One Of The Problems (Anyway)

A question frequently asked is:  does not the persistent occurrence of Horrible Examples of Systems-function (or Malfunction) prove something about human nature?  If humans were rational, wouldn’t they act otherwise than they do?  We reply:  Systems-functions are not the result of human intransigence.  We take it as given that people are generally doing the very best they know how.  Our point, repeatedly stressed in this text, is that Systems operate according to Laws of Nature, and that Laws of Nature are not suspended to accommodate our human shortcomings.  There is no alternative to learning How Systems Work, unless one is willing to continue to run afoul of those Laws.  Whoever does not study the Laws of Systemantics and learn them that way, is destined to learn them the hard way, by direct encounter in the world of Experience.  That such runnning-afoul continues to occur is simply a reflection of the fact that knowledge of those laws is not yet sufficiently widespread.  The problem is one of Education, and this book represents an effort in that direction.
―     John Gall
From his book:  “Systemantics:  The Systems Bible“
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On This Day In:
2021	Outside Yet?
	Have You Ever Won?
2020	Choice
	More Rain Forecast
2019	He Claims It’s Fake News And Spies
2018	Mine, Too
2017	Who’s Turn Is It Now?
2016	Before You Vote In November…
2015	Two Faithful Thoughts
2014	Love Light
	Orange October (III) – Giants Advance To National League Championship Series (NLCS)
2013	Nothing Ridiculous
2012	Keeping Faith
2011	Summon Us, Don’t Criticize Us
2010	Obama’s Wars – Book Review
	Game Two – Hearbreaking Loss

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A Little Of What’s Been Lost

[Maurice “Mo”] Pinel dedicated a fair portion of his life to disseminating his ideas, and he left behind artifacts such as his YouTube videos that will forever serve as repositories of his eccentric wisdom.  But there was so much he never managed to articulate, so much teaching he still had left to do.  And because he operated in a field that withered a great deal during his decades of involvement, there is perhaps no one left with his breadth of experience nor his bone-deep sense of bowling’s elemental splendor.
This is what the mercilessness of the pandemic has abruptly robbed from us:  tens of thousands of men and women whose rare and hard-won knowledge can never be replicated.  This is how artisanal skills are forgotten, how dialects vanish, how the stories meant to sustain us ebb away from our collective memory.  And it’s all happening at a pace far faster than we can grieve.
After meditating on all that’s been lost, I could come up with only one fitting way to honor what Mo’s time here meant.  As I write these words, I stand precisely 12 days away from being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.  I plan to celebrate by taking my kids bowling.
—     Brendan I. Koerner
From his article:  “One Man’s Amazing Journey to the Center of the Bowling Ball“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  July / August 2021
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On This Day In:
2021	I Think They Mean It
	An Endless Stream
2020	ITF (365) – Update
	Word Up!
	My Fear: A Second More Tyrannous Term
2019	Reality And Imperfection
	Day 8: One Stone
2018	Pity The Nation (Part 1)
	Day 41: Hiccup Or End Of Days?
2017	Sharp-Edged Beauty
2016	Start, Keep, Finish
2015	Lifetime Friends
2014	Acknowledgement
2013	Longevity, Tenacity and Diversity
2012	What Reagan Really Cared About
2011	Seeming Sane (Or Not)

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I Learn The Hard Way

The reason so many guitarists fail to reach their potential is error filled repetition, aka not knowing exactly how to do each movement!
—     Aaron Shearer
Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
—    Rita Mae Brown
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On This Day In:
2021	I Ask For Two Minutes…
	Always
2020	At Least A Lot More Gray
2019	Walking The Lonely Path
2018	The Ultimate Trial
2017	Vain Expectations
2016	Or Of One Thought
2015	What’s In Your Future?
2014	Light In Darkness
2013	How ‘Bout Just Obeying The Law?
2012	Or Maybe Not
2011	My Interval Is Too Short!

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Still Building

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously.  This is how character is built.
—     Eleanor Roosevelt
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On This Day In:
2021	Still Building
	Golden
2020	Books And Blogs
	You Don’t Know What I Got
2019	#45 Is The Inverse
2018	A Message To The White House Press Corps
2017	Eeny Meeny Miny Moe
	Binge, Binge, Binge
2016	Feeling Warm Yet?
	Four Documentaries
2015	Just Like All The Others
2014	In My Own Vanity
2013	Filled With Words
2012	Lectio Auget Existentiae Meae
2011	Lied Lately?
2010	Born To Work At Faux News
	Lost Again (Uh, Make That Still)
	Qui Genus Humanum Ingenio Superavit
	They’re Back… (Part 1)

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Does Blogging Count?

Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Seriously!  I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives.
—     Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From a letter to students at Xavier High School in New York City in response to an invitation to visit their school.
The quote is part of a larger response which was found on one of the blogs I follow:  https://news.lettersofnote.com/
The specific post can be found at:  https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/make-your-soul-grow
[Please visit the original site if you have a spare minute.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Does Blogging Count?
	Another Notch
2020	Even Being President For Almost Four Years
	#45: Crying About The American Voters
	Dying Isn’t Much Of A Way To Make A Living Boy
2019	And Autumnal Foliage
2018	Up Hill, Both Ways
2017	Trump Carnivores – The Revolution So Far
2016	Election Results
2015	Speak Louder
2014	Why I Frequently Give In
2013	Am Remembering
2012	Sustained Fear
2011	Commitment

 

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Try To Choose Wisely

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
—    Kahlil Gibran
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On This Day In:
2020	We Have A Window
2019	No Escape
2018	Except When It Is From The Oval Office
2017	Bad Karma
2016	Poor Management Choices
2015	Is It Still Dark Out?
2014	Rule One
2013	Spelling God’s Name
2012	Love Your Life And Sing
	Feeling Under the Weather?
2011	Cheers, Friend!

