American Companies Have to Pay the Cuban Government, before They can Do Business There

And this payment must be in the American Dollars - that Cuba so desperately needs.

American cruise ships, for example - depart from Miami, and then dock in number of ports on the coast of Cuba. At in each port, their passengers board buses, that show them the local sights.

The cruse ships, have to pay to be able to dock at each port, and then pay to operate those buses.

A Spymaster Steps Out of the Shadows

NY Times

This is another article that makes blogging easy.

Another article that every American should read - but most will not.

El Sistema

I am watching a video about this on medici.tv.

It is about a musical education program for poor children, in Venezuela. And is simply amazing. The government there has funded an excellent Classical Music system. At the same time it has descended into political and economic chaos.

This reminds me of the situation in the USSR, which also had an excellent Classical Music system.

The founders of El Sistema, who are interviewed here in depth, believe music will save their country.

It is worth watching the video, just to see how their minds operate. There is lot of admirable behavior going on there.

Americans have been Bad in Every Way They Could Think Of

But there were some ways they deliberately overlooked, and this has saved them.

One of these ways they retained from Industrialization - the ability to organize themselves as machines. To decide on a goal, and make it happen. But this goal has to be capable of being measured numerically, in numbers. Which severely limits the kinds of goals (or projects) that are possible. 

I will illustrate with an example from my own life.

I share a house with Ray, who lives in most of our house, but I rent the apartment in the back of the house from him. He rents the entire house from a woman who had lived here - but returned to the States, and now only visits here occasionally.

Recently, she decided to sell the house. Which meant Ray and myself,  would have to look for somewhere else to live. She offered to sell it to Ray, and gave him a good price for it. At first, this seemed impossible, because Ray did not have this much money.

But he made a huge effort, and assembled a package of financial arrangements that satisfied her. He now owned the house! 

I could not survive, it it were not for Ray. He took charge, during my recent medical crisis. He found a Neurologist, who diagnosed my Drop Attack problem, and negotiated with him, in Spanish, to give me a lower cost medication.

This was the kind of project he was good at. But he cannot be a personal friend for me - and doesn't want to be. This is not one of the things he can do.

How the Startup Mentality Failed Kids in San Francisco

Wired

Articles like this make it easy to write a blog. You just find things you like (or they find you, actually) and you provide links to them.

This is about an educational disaster - so much of a disaster, it's hard to believe.

Most of sources for this, did not want to be identified. But the main source, Willy Brown himself - wanted to be interviewed - and was brutally honest about what happened.

Self-Destruction can be an Attractive Option

I was thinking of a friend of mine, for whom this definitely applied.

I met her at a nudest resort (actually a clothing-optional resort) where we must have been attending some kind of workshop. Everyone was attending, or presenting workshops back then, in the Nineties, in California. She seemed to be someone special, who had her own mind. And I decided I had to know her better. So we dated - as the expression was then.

She had an unusual story. Her passion in life was the Theater, and she graduated from the University of California at Berkeley - where all kind of crazy things were going on. She met her husband there, who was also passionate about the Theater. After they graduated, they promptly left for New York City - because this where the Theater scene was.

Her husband become involved with an offbeat producer, who believed in free theater. But he also became an alcoholic, and succumbed to that. Meanwhile, my friend Carol, was having children.

There she was, without a husband, or anyone to provide for her. So she did the sensible thing, for her, and joined a Publisher that was also headquartered in NYC. And rose rapidly there. She was an excellent editor, and had a good feel, for which writers did good work. She was a success!

But she then destroyed this success - a pattern that she would repeat throughout her life. When I met her at the nudest resort, she was dead broke, and sleeping in the back of her car.

I was working as a Technical Writer, and I told my boss I needed an editor to work with. He approved of this, and I hired Carol, as my editor. She was an excellent editor and we worked well together. I could just produce a rough draft, and she would polish it up. I became a more productive writer, working with her.

And she had money! A  miracle, for her. But it did not last long. She and her girlfriends joined some wild parties in Mexico, with a lot of drinking. Before she knew it, her money was gone,

She next became involved in mobile housing. This was back when anyone could get a mortgage, whether they could pay for it or not. She soon owned a mobile housing unit, and a lot she could park it on - when she could pay for neither. She was coming up in the world! But this did not last long either.

