Jewish Proverb About Work
Thanks to Allan who gave Jack for his birthday last year the book: "Where There's Smoke, There's Salmon: The Book of Jewish Proverbs" - "Jewish Wisdom-From Moses to Woody Allen", by Michael Levin, Citadel Press, c. 2001.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
"To succeed in business, always follow two principles: honesty and wisdom. Honesty means that if you promise to deliver a shipment of goods on the twenty-fourth of March, you deliver the shipment. Wisdom means being smart enough not to promise anything."
-- Sam Levinson
October 17, 2002
Happy 75th Birthday to Günter Grass
Jack believes in giving praise where praise is due. On reading about Günter Grass, I think of Leonardo!
DW-WORLD.de (Deutsche Welle German Radio News Service)
"Günter Grass: author, poet, painter, sculptor, public moralist and Nobel prize winner. Germany’s best-known living writer celebrates his 75th birthday on October 16 and shows no sign of slowing down."
http://kleist.dwelle.de/english/culture/culture2.html
----------------
Nobel e-Museum
Günter Grass
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1999
"whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1999/
Günter Grass – Prose
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1999/grass-prose.html
This website contains excerpts from The Tin Drum, by Günter Grass
selected by Åke Erlandsson, The Swedish Academy
Jack believes in giving praise where praise is due. On reading about Günter Grass, I think of Leonardo!
DW-WORLD.de (Deutsche Welle German Radio News Service)
"Günter Grass: author, poet, painter, sculptor, public moralist and Nobel prize winner. Germany’s best-known living writer celebrates his 75th birthday on October 16 and shows no sign of slowing down."
http://kleist.dwelle.de/english/culture/culture2.html
----------------
Nobel e-Museum
Günter Grass
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1999
"whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1999/
Günter Grass – Prose
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1999/grass-prose.html
This website contains excerpts from The Tin Drum, by Günter Grass
selected by Åke Erlandsson, The Swedish Academy
On Risk Perception As It Relates To The 9/11 Casualties
This is a bit heavier subject than the topics I usually pick for a blog post. But I have an intrigue with rationales for modern human behavior and the "human condition" that relate back to our distant "hunter-gatherer" life as nomads and cave dwellers.
For just one example that directly affects me, there is a rationale for the "diabetes epidemic" that our body metabolism is adapted to high protein and fat - thus being used to low carbohydrates including sugars. The primitive diet was mostly game meat, nuts and berries, seeds, etc. The modern diet includes high carbohydrate potatoes, wheat, corn, rice, etc., that are adapted to efficient high-yield agriculture - and with palatability enhanced by techniques such as milling to flour and baking bread, tortillas, rice patties, and so on. As the scenario is painted, our metabolism has not adapted yet in the relatively short time (from an evolution standpoint) to a high-carbohydrate diet. Hence, metabolic regulation of blood glucose (think blood sugar) is inadequate for a large segment of the population. Hence for my own personal regimen as a person with diabetes, I achieve tighter blood glucose control by going on a low-carbohydrate diet.
Without further ado, I include an excerpt from a Skeptical Inquirer article relating to distorted risk perception following 9/11. The excerpt brings out factors related to our primitive past, and even fairly recent past, that are intriguing to me.
----------------------------------------
Skeptical Inquirer magazine : September/October 2002
http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-09/9-11.html
A Skeptical Look at September 11th
How We Can Defeat Terrorism by Reacting to It More Rationally
by Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris
"At the one-year anniversary, we examine reactions to the September 11, 2001, attacks in the context of other causes of premature deaths. An objective of terrorism is to multiply damage by inducing irrational fears in the broad population. One defense is to learn to evaluate such situations more objectively."
[Excerpt - in middle of article]
Death and Statistics
"It is a maxim that one needless or untimely death is one too many. So 20,000 victims should be 20,000 times worse. But our minds don't work that way." .................