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Books And Blogs

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.
―     Socrates
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On This Day In:
2021	Still Building
	Golden
2020	Books And Blogs
	You Don’t Know What I Got
2019	#45 Is The Inverse
2018	A Message To The White House Press Corps
2017	Eeny Meeny Miny Moe
	Binge, Binge, Binge
2016	Feeling Warm Yet?
	Four Documentaries
2015	Just Like All The Others
2014	In My Own Vanity
2013	Filled With Words
2012	Lectio Auget Existentiae Meae
2011	Lied Lately?
2010	Born To Work At Faux News
	Lost Again (Uh, Make That Still)
	Qui Genus Humanum Ingenio Superavit
	They’re Back… (Part 1)

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The Premium Few

One is taught by experience to put a premium on those few people who can appreciate you for what you are.
—    Gail Godwin
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On This Day In:
2021	Two Eff’n Right
	Is There A Notion For That Motion?
2020	The Premium Few
	No Sympathy Here
2019	Is That Why Love Hurts?
2018	And Honest Politicians
2017	Maya, Maya
2016	Give Value
2015	Believe In Substitution
2014	Pragmatic Religion
2013	How’s Your View?
2012	Giants Win Game 3 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!
	Still Haven’t…
	Accidental Me
2011	What Is Your Ratio?
2010	Giants Win Game 1 With 11 Runs Scored – Repeat 11 Runs!!

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Ought To More Often Than Once

Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth.  He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience;  to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it.  He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it.  He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind.  He ought to recollect the glare of the moon and the colors of the dawn and dusk.
—    Navarre Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2021	Do What You Can
	From The Shadows
2020	Mostly To Just Smell A Few More Roses
	Above The Storm
	R.I.P.: Jerry Jeff Walker
2019	Ought To More Often Than Once
2018	Talking About Egypt, Not The White House
2017	Left Behind
2016	Self-Restraint
2015	In The Midst
2014	Match Book
2013	Disservice And Disingenuous
2012	Giants Win Game 1 Of The World Series 8 to 3!!!
	On Death
2011	The Spirit Of Universal Connectivity
2010	SF Giants Pitchers Witness Protection Program
	Orange Outside (Too) & Fear The Beard
	Non-Taxing Read

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The Ones Worth Remembering, Anyway

Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.
––    Oscar Wilde
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On This Day In:
2018	To Reach The Next Threshold
2017	Streaking Tales
2016	Singular Reality
2015	He Says It’s Hard To Get There From Here
2014	Question From A Founding Father
2013	Make Heroes
2012	See And Hold
2011	Am Not, Are So

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Worry (x2)

Worry is a waste of imagination.
—   Walt Disney
Most of my life’s worst experiences never actually happened.
—   Mark Twain
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On This Day In:
2021	Access Is Good
	The Sun Is Shining
	No Recall
2020	Give Me A Minute To Think About That…
	November 3rd Is Coming!
	An Eye For An Eye
2019	Is #45 Warning Alabama Again?
	Day 11: 49ers Win
2018	Worry (x2)
2017	Still Working
	Gold In The Morning Sun
2016	Power Inside
2015	Sometimes I Feel Small
2014	It Slipped Away
2013	Corollary
2012	Working Retired
2011	The Web Is Not Authoritative! (Really?)

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Mirror, Mirror

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
—  President Abraham Lincoln
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On This Day In:
2017	Keep On Keeping On
2016	Reflections
2015	Is It Time Yet?
2014	Ask Any Follower
2013	Cornered Or Surrounded?
2012	Escape
2011	Achievement
	Not Unreasonable Enough

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The Voice Of Experience

There are two theories to arguing with a woman… neither works.
—    Will Rogers
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
—    Will Rogers
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On This Day In:
2016	Who And When
2015	Change Process
2014	What Is Still Possible
2013	Strength Is There
2012	Beyond Reasonable Doubt
2011	Celebrating Values
2010	Is it just me, or is it suddenly dark around here?
	Dance!

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It’s Even Dimmer When You Don’t Have It

Experience is a dim lamp, which only lights the one who bears it.
—  Louis-Ferdinand Céline
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On This Day In:
2016	Inconvenienced By Degree
2015	Sincerity
2014	Prayers For Junior
	Senseless
2013	Interesting Drink
	Super Bowl XLVII Declared A No Bird Zone
2012	Smile
2011	Come Forward

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Are You Looking Forward To A Trump Presidency?

We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.
―    George Bernard Shaw
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On This Day In:
2022	A Crucial Skill
2021	Our Fate Is Up To Us
	Amazing Or Terrifying?
2020	Still Willing
2019	Another Prayer
2018	After Silence
2017	Are You Looking Forward To A Trump Presidency?
2016	Three Errors From Eureka
2015	Limiting Choices
2014	Praise The Lord And Pass The Hypocrisy
	That Sound
2013	Still Waiting For Answers
2012	Informal Leadership
2011	A Little More Progress
2010	Bec’s Gone Again…

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