I lost track of her, when I moved to Costa Rica - but we resumed our friendship, using email. Then she did something, many of my friends did. She terminated our friendship abruptly, giving no reason for this. She destroyed our friendship - which I valued.

Stanford Social Innovation Review

SSIR Now

Stanford has finally realized that the best way to get their ideas adopted - is to provide this information, for free

Something that MIT, on the East Coast, realized a long time ago.

But both have the same problem - most people do not want new ideas. And as a result, they end up preaching to the choir - to the few who are open to new ideas.

This is similar to the conclusion reached by one article in this series - The Best Leaders May Be Those Who “Give Up”.

The Solution for All Our Problems is in Absolute Conformity

This, I am convinced, is the attitude of most Americans. But it is hidden safely out of sight, in their unconscious minds, where they can deny it completely - but still allow it to control their lives.

Now that I have opened my mouth to say that, I will continue to explain myself - but, in all fairness, give credit to that amazing book The Revolt of the Masses, in a new translation. The author, Jose Ortega y Gasset, probably did not realize the importance of this work, himself.

Americans have formed a mass culture of their own - and one they identify with intensely. And, in doing so, have become, in their own minds supernatural - much better than ordinary people, who are only natural. This means they already know everything - and knowing more would only pollute the perfect knowledge they already have. And not only that - they are also obligated to destroy all those that disagree with them!

This attitude probably originated as one of the unexpected results of the Industrial Revolution, in the late 19th Century. Areas where this did not happen, such as in Latin America, still retain their people-friendly attitude. They have plenty of other problems, but not this one.

This attitude became part of Fascism, in the Thirties. That made full use of Radio and the Movies. But in the Fifties, Television made its  appearance, and changed everything. It gave those in power, direct access to the viewers minds - without their realizing this, at all.

This was noted, at the time, by many observers, such as Marshal McLuhan. But they could not have imagined its far-reaching consequences. In forming a mass movement, that required complete conformity.

This was immediately incorporated into the Business Office. The most inhuman of institutions. Even those who did not end up working in an Office, supported it by not noticing it was there. Giving it all the power it needed.

I get desperate requests for money all time, from politicians who want to reform America. By countering the Bad Guys with messages of their own (usually videos like theirs, but with the opposite message).

They are fine people, but they do not know what is going on. And they can be easily ignored, by their opponents - such as the supporters of Trump. Who aim straight for the gut, instead.

Business is Bad

To be more historically accurate, I should say Business has Become Bad. And this process was one of the shocking events of our time.

Dishonest business dealings are nothing new, they have existed forever. But they have not become common until now.

I first noticed this, when my career as an Electronic Engineer ended (when the Transistor replaced the Vacuum Tube) in 1980 - and I started working in the Computer Industry, in California, as a Technical Writer.

On my very first job there, the company I was working for had been taken over, by a new group that had been secretly organized, and gained control of the Board of Directors. They were going to use it to make money for themselves - and they promptly set about doing so. And they hired me, to help them do this.

I had no idea, when I became a technical writer, that I would end up doing this. But there I was, part of a scam, and not quite sure, of what was going on. But I was going to learn, fast.

And learn that this process, although common enough - was not something anyone wanted to recognize. It was happening, and many people were helping it to happen. But no one wanted to admit, it was happening.

And for the next twenty years, from 1980 to 2000, I was going to work for a series of companies, that were all dishonest - in a variety of ways. Often, they began as a honest company, doing good work. But were taken over, using methods, such as those I have described above, or worse. After this, they could only be described - as bad.

F#

I am learning programming, as a hobby. The software I want to study must (1) be simple enough for my old mind to understand (2) be supported by a free IDE (3) have plenty of explanatory documentation.

F#, being a Functional language, is designed to be simple. Microsoft provides a free version of its excellent Visual Studio IDE, that if it is built with the proper workloads (that do take of lot of time to install) support it directly. And there is a ton of explanatory documentation - of which Microsoft's is probably the best.

Dad and His Bread

My father's focus, when he was trying to start businesses in our hometown of Nauvoo, Illinois (population 1000) - was always on making bread, his own way, using his own recipe. 