[--------]
..........."To researchers in risk perception, this is natural human behavior. We are evolved from primitive nomads and cave dwellers who never knew, personally, more than the few hundred people in their locales. Until just a few generations ago, news from other lands arrived sporadically via sailors; most people lived and died within a few miles of where they were born. Tragedies invariably concerned a known, nearby person. With the globalization of communication, the world-not just our local valley-has entered our consciousness. But our brains haven't evolved to relate, personally, to each of 6 billion people. Only when the media singles out someone-perhaps an "average layperson" or maybe a tragic exception like JonBenet Ramsey-do our hearts and minds connect."
This is a bit heavier subject than the topics I usually pick for a blog post. But I have an intrigue with rationales for modern human behavior and the "human condition" that relate back to our distant "hunter-gatherer" life as nomads and cave dwellers.
For just one example that directly affects me, there is a rationale for the "diabetes epidemic" that our body metabolism is adapted to high protein and fat - thus being used to low carbohydrates including sugars. The primitive diet was mostly game meat, nuts and berries, seeds, etc. The modern diet includes high carbohydrate potatoes, wheat, corn, rice, etc., that are adapted to efficient high-yield agriculture - and with palatability enhanced by techniques such as milling to flour and baking bread, tortillas, rice patties, and so on. As the scenario is painted, our metabolism has not adapted yet in the relatively short time (from an evolution standpoint) to a high-carbohydrate diet. Hence, metabolic regulation of blood glucose (think blood sugar) is inadequate for a large segment of the population. Hence for my own personal regimen as a person with diabetes, I achieve tighter blood glucose control by going on a low-carbohydrate diet.
Without further ado, I include an excerpt from a Skeptical Inquirer article relating to distorted risk perception following 9/11. The excerpt brings out factors related to our primitive past, and even fairly recent past, that are intriguing to me.
----------------------------------------
Skeptical Inquirer magazine : September/October 2002
http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-09/9-11.html
A Skeptical Look at September 11th
How We Can Defeat Terrorism by Reacting to It More Rationally
by Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris
"At the one-year anniversary, we examine reactions to the September 11, 2001, attacks in the context of other causes of premature deaths. An objective of terrorism is to multiply damage by inducing irrational fears in the broad population. One defense is to learn to evaluate such situations more objectively."
[Excerpt - in middle of article]
Death and Statistics
"It is a maxim that one needless or untimely death is one too many. So 20,000 victims should be 20,000 times worse. But our minds don't work that way." .................
[--------]
..........."To researchers in risk perception, this is natural human behavior. We are evolved from primitive nomads and cave dwellers who never knew, personally, more than the few hundred people in their locales. Until just a few generations ago, news from other lands arrived sporadically via sailors; most people lived and died within a few miles of where they were born. Tragedies invariably concerned a known, nearby person. With the globalization of communication, the world-not just our local valley-has entered our consciousness. But our brains haven't evolved to relate, personally, to each of 6 billion people. Only when the media singles out someone-perhaps an "average layperson" or maybe a tragic exception like JonBenet Ramsey-do our hearts and minds connect."
Post Mortem - Will I Ever Get My Files Organized? :-)
One of my blog readers sent me a joshing comment:
"And about the mess of papers building up... tsk, tsk. ;-) "
After a good chuckle, I thought about the "real" basis for my organization dilemma. When I file things they are sometimes harder to find than if I leave them in piles. :-(
Actually, I did have a two-year period my papers were timely filed using a system that made retrieval easy. Those were my two years as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. As such, I was in charge of a large supply room and machine shop for a chemical, biological and radiological materials transportation unit. And the Army DOES run on paper, as legend has it. :-) And most important for me, I delegated the filing duties to my Supply Sergeant. And he did a very good job! Also, the Army filing system is very methodical - similar to library cataloging. Hey! Even I figured out the system. :-)
One of my blog readers sent me a joshing comment:
"And about the mess of papers building up... tsk, tsk. ;-) "
After a good chuckle, I thought about the "real" basis for my organization dilemma. When I file things they are sometimes harder to find than if I leave them in piles. :-(
Actually, I did have a two-year period my papers were timely filed using a system that made retrieval easy. Those were my two years as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. As such, I was in charge of a large supply room and machine shop for a chemical, biological and radiological materials transportation unit. And the Army DOES run on paper, as legend has it. :-) And most important for me, I delegated the filing duties to my Supply Sergeant. And he did a very good job! Also, the Army filing system is very methodical - similar to library cataloging. Hey! Even I figured out the system. :-)
October 16, 2002
Will I Ever Get My Files Organized? :-)
I notice since starting the Jack in Oklahoma blog that I add "favorites" (a.k.a. "bookmarks") more frequently to my MS Internet Explorer browser - and also I use them more frequently. Fine and good. But, now I have a massively disorganized favorites list file. My Internet files, my work files, my home files - you have it - they are disorganized.
