Ask Your Friends To Vote In November

The future depends on what we do in the present.
—     Mahatma Gandhi
[Ask them TODAY!!  We are less than 30 days from the mid-term elections.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	What Matters To Me
	With The Slamming Of The Door
2020	Make Voting A Habit
	You Ought To Hear Him Tell His Stories
2019	2019 49ers Season Starts 5-0!!
	Will Any Republican Senator Vote For Impeachment?
2018	VOTE – We Need A Wave
2017	Soothe, Inspire And Recharge
2016	Aren’t We?
2015	Cold Embrace
2014	Delightful
2013	Apprenticeship
2012	Curtain Rods
2011	A Living Force
2010	BART Rides – A Tipping Point

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Sowing The Future

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
—     Robert Louis Stevenson
If you are thinking a year ahead, sow a seed.  If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree.  If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people.
—     Kuan Tzu
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On This Day In:
2021	Unmistakable Progress
	Dom-De-Doo-Be Dom
	Reviewing Austen
2020	A Better Synthesis
2019	It’s Only Funny If You’re Old Enough To Know What “Film” Was
2018	Bourne Wicked Blonde
	First Things First
2017	This Explains A Lot
2016	Me Too
2015	A Proper Price
2014	Well Hard
2013	Because I Can
	Eloquence, n.
2012	Why Bother?
2011	Peculiar Notions

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Limited Knowledge And No Control

Thus we may have knowledge of the past but cannot control it;  we may control the future but have no knowledge of it.
—     Claude Elwood Shannon
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On This Day In:
2022	Limited Knowledge And No Control
2021	Gifts
	Look Inside Your Heart
2020	A Strength Of Science
2019	A Higher Standard
	Make Two Calls
2018	Irreplaceable Sparks
2017	Saving For April 15th
2016	First Wish
2015	Tracing Shadows
2014	One Thing
2013	More Is Less
2012	The Screw-Up Gene

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A Model Democrat

Whatever the future holds, I make you one promise:  I’ll keep at least 99% of my net worth in Berkshire for as long as I am around.  How long will that be?  My model is the loyal Democrat in Fort Wayne who asked to be buried in Chicago so that he could stay active in the party.  To that end, I’ve already selected a “power spot” at the office for my urn.
—    Warren Buffett
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On This Day In:
2021	A Model Democrat
	Listen Mister
2020	The Main Thing: Vote!
	No Other Reason
2019	A Big “IF”
2018	Committed To Thinking
2017	More Pictures From My (Family) Retirement Party
	A Fondness For Sins
2016	Are You Waiting?
2015	The Future Myth
2014	Hands
2013	Because You Have Lived
2012	47%
2011	Conservative Values: Low And Lax
2010	A Non-Zero Sum Game
	What If “c” Isn’t A Constant?
2009	Pictures from UCLA trip…

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Let’s Make It So

Unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.
—    Noam Chomsky
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On This Day In:
2019	Today’s Question
2018	A Moment Of Union
2016	Symptoms
2016	Tossers
2015	Hunger
2014	Outside Dependence
2013	Doing Right
2012	A Short Course In Human Relations
	If Death Be My Future
	Strive
	Such A Fool
2011	I’m Working For A Living

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Future Tools

Our vision is that humans can interact with all devices using human language,”  says Li.  “The difference between humans and animals is that humans can use tools.  Over the past 100,000 years, whatever tools you invent you have to learn how to use.   In the future, you won’t need to do that — tools will learn how to understand human language, human intentions.  That’s the future.”
—     Robin Li
Quoted by:  Charlie Campbell
In his article:  “Baidu’s Brain:  Robin Li is helping China win the 21st century“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  29 January 2018
[Actually, it has been well established for many years that multiple species besides our own use tools of various types.   —   kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	20 / 20 History Lessons
	I Waited
2020	The Blind Squirrel And The Suppression Of Uncomfortable Ideas
	It’ll Start Getting Cooler. You Just Watch.
2019	Future Tools
	Three Swedish Girls
2018	Four Loves
	Favorite Westerns
2017	Faith In Science
2016	What The World Calls
2015	Say What?
2014	Start Today
2013	Fly!!
2012	Greater Love
2011	Before