He started by making his own whole wheat flour - but found that did not sell too well. So he opened his own bakery, where he could make his own bread, in considerable quantities.

But he ran into problems here - people wanted their bread baked fresh, every day. To do this, he would have needed another person to deliver his bread, every day - to the nearest large town of Ft. Madison, Iowa, where there were not many grocery stores.

The problem here was our location - if we had lived in a large city, and operated our bakery there - distribution would not have been much of a problem. There would have plenty of stores to sell our bread to. But trying to do this from our tiny town, was impossible.

Dad finally gave up, sold the business - and retired in Mexico.

The Society that Cannot Socialize

I had an interesting experience yesterday. I went to visit my friend Yami, and she was having a party - her father had reached his 89th birthday.

Everyone was speaking Spanish, that I can barely understand, but I could understand what was going on, in a general way - and that was all that was necessary. I helped myself to the snacks Yami was cooking, and watched the conversation proceed. One man at our table was being the life of the party, and was telling off-color stories - much to the amusement of the women, who were quite willing to add a few of their own.

I was being entertained myself, by the socializing that was going on. Ticos have huge limitations, compared to the Gringos - but they can still socialize, because they still like people.

This was the first thing I noticed on my first trip down here, to see if I wanted to live here - the people were friendly! And I decided this place was for me.

This is not the place for most Americans, however. Most only stay for awhile, and then go back. Only a few can make the adjustments required to stay here.

What are these adjustments? They are the ability to live in another culture permanently. Foreigners who live here, have to accept the Latino culture - that is hugely different from theirs. And accept it as valid - in its own way. This is a big adjustment, most cannot make, because Americans are certain the American Way is the only way.

I will use my parents as an example. They retired to Mexico, and were part of a community built to help local college students, by giving them a place to live, for free. My father was right in his element - he had learned the advantages of living in poor country when he served in the Marines, in Haiti, in 1930-34. He also liked learning a language, and enjoyed learning Spanish.  He had never felt better, and easily accepted Mexican culture.

My mother could not do this - and insisted that they move back to the States. Where my father died, not long after this.

Being Important

For my father, being important was important - and he devoted his life to this passion. And, in the last analysis, he failed.

You can't be important on your own, you have to be part of a group of people, who make some  members of that group more important than others. And if that group fails, as it did in my father's case - he failed along with it.

But I must back up in time, and explain what this meant.

The big event for him (and for everyone else) was the Depression. And he coped with this, by joining the Marine Corp, in 1930. Where he acquired an interest in Photography. He sent all his money home to his mother, in Ft. Madison, Iowa. And when he want back home, he used some of that money to buy a photography studio.

This was poorly located, on Main Street, that used to be important, as its name implies - but the business district had moved one block away, and the businesses on Main Street were failing. Dad had bought into a failing business, but did not seem to be aware of this. He always had poor social awareness.

He also had a poor taste in women - and married a woman, who was religious, and determined to dominate him (someone like his mother). I was born in 1936, still in the depths of the Depression.

We were saved by WWII, that created a boom economy. And Dad's studio prospered, being the only studio in town. We went from rags to riches, overnight.

And Dad developed an interest in Religion, in the RLDS church, that both his family, and his wife's family belonged to. Belonged is too mild a word, for their devotion to this church, which was complete.

The church let him be important.- and he took full advantage of this. He used his religious standing, to get tires for his car, that were very scarce during the War. And he quickly advanced in the church hierarchy, and he became District President.

Ft. Madison was an Industrial city - with the Santa Fe Railroad on the West End of town, and the Sheaffer Pen Company on the East End. And plenty of small businessmen, of which my father, was one. Money, and good jobs, were everywhere. And everyone assumed this would last forever.

It didn't. and this downfall is an important part of my story. And the part of my story, no one wants to hear.

The first effect of this decline, for us - was that the Smith Studio, started losing money. Veterans from the War, opened the own studios - and charged much less.

We had moved from Ft. Madison, to my mother's hometown, of Nauvoo, Illinois, just across the river, in 1947. Dad sold the Studio, and tried to open new a business in Nauvoo.

A new way of making Whole Wheat Flour had been developed, and Dad thought this way of making flour, had a great future. He bought high gluten winter wheat (good for making bread) by the carload, and stored it in bins that he assembled next to the mill.

