacrifice
2013	I Never Saw A Moor
2012	Fill In The Blank
	Not For Naught
	Cliff Notes To Life?
2011	Conference Games Sunday

Read Full Post »

Sincerely Yours

My definition of an educated man is the fellow who knows the right thing to do at the right time it has to be done…  You can be sincere and still be stupid.
—    Charles Kettering
.
On This Day In:
2016	Only Good To Say
2015	A Series Of Temporary Conditions
2014	Gaps
2013	Duty
2012	Cost Not Price
	Superheroes
2011	The Simple Normalcy Of Everyday Life – “Squirrel!”

Read Full Post »

Two Geniuses

Today’s reviews are for a pair of biographical movies about two geniuses.  The men are Srinivasa Ramanujan and Alan Turing.  Technically, both are mathematicians, but Turing is more remembered for his work with computers.  The two movies are titled: “The Man Who Knew Infinity” (2015) about Ramanujan, and “The Imitation Game” (2014) about Turing.
“The Man Who Knew Infinity” (2015)  —  movie review
This movie stars Dev Patel as Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and Jeremy Irons as his British mentor (collaborator) G. H. Hardy.  Basically, a poor, self-taught mathematician moves to Trinity College at Cambridge after mailing some of his work to a world famous mathematics professor (Hardy).  The two collaborate (and publish), but the movie is basically about their personal relationship and not about their maths.  The movie is beautifully shot in both India and England and I was moved by the depictions of both environments: brightly colored poverty contrasted with muted earth-toned (relative) wealth.  A second major plot contrast is Hardy’s atheism vs Ramanujan’s devout Hindu faith.   Ramanujan tells Hardy that his math comes from the lips of his god.  Hardy can only struggle to understand divine inspiration.  In the end, Hardy accepts that his friend believes it is true even if he cannot share that belief.
Final recommendation:  highly recommended and I look forward to reading the book (of the same title) the movie is based on.
“The Imitation Game” (2014)   —  movie review
This movie stars  Benedict Cumberbatch (aka Sherlock Holmes / Doctor Strange) as Alan Turing and  Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke who was Turing’s fiancé briefly.  Turing was a homosexual and at that time, being gay was considered a serious crime in England.  Both Turing and Clarke were mathematicians who became cryptologists.  They famously developed a computer which was used to break the Nazi Enigma cypher.   This movie describes this invention and Turing’s subsequent suicide.   As a personal note: I consider Turing to be one of the seminal figures in computer science and in artificial intelligence.  The “test” for general purpose artificial intelligence is named “The Turing Test” and based on one of his papers.
Turing and Clarke worked closely together and are reported to have actually been very close friends although I’ve seen Turing portrayed as almost autistic in dealing with social settings, so I’m not sure how accurate the descriptions or the portrayals have been.  In any case, Turing proposed marriage to Clarke and then later withdrew and admitted to being gay.  The movie purports to Clarke being indifferent to Turing’s sexuality as she is contented with having a relationship with a friend and an intellectual equal.
The “surprise” hack at the end of the movie is the realization that the Nazi messages all end the same and this can be used as a key to reduce the number of variations the computer needs to evaluate.  Whether this is what actually happened or not, I don’t know, but it did make for a plausible ending!  Final recommendation:  highly recommended!
While I enjoyed both movies I would rate “Infinity” slightly higher than “Imitation”.  I’m not really sure why, but I’ve already re-watched “Infinity” twice and I’m just getting around to my second viewing of “Imitation”.  But, again, both highly recommended…
.
On This Day In:
2016	Come Dance And Laugh With Me
2015	Looks Good To Me
2014	Desire For The Sea
2013	The Fierce Urgency Of NOW
	Happy Inauguration Day!
2012	One Path
	Sorrow And Joy
	The Seven Year View
2011	Emergent Practicality

Read Full Post »