Here is a little background. In my thirty-two year career with FMC Corporation, my improvement objectives almost every year included getting my files more organized. You got it. :-) I never achieved the goal.
My files are always a mess and my desk is 'always' stacked with papers. For awhile the engineering supervisor made every Friday afternoon a "cleanup day" and we had to have clean desk tops. OK - so I just found places to hide the piles. ;-)
At home - the same thing. On my left, I am looking at a pile of paid utility, phone, etc., bills that go back several months. Behind me is a multi-month pile of medical statements, medical records, etc.. There are just plain piles of paper everywhere! 8-]
I've misplaced many things, including at least two books on how to get organized. Ho ho ho!
Back to my web browser favorites list. I looked at my list and I have a tendency to make a new folder for each new link I decide to file. Great! But I end up looking, looking, .... often through most of the files with much frustration to find where I filed that link I need RIGHT NOW> <-8) So today I tried merging folders, creating sub-folders, and so on ... in some sort of logical way.
I repeat. Will I Ever Get My Files Organized? :-)
I notice since starting the Jack in Oklahoma blog that I add "favorites" (a.k.a. "bookmarks") more frequently to my MS Internet Explorer browser - and also I use them more frequently. Fine and good. But, now I have a massively disorganized favorites list file. My Internet files, my work files, my home files - you have it - they are disorganized.
Here is a little background. In my thirty-two year career with FMC Corporation, my improvement objectives almost every year included getting my files more organized. You got it. :-) I never achieved the goal.
My files are always a mess and my desk is 'always' stacked with papers. For awhile the engineering supervisor made every Friday afternoon a "cleanup day" and we had to have clean desk tops. OK - so I just found places to hide the piles. ;-)
At home - the same thing. On my left, I am looking at a pile of paid utility, phone, etc., bills that go back several months. Behind me is a multi-month pile of medical statements, medical records, etc.. There are just plain piles of paper everywhere! 8-]
I've misplaced many things, including at least two books on how to get organized. Ho ho ho!
Back to my web browser favorites list. I looked at my list and I have a tendency to make a new folder for each new link I decide to file. Great! But I end up looking, looking, .... often through most of the files with much frustration to find where I filed that link I need RIGHT NOW> <-8) So today I tried merging folders, creating sub-folders, and so on ... in some sort of logical way.
I repeat. Will I Ever Get My Files Organized? :-)
I Like "One Liners". :-)
Found in The Village Voice (New York) sports column "Jockbeat" concerning a season opening loss by the New York Rangers hockey team:
"Why are the Rangers like the Titanic? They look great until they hit the ice."
Found in The Village Voice (New York) sports column "Jockbeat" concerning a season opening loss by the New York Rangers hockey team:
"Why are the Rangers like the Titanic? They look great until they hit the ice."
October 15, 2002
Clarification - Jack's Vote For a Beautiful Experiment
- Neil Bartlett's Synthesis of XePtF6 in 1962
In a post I made [9/27/2002 1:37:10 PM | Jack Schwartz] I stated information that needs clarification.
Jack wrote:
Professor Neil Bartlett's synthesis of xenon platinum hexafluoride XePtF6 is beautiful to me for many reasons.
------ [ big snip ] ------
And Jack continues:
"Dr. Erickson described the biggest problem faced by Professor Bartlett for synthesis of XePtF6 was finding a material to make a container for the experiment.