He bought several of these new mills, and connected them with tubes, and stored the flour overhead. This arrangement was so interesting, many tourists came to see it. But the flour sold poorly. His new business was not working.

So he built a bakery, A new addition was built next to our house, and he bought a commercial oven, to bake the bread that he was now making. The bakery became a success, and he hired two local women to work in it.

What happened next I cannot explain - the folks sold everything, and retired to live in Mexico!

A huge change was taking place - and the folks lost their interest in being important. There was no longer any place left. for them to be important in.

Being Human was Not For Them

They had been there, and done that, and they wanted none of it. It was only good for one thing - it showed them what they did not want to be.

Now that you have followed me this far, the question naturally arises "When and how did this happen?" and "What exactly did happen?"

These are hard questions, and it is easier for me to tell you, how I came to ask them. The shock  of my life happened in the Eighties and Nineties, when I was working in the Computer Industry. I kept asking myself "What is going on with these people?" They didn't seem to be human. And I was right - they were not human, and didn't want to be.

It took the longest time for this realization to sink in - I kept thinking "This could not possibly be the case! How could they not be human?" The answer to these questions is simple - this is simply the way they are - and I have to realize this.

This was not good news for me, because it meant I could not predict, how they will respond, to any situation. But this is precisely the advantage for them - being unpredictable means they cannot be controlled. And this is why they are not human - they do not want be controlled. The very idea, drives them to distraction.

Humans can be controlled, and are being controlled - just as they are controlling others. This is part of the human condition.

But as I said at the beginning of this rant - for these people, this is unacceptable. They have to be something else, and that something else is to not be human.

They Cannot Tell the Difference Between a Lie and the Truth

This is a serious handicap, and a common one.

I am sure these people (the majority of the population) are this way, because this was how they were encouraged (almost forced) to become. Social pressure is powerful, and in our time - very powerful. This is a defining characteristic of our time - extreme social pressure. Everyone has to be like everyone else.

I tried to give you a link to TED talk, starring Poppy Crum, but I could not. It showed that advanced thinking is available (and a lot of it) but few people watch TED.

If you subscribe to This week on TED.com yourself, you will get their best - for free.

Social Manipulation

You all know the type - people who can feel what other people want, and then satisfy those needs. Or, more accurately - make them feel their needs have been met.

This is sometimes called emotional intelligence - and is the essential skill of any leader, especially in business. Does this also apply to our newest skill set - software development? A very good question, that has to be answered in two ways. Whether you are speaking of software as a business - or software, as a  way to make better software. Two different kinds of activities (and people) are involved here.

And they can overlap, as the latest political developments in that exotic world prove. Employees in Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are demanding their companies stop collaborating with the American military!

The Dark Side of the Orgasmic Meditation Company

Bloomberg Businessweek

This is a very long article, I could not finish it myself. Read as much of it as you care to. You will get the flavor of the piece, quickly enough.

If you are interested in sex, and who isn't? You will find it a worthwhile read. 

A Brief History of Mormonism

I am still trying to understand what happened to America. And, as I write this, the word understand stands out. Because most Americans were not interested in understanding anything, but fitting in to their world - and conforming as much as they could.

Why? Because they were scared of being human - in a world where superhumans reigned.

Which brings up the question "How did this happen?' When it happened is clear, sometime in the 19th Century. And the religious correlations are also clear - for my family: Mormonism appeared, as an unexpected byproduct of this situation.

I realize most of you are not Mormons - but Mormonism can serve as symptom for all the other strange things that were going on, after the Second Great Awakening changed America.

A short historical review, of the development of Mormonism is in order. It was lead by Joseph Smith, who attained his power, by a series of strange developments.

He began as a fortune finder, part of the craze that swept the people of his time - who believed that buried treasure could be found in the fields of Western New York State. That had recently been taken from the Indians. Long trenches were being dug, in frantic effort to find the treasure. but no treasure had been found!

They needed someone who would tell them where the treasure was buried. And Joseph Smith had this ability. He had a stone he would place in his hat, put the hat over his eyes, and he would be able to see where the treasure was. But this practice was illegal, and a hearing was held, to determine if he should be prosecuted under the law. But he avoided prosecution, by leaving the state.