Watched The Inauguration

I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it.
—    Edgar Allan Poe
[Please God, Let me be wrong…     —    KMAB]
.
On This Day In:
2016	Come Dance And Laugh With Me
2015	Looks Good To Me
2014	Desire For The Sea
2013	The Fierce Urgency Of NOW
	Happy Inauguration Day!
2012	One Path
	Sorrow And Joy
	The Seven Year View
2011	Emergent Practicality

Read Full Post »

Inauguration Day 2017

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
―    Leonard Henry Courtney
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
—    Edmund Burke
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
―    Plato
.
On This Day In:
2016	Or A Pot Of Gold After The Storm
2015	One, Two, Three…
2014	Lend Your Hand
2013	Amnesty, n.
2012	Best Resolv’d
	The Clock Is Running
2011	Magic

Read Full Post »

He Is Alone

The loneliness of the President is another well-established truism of essays on the presidential process.  It is only part of the story; for, during the rest of the time, no one in the country is more assailed by divergent advice and clamorous counsel.  This advice and counsel, indeed, are essential to the process of decision; for they give the President not only needed information and ideas but a sense of the possibilities and the limitations of action.  A wise President therefore gathers strength and insight from the Nation.  Still, in the end, he is alone.  There stands the decision — and there stands the President.  “I have accustomed myself to receive with respect the opinions of others,” said Andrew Jackson, “but always take the responsibility of deciding for myself.”
—   President John F. Kennedy
Quoted by: Theodore C. Sorensen
From the Foreword to his book:  “Decision-Making in the White House“
.
On This Day In:
2016	Compensation
2015	Charlie Redux
2014	The Crux
2013	Erosion And Rechannelling
	Alliance, n.
2012	How Many Thought… (One I Know Of)
	Choices And Decisions
2011	Speed Spoils
	Simply Intended
2010	A Second 4 Hour Jog

Read Full Post »

Just Asking

Every tyrant who has lived has believed in freedom for himself.
—   Elbert Hubbard
[Despite almost 50 years history of Presidential candidates releasing their tax returns, President-elect Trump now says he won’t release his tax returns while he is under audit.   He has never offered proof he is under audit and the IRS is not allowed to discuss / confirm if he is under audit.  They are not allowed to do so for any person without the person’s permission.  Trump could authorize the IRS to confirm the audit and state which years are being audited.  He refuses to even do this.  Why not?  What is he hiding?  I’m not in the press, but I want to know…
Trump said he would completely set aside his business interests because he was (now) more interested in becoming President and helping this country become great again.  At one of the Republican debates, Trump said running his business was “peanuts” compared to the Presidency.  Now, he will not do this (divest his business interests).  His attorney states that no one should expect him to destroy the business he has spent his whole life building just because he is President.  Why is selling off his assets “destroying the business” if they are worth billions which would then be placed in a blind trust?  Since he is such a great negotiator, would he not get a great price for them?  Are they not worth billions?
Trump is “ceding” control of his company to his sons, but he retains the right to fire them if they don’t do a great job.  Of course there are those nasty little things called gift taxes, so he can’t “give” the assets to his kids without the assets being valued and taxed.  And we all know it’s “stupid” to pay taxes.  The key to a blind trust is that you don’t know what’s going on.  How is it “blind” if you must know what they’re doing in order to judge if they are doing a great job?
Trump is refusing to sell off assets which might lead to a conflict of interest.  Instead he proposes to “gift” to the U.S. Treasury any profits received from foreign governments for the use of his assets.  Of course, he hasn’t said how his company intends to determine “profit” or how it will be independently verified.  Since he is a pathological liar, why should we trust him?
President Kennedy got his brother Robert appointed Attorney General of the United States.  Congress subsequently passed a law to prevent future nepotism in high offices.  Trump wants to appoint his son-in-law as a senior counselor to the President.  If you want to talk to a family member and get his advice, why does the U.S. taxpayer have to pay for it?
Questions big and small…  Just asking?   —    KMAB]
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.
―    President Abraham Lincoln
.
On This Day In:
2016	Still A Burden
	15 And Counting
2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
2013	RIP – Dear Abby
	Half-Life Problems
2012	To The Soul…
2011	Reverted!!

Read Full Post »