Glass cannot be used. I've seen first hand that fluorine rapidly attacks glass, a sodium silicate, forming gaseous silicon hexafluoride SiF6. I don't recall what material was finally used by Dr. Bartlett for a container - maybe platinum Pt? - but once a suitable container was constructed the experiment to make XePtF6 was done in a straightforward fashion and reported in the literature. And a whole new field of chemistry opened up in "noble gas" compound synthesis that continues to this day."
----------------
OK people - I am human! Either my memory failed me or I heard an apocryphal version of events. Anyhow, a thorough summary of noble-gas chemistry in the 40 years since Dr. Bartlett's synthesis of XePtF6 appears in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/80/i40/print/8040sci1.html?emFrom=emLogin . In the article I find clarification of two misunderstandings on my part.
[From Jack: American Chemical Society Member ID may be needed - in the event access is denied, I am posting a copy of the article to the Jack in Oklahoma list Files section http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JackinOklahoma/files/. An automatic message was sent to the list announcing the article addition to Jack in Oklahoma Files.
Clarification Items:
1) Rather than reacting fluorine gas with xenon, Dr. Bartlett reacted gaseous platinum hexafluoride PtF6 with xenon Xe gas to form XePtF6 - Note: research on composition of multi-product mixture continues.
2) The container was glass (sodium silicate glass) and quartz (pure silica glass) ... "he [Professor Bartlett, at University of British Columbia] had assembled a glass and quartz apparatus in which the two gases were separated by a fragile glass seal. At about 6:45 PM [on March 23, 1962], he broke the seal and observed an immediate reaction as the deep red PtF6 gas mixed with the colorless xenon gas and a yellow-orange solid precipitated."
After reading about this ingenious experimental apparatus and experimental technique, the beauty of the experiment stands out even more for me!
- Neil Bartlett's Synthesis of XePtF6 in 1962
In a post I made [9/27/2002 1:37:10 PM | Jack Schwartz] I stated information that needs clarification.
Jack wrote:
Professor Neil Bartlett's synthesis of xenon platinum hexafluoride XePtF6 is beautiful to me for many reasons.
------ [ big snip ] ------
And Jack continues:
"Dr. Erickson described the biggest problem faced by Professor Bartlett for synthesis of XePtF6 was finding a material to make a container for the experiment.
Glass cannot be used. I've seen first hand that fluorine rapidly attacks glass, a sodium silicate, forming gaseous silicon hexafluoride SiF6. I don't recall what material was finally used by Dr. Bartlett for a container - maybe platinum Pt? - but once a suitable container was constructed the experiment to make XePtF6 was done in a straightforward fashion and reported in the literature. And a whole new field of chemistry opened up in "noble gas" compound synthesis that continues to this day."
----------------
OK people - I am human! Either my memory failed me or I heard an apocryphal version of events. Anyhow, a thorough summary of noble-gas chemistry in the 40 years since Dr. Bartlett's synthesis of XePtF6 appears in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/80/i40/print/8040sci1.html?emFrom=emLogin . In the article I find clarification of two misunderstandings on my part.
[From Jack: American Chemical Society Member ID may be needed - in the event access is denied, I am posting a copy of the article to the Jack in Oklahoma list Files section http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JackinOklahoma/files/. An automatic message was sent to the list announcing the article addition to Jack in Oklahoma Files.
Clarification Items:
1) Rather than reacting fluorine gas with xenon, Dr. Bartlett reacted gaseous platinum hexafluoride PtF6 with xenon Xe gas to form XePtF6 - Note: research on composition of multi-product mixture continues.
2) The container was glass (sodium silicate glass) and quartz (pure silica glass) ... "he [Professor Bartlett, at University of British Columbia] had assembled a glass and quartz apparatus in which the two gases were separated by a fragile glass seal. At about 6:45 PM [on March 23, 1962], he broke the seal and observed an immediate reaction as the deep red PtF6 gas mixed with the colorless xenon gas and a yellow-orange solid precipitated."
After reading about this ingenious experimental apparatus and experimental technique, the beauty of the experiment stands out even more for me!
October 14, 2002
Women don't want to be bombarded with online porn ... do they?
