Wandering
I thought about the value of wandering as one of our neighbors walked past our house this afternoon. He was just out for a walk with his daughter and their dog. There are many possible reasons that might have prompted…
Tag insights
Things Unknown
It’s amazing how an difference so small that we can’t even predict it can very noticeably change the outcome of a standardized process. I saw this in action today while baking cookies. Laura and discovered that the cookies cooked differently…
Our Crisis in Foreign Policy
Frank does a good job discussing One Lesson From Two September 11th Events. He is completely right to ask: What will it take for America to learn a similar lesson–that if we expect to be respected and not feared, that…
Economies of Scale
This news is disturbing but hardly surprising – our existing entitlement programs are unsustainable in the long term. The more I think about it the more I realize that this is like a lesson I learned as a child about…
Teaching and Learning
I have heard it said that you learn more by teaching something than just by learning or doing it. As I was preparing today for a lesson I caught some new insights into why that is. For one thing, the…
The Law of Abundance
I have thought for a long time about the basic premise of capitalism and economics. Thanks to the discussion on Wealth is Always Distributed I have decided to write down my thoughts on the subject. Economics are based on the…
Formalism and Details
I have been thinking about the merits of formalism in our laid-back society. I wonder how many people even have a basic understanding of parliamentary procedure or know what Robert’s rules of order are. I suspect that more people are…
Wealth is Always Distributed
I’ve been thinking about the whole distribution of wealth thing and I begin to wonder if it is really a problem. What happens when Alex Rodriguez gets paid $25 million dollars a year? (I pick him because I know his…
Buildingblocks of Community
As I think about the components of an effective community I thought it would be valuable to list what I think are the essential parts of an effective community. I will try to define them just enough here to make…
Information Processing
Thanks to Joshua for pointing to this quote from Douglas Adams (author of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). Of course you can’t ‘trust’ what people tell you on the web anymore than you can ‘trust’ what people tell you on…