His next business venture was to write a book - that he claimed, was a translation of the writings on some golden plates, that he had in his possession. It was called the Book of Mormon, and was printed, and made available for sale. No one should have been deceived by this, but many people were - especially when it was taken to England, by enthusiastic missionaries - and shown to workers in the factories there.

These were not the intellectuals in  London, who had no interest in it - but a new audience, who were not capable of critical thought, but had strong beliefs. And they thought Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God! And they longed to follow him - and promptly immigrated to America where they could do just that.

This was a new idea to Joseph himself, but he found it suited him well.And he founded a new church - the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints - LDS, for short. With him as its leader, and prophet. Whatever he wrote, became divine scripture, and was printed in their Doctrine and Covenants.

This church moved frequently, first to Kirtland, Ohio - where they built a temple, and started a bank, that soon failed. Then they moved to Missouri, that was the scene of intense violence between slavery forces and abolition forces. They were caught in the middle, and the church leaders, including Joseph Smith - ended up in jail! Most of the church members fled eastward, into Illinois, were they were treated kindly by the people of Quincy, Illinois.

Joseph Smith was allowed to escape from jail, and joined his church members in Quincy. He next purchased land further up the Mississippi River, and set about building a new town he called Nauvoo. New members were arriving frequently, and Nauvoo soon became a large town. where another temple was built.

But Missouri tried to extradite him, and try him as a criminal there. Joseph went into hiding, but surrendered to the Governor of Illinois, who promised to treat him fairly.  He was taken  to the County Seat, of Carthage, Illinois - where he was killed by an angry mob.

The Mormons believed they were superhuman - but so did many other Americans - for different reasons, that will have to be examined later, in this blog.

The Loss of Small Business in America

The first loss was in the heartland of America, in what we call the Midwest - that used to manufacture much of the world's goods. I grew up there, in Ft. Madison, Iowa. My father was a small businessman - one of many. Back then, it was easy to start a small business of your own, and live comfortably off of it.The same was true of farmers, the family farm was an important part of the economy - and part of  the American Way of Life.

But business became Big Business. The farms were replaced by Agribusiness - that required the investment of a huge amounts of capital. I saw this as a shocking development - but no one else did. 

Young men, such as me - had to look for other places to work. And soon the only places left were in the Computer Industry. 

This was a lucky break - but most Americans could not take advantage of it. They could not understand computers - and did not want to try. This would have required a huge effort, that they did not want to make.

There are now two Americas - the remnants of the Industrial Economy (that is declining) and the Computer Economy (that is growing).

Orosi is Depressed

Its big advantage was its beautiful natural setting, people liked being here. But this is gone and cannot be retrieved. 

If you look down on Orosi now, you can see the older part of town, now called Orosi Central. with its church, that tourists still come to see. But new housing developments, built on what used to be coffee fields, have many more, mass-produced, inexpensive houses. Orosi has plenty of water, and this permits development to continue.

These people crowd the buses going out of town - they will ride a bus for three hours, work for eight hours - and think nothing of it. Orosi is just a place where their house is, and they do not consider it their hometown. If they can afford a car, this allows them to make their big purchases elsewhere.

Orosi has gone through a building boom, new houses have been built on every vacant lot. With no thought given to the future of all this new housing - who would live in it, where they would find jobs, and whether the value of housing, in the entire area, would go up, or decline. They never considered that every boom is followed by a bust. 

The house I live in, is an example of what happened. It was bought by an American couple, who wanted to build a new life for themselves. They started a vegetarian restaurant in the front part of the house. The husband was a good cook, and had food from a different country, every day of the week. 

But he died, and was buried in the cemetery just up the road. The wife and her daughters went back to the States, and rented the house to Ray, who rents the apartment in the back of the house me. The wife would occasionally return to visit, but was satisfied to own a house, in a town that felt like it had a future. 

But her attitude has changed - she now wants out, and has decided to sell the house - but has found that many other people want to do the same - and selling the house will be difficult.

There used to be quite a few Americans and Canadians living in Orosi, but gradually they had been leaving. So gradually, no one noticed. But eventually. these Gringos realized that Orosi was no longer where people like them wanted to be - and they wanted out also. 

The only businesses that are prospering in Orosi, are the grocery stores - who sell to the greatly increased population. Other businesses try to start up, but do not last long.