I got a telephone call from Barbara last night and she is home safely. But I am disturbed to hear she is upset by finding on the order of 150 porn e-mail messages in her e-mail inbox - and about 50 additional spam messages of all kinds - after her eight day trip to Oklahoma. :-(
Barbara's spam increased dramatically after her @qwest.com server went out of business and she changed her e-mail address to the @msn.com server. Holy Cow! All of a sudden she is bombarded by spam! As a possible remedy, she looked at SpamKiller software I use - but it is not available for Mac. So she is home pondering her options. Before she went home, we didn't come up with certain possibilities in a quick Web search for Mac spam killing software. Maybe some of the Jack in Oklahoma blog readers have ideas or knowledge that can help?
Meanwhile, Barbara's dilemma makes this article in today's DWWorld.de (Deutsche Welle German radio news website) have interest for me.
No Cyber-Porn Please, We’re Women.
Women don't want to be bombarded with online porn ... do they?
http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1446_A_651693_1_A,00.html
"With its new .frau domain, a German firm is striving to save women from porn and sexual harassment on the Internet.
You know how it is. You log on to your Web-based email account. You must be popular -- 20 new messages!
But there's not a single witty one-liner from your best friend, no reply from your current love interest. No, every email is inviting you to visit a new porn site, offering you cut-price Viagra or claiming to be able to erase your credit card debt.
A two-woman team in southwestern Germany is now attempting to change all that. Susann Ricke und Dagmar Pálsson of Exist@, a private company in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, have joined forces on a project called Fraude, which offers women the chance to get online without feeling sexually harassed or plagued by pornography."
....... [ article continues] .......
I got a telephone call from Barbara last night and she is home safely. But I am disturbed to hear she is upset by finding on the order of 150 porn e-mail messages in her e-mail inbox - and about 50 additional spam messages of all kinds - after her eight day trip to Oklahoma. :-(
Barbara's spam increased dramatically after her @qwest.com server went out of business and she changed her e-mail address to the @msn.com server. Holy Cow! All of a sudden she is bombarded by spam! As a possible remedy, she looked at SpamKiller software I use - but it is not available for Mac. So she is home pondering her options. Before she went home, we didn't come up with certain possibilities in a quick Web search for Mac spam killing software. Maybe some of the Jack in Oklahoma blog readers have ideas or knowledge that can help?
Meanwhile, Barbara's dilemma makes this article in today's DWWorld.de (Deutsche Welle German radio news website) have interest for me.
No Cyber-Porn Please, We’re Women.
Women don't want to be bombarded with online porn ... do they?
http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1446_A_651693_1_A,00.html
"With its new .frau domain, a German firm is striving to save women from porn and sexual harassment on the Internet.
You know how it is. You log on to your Web-based email account. You must be popular -- 20 new messages!
But there's not a single witty one-liner from your best friend, no reply from your current love interest. No, every email is inviting you to visit a new porn site, offering you cut-price Viagra or claiming to be able to erase your credit card debt.
A two-woman team in southwestern Germany is now attempting to change all that. Susann Ricke und Dagmar Pálsson of Exist@, a private company in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, have joined forces on a project called Fraude, which offers women the chance to get online without feeling sexually harassed or plagued by pornography."
....... [ article continues] .......
Salon Article - The Homeless Blogger
The homeless blogger
"Kevin Barbieux sleeps in abandoned buildings or shelters -- and writes a daily journal that has made him an Internet celebrity."
As a "new kid on the blogger block" :-), I find this article very interesting. I read though several posts by Kevin Barbieux at his blog named "The Homeless Guy" http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/ The reading is captivating and I can see why Kevin is an Internet celebrity. So much so that I am now one of Kevin's fans and plan to regularly read posts at his blog. Kevin's writings gives me some ideas for future posts on my blog. Hmmm. We'll see if some of my ideas from Kevin go anywhere. <8-)
Just as an example post of interest from The Homeless Guy (purely a random choice):
Bleeding Hearts
"I've always had a little problem with the cliche, "Bleeding Hearts." I first heard the phrase when I was a kid, and like most kids, I took the phrase literally - and I agreed. Yes, hearts do bleed. They bleed constantly - that's what they're made for. As a matter of fact, hearts bleed so much that blood has to be constantly pumped back into them. And even more importantly, when hearts stop bleeding, they die."
posted by kevin @ Thursday, October 10, 2002 Comment (26)
The homeless blogger
"Kevin Barbieux sleeps in abandoned buildings or shelters -- and writes a daily journal that has made him an Internet celebrity."
