"The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life" by Robert Trivers

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read!

As Winston Smith said in "1984" by George Orwell, we always love an author that says what we are thinking but says it better than I can say it myself.

I woke up at 3 am this morning my mind filled with ideas about how this book ties into Ayn Rand's Objectivist Epistemology (measurement as a means to avoid self-deception) and how it ties in with the Project Management Institute's "Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMBOK) in that measurement is a project manager's job [because it makes the "unconscious" [or deceptive] conscious].

I won't even mention the depth that it adds to the "Fourth Way" literature! Finally get some solid scientific support!

I encourage everyone to read this book as soon as you can, it can change your life at every level from idle moments to work, from politics, from sacred to secular!

Why snow may not be plowed for a while? 17 January 2016, Baltimore

My friends keep complaining about snow removal, so I started thinking about the numbers needed and I obtained the miles of roads and number of snow plow operators from Baltimore City government web pages.

Assumptions: 

•      The Baltimore City Roadway Maintenance group maintains and preserves 2,000 miles of roadways and 800 miles of alleys. 
•      In 2010 the city had 230 snow plow operators.
•      How fast was the snow falling? 25 inches in 30 hours, about an inch per hour.
•      Each operator is capable of working for 30 hours straight.

A very optimistic estimate of snow removal is:

If a plow clearing 6" inches of snow moves 10 miles per hour then one plow could clear 2000 miles of 6 inch snow in 200 hours.

230 plows in 9 hours.  

Just a path down the center of each street.

I don't account for the accumulation that occurs during plow time, from 6" at the beginning to 15 inches at the end, the plows would become slower and slower as their journey moves on.

After all the 230 plows have made their first pass through 2000 miles of streets, and return to their starting points 9 hours later, they would be facing >9 inches on the second pass, maybe 5 mph?

The second pass would take about 18 hours. The storm is almost over, but when they get back to their starting points for round 3, it may be 18 inches of snow. Rate of progress may be only 1 or 2 miles per hour?

So I am not surprised that all the side streets aren't cleared yet. 

And the snow plow operators deserve a break after plowing for 30 hours straight.

Science and Art

"Concentrating only on the usefulness of science is a bit like celebrating music because it is good exercise for the violinist's right arm." — Richard Dawkins "Brief Candle in the Dark" page 233.

Whole 30 Diet Experience, Cinnamon Rolls and Beer

One week into the Whole 30 Diet with my wife.

As promised this diet can change my sense of life and open up new levels of self awareness. What a wonderful tool for self examination!

What is new and shocking is that I see even more vividly than ever how the magnitude of how sugar and alcohol capture my imagination and drive my attention. I've been using them to distract myself from the "terror of the situation."  This isn't a new insight because I've been observing the varieties of distraction and misuse of my imagination for 5 or 6 years, or longer. 

What is NEW is that I had not realized the size of this distraction compared to other things that occupy my attention.  It seems really huge, compared to valuable choices of conversation, reading, working or exercising. I see and feel magnitude of my attraction to city life driven by the potential varieties of pastries, and beer. 

What do I mean by imagination?

Imagination that is the " … power of fantasy, which takes the place of a real function. When a man dreams instead of acting, when his dreams take the place of reality, when a man imagines himself to be an eagle, a lion, or a magician, it is the force of [imagination] working in him."  reference this blog post.

Blogging for Me

I have the feeling when I read my old blogs that they seem so inane! It is discouraging. But should it discourage me?

The other concern is repetition. I write down an insight, and much later I record a similar insight. I have forgotten the insight from the first time it came to me.  This is not a new discovery either. In the days of paper I used to list my "new insights," "awarenesses," etc. as they occurred.  After a couple of years of doing this I reviewed my list and was amazed to discover how many times I had listed the same insight more than once, and each time it seemed "new" to me.  Later I found a line in one of Karen Horney's books about this phenomena.  She said it was a result of not fully integrating and insight once it is achieved. It is important to dwell with and explore an insight to make it stick.

The biggest barrier to learning is thinking I already know.

The most recent example of this was gained by reading Rita Mulcahy's Project Management Guide. Because I thought I already knew, as I skimmed through the PMBOK over the last few decades, I never took the time to think about what I was looking at.

Rita's book helped me to recognize all the things that I had never articulated. The shadows and shapes in the room of awareness that I rely on without knowing what I am doing.

It is putting on a new pair of glasses, or a new set of eyes. Suddenly I have words for what I had no words for.  Suddenly I see what's missing and won't accept excuses for why it is missing!

I regret? all the years I spent in the "rabbit hole" of IT skills, and the "crisis of the moment."
Now at least I can live life as it is meant to be lived.

The key to fuller awareness is in my hands, do I have the courage to use it?

Education

I found a great tutorial online, http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ex0.html.
The author, Zed A. Shaw, says:
"A major part of this book is learning to research programming topics online. I'll tell you to "search for this on the internet," and your job is to use a search engine to find the answer. The reason I have you search instead of just giving you the answer is because I want you to be an independent learner who does not need my book when you're done with it. If you can find the answers to your questions online then you are one step closer to not needing me, and that is my goal."
....
"If someone tells you to stop at a specific exercise in this book or to skip certain ones, you should ignore that person. Anyone trying to hide knowledge from you, or worse, make you get it from them instead of through your own efforts, is trying to make you depend on them for your skills. Don't listen to them and do the exercises anyway so that you learn how to educate yourself."

I love this author's attitude!

What amazes me these days is the number of "young" people I deal with who say, "teach me," in response to my advice to read the book or play around with the concept until you master it.