Religious Passion and Sexual Passion

I has been noticed many times that religious authorities often abuse the power they have over their followers. Sometimes with the follower's acquiescence.

One example of this, was by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism - who had sexual access with the young daughters of his followers.The parents of these young women, were eager to give their daughters to him - usually, for one time only. .

Later, Polygamy, was taught and practiced as a church doctrine. But this got them in trouble with the Federal authorities, and they had to discontinue this practice.

Joseph Smith III, who became the leader of the RLDS church - did not believe his father was deviant sexually, And never questioned his mother about this. But some church officials did ask her about this, and wrote her replies down. She evaded their questions, using language that had been developed during the Nauvoo period, to refer to these practices indirectly.

She had married again, to a man who was not religious in the least - but she was still protecting her first husband.

Another Defective Laptop

I ordered this from Amazon (for $255), they shipped to Miami, and my forwarding service, flew it to Costa Rica, ran it through Customs, and charged me $89 for their services.

They became completely confused, because the package contained the laptop, and its power supply - and they listed the whole things as the power supply. Not very smart, I know - but eventually I  got the whole package in their outlet in Cartago (the nearest large town) - and realized what was going on. The laptop was there, underneath the power supply.

I took it home, and tried to use it - but it would not turn on!

I complained to Amazon, who complained the the seller, and it agreed to a refund, and sent ma a mailing label, to use in returning it. Now I will take it the post office, and mail it back. The $89 I paid to get it to Costa Rica, will not be refunded., or the cost of mailing it back. Or the $100 it cost me to mail it from Costa Rica back to the States.

This illustrates the attitude of Amazon toward ethical behavior..The let me test this product, and when I found it was defective - they simply authorized a refund, and ignored the huge inconvenience to me.

Americans Hate Themselves

But do not realize this.

This situation has been building for some time, but it became critical when they realized, the Computer was controlling them.

This should have not have been such a big shock, we have always been influenced heavily by our technologies - but since they did not know what the Computer was, and how it worked. they saw it as some malignant, overwhelming force. And they panicked.

This is why, to everyone's surprise - they elected Trump. For two reasons - (1) they thought he would somehow solve their problems - and (2) this was a way of destroying America.

There are more sophisticated ways of understanding this - but this way is short and brutal.

I Get a Chargeback

Wells Fargo has come to my rescue!

I got two credit card charges, from a service I had not used for years. But I did the right thing - I complained to my bank about this (because they had issued the credit card) and (after 10 days) they refunded my money.

Anyone can do this - if someone makes a false charge to your credit card, your bank will be on your side.

What artificial intelligence doesn’t understand

Washington Post

This article is so good, I wish I had written it myself. But this gal is way ahead of me.

I usually pull some quotes from the article, to include in my postings. But I would be embarrassed to do this here.

The New Machine Society

Machines have always been with us, and have been one of the main ways we use to organize ourselves. The Pyramids were built with machines made of people, and the workers were paid in bread, onions, and beer.

Later, the Romans invented the first military organizations, also organized as hierarchical mechanical units. And this type of military organization is still used today.

The next big invention, was the Steam Engine, a machine where all the parts were mechanical, and which burned fossil fuels (usually coal) to obtain its energy.

This had a huge impact on the people of its time - in what we now call Industrialization. This created factories, where workers were forced to work for long hours, for minimal wages - barely enough to stay alive. The workers were treated as machines themselves.

Gradually, the workers were able to organize themselves, and demand better working conditions. And in America, formed an affluent Middle Class, that had good jobs in the factories. that produced most of the world's goods. Henry Ford, who pioneered the Assembly Line - priced his wages, and his cars, so his workers could buy them.

America, after WWII, was the richest, and most powerful nation in history. But this highly-desirable state of affairs, did not last. Why?

There must be many answers to this question. but the main one - I believe, was simply because America did not try to protect its advantage. Or, to put his another way - it did not concentrate, on being good to itself. Such an idea was foreign to its nature. And is still foreign to its nature.

All I have said so far, was a long introduction, to my main subject - the Computer Economy, or the New Machine Society.

The computer, especially the Phone, has been given such a clever user interface - that people have assumed, that somehow - it is human. And its main job, is helping them. But it is just another machine, whose main job is making its owners rich and powerful.