As a "new kid on the blogger block" :-), I find this article very interesting. I read though several posts by Kevin Barbieux at his blog named "The Homeless Guy" http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/ The reading is captivating and I can see why Kevin is an Internet celebrity. So much so that I am now one of Kevin's fans and plan to regularly read posts at his blog. Kevin's writings gives me some ideas for future posts on my blog. Hmmm. We'll see if some of my ideas from Kevin go anywhere. <8-)
Just as an example post of interest from The Homeless Guy (purely a random choice):
Bleeding Hearts
"I've always had a little problem with the cliche, "Bleeding Hearts." I first heard the phrase when I was a kid, and like most kids, I took the phrase literally - and I agreed. Yes, hearts do bleed. They bleed constantly - that's what they're made for. As a matter of fact, hearts bleed so much that blood has to be constantly pumped back into them. And even more importantly, when hearts stop bleeding, they die."
posted by kevin @ Thursday, October 10, 2002 Comment (26)
Digital Media Poem - Vniverse
On reading reviews for the poet Stephanie Strickland, I've discovered a poetry medium called "Digital Media Poetry." It is all new to me, but I am intrigued by sampling Strickland's digital media poem "Vniverse" http://vniverse.com [click on Enter]
Note: An up-to-date version of Shockwave is needed; the download link is given.
[After clicking on Enter, a starry night sky shows. Move cursor around to see constellations]
Now move cursor to a specific star and click; Example: click on a star at far upper left for which Ursa Major and Ursa Minor constellations are on view with verse:
---------------------------
hollow
88
And in its hollow live the bears - a world
tree closes. Major
and Minor they circle
the hole,
[click second time on star, more verse appears]
observed
at the Gr( )ch
meridian
a bee lives 28 days, that vaginal cadence,
nose swollen in honey.
The tree rings itself with another ring each year
and in its hollow
a world tree closes, Major
and Minor, they circle the hole,
dipping honey from the hollow
at the tilted top
of the northern world Polaris, star at the very end
of the Little Bear's tale.
To know
there is a pole, a polar axis to the earth,
---------------------------
Comment by Jack: To fully explore all the possibilities of the digital media poem Vniverse, click on the "How to" page link at the Vniverse home page. I have a "thrilled" feeling to see this means of utilizing computer interactive capabilities for expression of poetry.
On reading reviews for the poet Stephanie Strickland, I've discovered a poetry medium called "Digital Media Poetry." It is all new to me, but I am intrigued by sampling Strickland's digital media poem "Vniverse" http://vniverse.com [click on Enter]
Note: An up-to-date version of Shockwave is needed; the download link is given.
[After clicking on Enter, a starry night sky shows. Move cursor around to see constellations]
Now move cursor to a specific star and click; Example: click on a star at far upper left for which Ursa Major and Ursa Minor constellations are on view with verse:
---------------------------
hollow
88
And in its hollow live the bears - a world
tree closes. Major
and Minor they circle
the hole,
[click second time on star, more verse appears]
observed
at the Gr( )ch
meridian
a bee lives 28 days, that vaginal cadence,
nose swollen in honey.
The tree rings itself with another ring each year
and in its hollow
a world tree closes, Major
and Minor, they circle the hole,
dipping honey from the hollow
at the tilted top
of the northern world Polaris, star at the very end
of the Little Bear's tale.
To know
there is a pole, a polar axis to the earth,
---------------------------
Comment by Jack: To fully explore all the possibilities of the digital media poem Vniverse, click on the "How to" page link at the Vniverse home page. I have a "thrilled" feeling to see this means of utilizing computer interactive capabilities for expression of poetry.