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A Branching Stream

I look at the future from the standpoint of probabilities.  It’s like a branching stream of probabilities, and there are actions that we can take that affect those probabilities or that accelerate one thing or slow down another thing.  I may introduce something new to the probability stream.
—     Elon Musk
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On This Day In:
2021	Practically Worthless In Every Way
	It Never Was
	Frustrating Incentive
2020	You Too?
	Six Degrees
2019	A Branching Stream
	Day 9: One Day At A Time
2018	Pity The Nation (Part 2)
	Day 1: Redux
2017	Good Blogs, Too
2016	My Prediction For #AmnestyDon
2015	Worth A Try
2014	I’m Feeling It
2013	May I Have A Little More, Please?
2012	Increasing Doubt
2011	You Can’t Touch This

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I Hope So

One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
—    Sigmund Freud
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On This Day In:
2018	Painted Into
2017	Prayers, Miracles And Lottery Tickets
	Roman View
2016	Dignity And Grace
2015	Is It Warm Enough For You
2014	What The Right STILL Wants
2013	Embrace Serendipity
2012	Your Order, Please
2011	Well Enough Anyway

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A Bad Sale

The future we have been sold doesn’t work.  Applying the principles of the factory floor to the natural world just doesn’t work.  Farming is more than a business.  Food is more than a commodity.  Land is more than a mineral resource.
—    James Rebanks
(An English farmer’s account of the changes he is seeing)
as quoted by:  Andrew Sullivan
From Sullivan’s opinion piece / article:  “Our President’s Emotional Bait and Switch“
Which I found on www.msn.com at:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/our-president%e2%80%99s-emotional-bait-and-switch/ar-AAnKTg4
That, in turn referenced the New York Times at:   http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/opinion/an-english-sheep-farmers-view-of-rural-america.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
Sullivan’s article originally appearing in:  “Daily Intelligencer“
Which is a section under New York Magazine
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On This Day In:
2022	Prayers For Ukraine
2021	Be Your Own Hero
	Another Frog King
2020	Still Trying To…
2019	Press Freedom
2018	Or Loyalty To An Unqualified And Incompetent President
2017	A Bad Sale
2016	Be Happy!
2015	Are You Feeling Cold?
2014	Never Asked
2013	In Praise Of Change
2012	John Carter Of Mars
	Circular
2011	How Much And When

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Timely Planning

You can never plan the future by the past.
—     Edmund Burke
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On This Day In:
2022	An Experiment Without A Control Group
2021	Seeking Center
	Your Love Is Near
2020	You Mean I’m STILL In School?
2019	Finishing Work
2018	Diversity
2017	Timely Planning
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

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Cheers, Friend!

The future is never clear, you pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus.  Uncertainty actually is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.
—  Warren Buffett
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On This Day In:
2022	How About: Just Be Kind…
2021	Try To Choose Wisely
	Found It
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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A Small Part Of Future Webs

Growth is relentless.  So a constant trend towards more and more specialization is inevitable.  Scientists have to concentrate on a small part of the world’s knowledge if they want to have any hope of continuing to advance it.
There might be some light on the horizon, however.  I predict that in the not too distant future, people in academic life are going to define themselves not by one specialty area, but by two sub-specialities that belong to two rather different main specialities.  This means that we’ll have a web of interests, in which each person will serve as a bridge between different parts of the overall structure.
—    Donald E. Knuth
From his book:  “Things A Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About“
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On This Day In:
2022	Jeopardy
2021	Will Republican Senators Convict A Former President?
	Keep Moving, Keep Rolling
2020	Republican Acceptance Of Abuse Of Office
2019	The Courage Of Four Skills
2018	And Stable Genius, Too
2017	And So We Continue
2016	Feeling Endangered?
2015	One Day
2014	Too Bad
2013	Unfinished
2012	First Steps Along The Path
2011	A Small Part Of Future Webs

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