But it can be useful to its users also - I am writing this blog on a laptop, right now  As users, we have to share power with its designers - Microsoft and Google.

This is a kind of power sharing, that I am comfortable with. The computer companies have their rights - and I have mine.

Ethics Does Not Apply in the Digital Marketplace

I learned this, somewhat to my surprise, by buying on Amazon.

Amazon's first policy, was to dominate the online retail market, by selling the most of everything - even it that meant a loss of profits, at first. This was backed up by the most innovative Internet Site ever built - and equally innovative Server Software, behind it.

Online software is composed of two parts - what the User sees, and interacts with - and the Business Logic, safely out of sight, somewhere in the Cloud, that does everything else. And I mean everything else.

Amazon has the best of both. Because it works closely with Google. These are separate companies, but they work together extremely well. In a way never seen before.

The EU has freaked out over this, and claims this amounts to a monopoly. And is slapping big fines on everyone. They don't understand what is going on.

What they should be interested in - is Ethics. Something that goes on under their Radar Screen. And they would probably be challenged to spell it.

Everything that goes on in the Computer Economy - the World's largest Economy -  is not Ethical.

They will say they are, and say they are, until they are blue in the face.

But they lie.

Software is Powerful Stuff

It is the most powerful force to hit us in a long time. But we have not realized this, and continue to carry on, as though it never happened. Not very smart.

I learned about Software, because I became part of the Computer Industry, in the Eighties and Nineties - because I needed a job. Software is the stuff that runs the computers - that now run the world. Simple as that.

Out of curiosity, I dabbled in Software - and got a feel for what it is. And I still dabble in it - and continue to be amazed by it. And amazed by how little most people are interested in it.

This is the point, that needs to be driven home. People, and their Software - now run the world. Both of them together.. A situation most people cannot understand, in the least.

Software is now where all the good jobs are.- because that is where the money is. But most people are not interested in it - and avoid knowing about it. A huge gap has arisen, between Ordinary people - and Software people.

The Ordinary people are being squeezed economically - making less and less. While the Software people are making more and more - because that is where the money is..

Ordinary people cannot understand this - and have become paranoid, blaming all kinds of things for their problems. And accepting authoritative rulers, who promise to solve their problems for them.

The First Woman in our Family

This was Florence Sanford, who immigrated from Nova Scotia to Boston, and married into the Fisher family.

These people were very upper-class, and they had also had money. They ran a Business College, that taught their students, upper class social skills - and also business skills (how to use a typewriter, and  take dictation). She must have been quite a gal, to be accepted into their clan - where she fit in naturally.

She sent for her brother, Albert. back in Nova Scotia. He learned shorthand in Boston, and then taught shorthand at the College. This was our grandfather Sanford, who married our Grandmother (Fairclough). They bought a fine new house in Somerset, a suburb of Boston. Where our mother, Mildred, was born.

If You Don't See the Bad Things, That are Going On

You are a good person. And the bad things can continue, as before.

I'm sure you can see the contradiction here - good people allowing bad things to happen. How did this happen?

It happened, because of a typical human capacity - our ability (almost a need) to substitute illusions for reality.

When we do this, we always feel we have made the situation better. And it never occurs to us, to consider what is really going on. This, it seems at the time - is irrelevant. What is important is how we feel - not what is actually happening.

Let me give you an example.

My sister, and the woman she is married to, to.participated in the Woman's March on Washington. This happened the day after Trump was inaugurated, and was intended to impress him with Woman's Rights. The Trump administration, did not seem to notice the March, but that didn't bother my sister, who was completely satisfied with the it - and their participation in it.

What she thought happened - was not what actually happened. Which was practically nothing.

People Who Do Not Exist

I'm back on this subject again. I think it is important, especially since no one else does.

Part of the reason for this, must be that the subject is new, and people ask "How can a person not be?" The question, for them - makes no sense.

I must explain what I am talking about - which necessarily goes into the subject of being. Something most people are not used to thinking about - and don't want to think about. But philosophers have been thinking about for a very long time.

Most people will say "I don't want to think about it!" And this statement is as strong, as they can possibly make it. They are not saying "That is a subject I am not interested in." They are saying "Nothing on earth, will make me think about that!"

Because they know, they are not supposed to think (about anything) and they are obeying orders - including the order, to not notice they are refusing to think.

This, I think - puts the question in its proper context. If one thing more is added - the existence of mass culture. Something so pervasive, it was not noticed - until recently, when advertising on the Internet, brought it to our attention.

The social media (Facebook and Twitter) have obtained vast power, because they are able to analyze the behavior of people, on the Net (using AI) and then use this information to control them. Every time someone uses their Phone (a miniature computer), this software is watching them - and learning what they are like. 

What they are like, is a new form of being (more like robots) - than human beings.

I get a refund

I have written about a digital camera, I got from Amazon - that did't even turn on.

I complained about this, and to my surprise - got a full refund!

My father said "The wheel that squeaks, gets the grease!"

My Cousin Betty

Betty is the daughter of my father's sister. And she still lives in Ft. Madison, Iowa.

The last time my brother and I were in Ft. Madison, she took us on a tour of the town. We began with what used to be the RLDS church - that used to be a busy place, with lot of children, everywhere. Now there are only a few old people left.

Next, we went to the part of town where she grew up, and where her parent's house still exists. I can only describe as a small-town slum, only occupied, by the poor, who are not interested in maintaining it properly. The house we grew up in, is only a few blocks away - and the neighborhood there, is in even worse shape, with most of the houses unoccupied, and the windows boarded up. We didn't bother to go uptown and view the remains of the Sheaffer Pen Company, whose large, modern factory (built in the Fifties) stands vacant.

The situation here can be described easily - the factories are gone, and the workers are gone. And they will never come back.

Next, we went to Betty's new house. Her father was a successful businessman, and employed a number of people. He bought a farm, on the outskirts of  town - just as a hobby. Now he is gone, and the buildings that once housed his Ft. Madison Feed and Seed, are gone too. But the farm remains, and this is where Betty, and her husband, and her two sons, and their families live - quite comfortably, in new houses.

While Betty was cooking a meal for us, we got to meet her sons. They have jobs, but not not jobs they are proud of. One son works in a factory that makes cans - a terrible place, according to his mother. The other son works in a lumber mill - turning logs into lumber. There aren't many places that grow trees, in that vicinity - so this remains a small company. Her sons can only survive, because they live on their mother's farm.

Betty was the youngest of three daughters - her two older sisters, are dead. But she is still alive, and her mind is active.

She is the only one left, of a world we can hardly remember.

Americans are Out of Their Depth

There are many ways of thinking about the American Problem - but for me, this is the easiest way to think about it.

There is no sense asking Americans themselves, to solve their problem - because they do not know that it exists. The have a vague feeling that something is wrong - but they do not want to know what that is.

However, I should say I am referring to most Americans - there is a minority, that is fully aware of the Problem, and has plenty to say about it.

The roots of the Problem, go back to early in the 19th Century. when Industrialization changed America - for the better (it made it rich) and for the worse (it created huge inequalities). This resulted in a series of Industrial wars - the Civil War, WWI, the Depression, and WWII - where the destructiveness was unprecedented. But where the American economy, ended up bigger than ever. 

This is where I like to record what my hometown of Ft. Madison, Iowa was like in the Fifties. It was an Industrial boom town - with the Santa Fe Railroad on the West End of town, and the Sheaffer Pen Company on the East End. It had plenty of jobs. It is now part of the Rust Belt, and has no jobs.

Why was this? It was because America did not take care of itself, and its people. It was the richest, and most powerful nation in history - and it could have decided to stay that way.But it did not. 

What was going on in the minds of Americans? I was there, as a High School student, and I can remember, that we did not realize what was going on. We were enjoying the good times, and thought they would last forever. It did not enter our heads, that we should do something to keep them. The best thing we could do, we thought - was do nothing!

Americans did what many other people have done - when faced with a crisis that threatened their existence - they did nothing! Large groups of people acquire a mind of their own - that cannot cope with problems like this. And, as a result - they vanish!

Large parts of America have vanished - and the parts that remain are threatened.

People Who Need to Deceive Other People

Such people exist, and they are fairly common. Organizations like this exist also, and they are fairly common. In either case, a deep emotional need is being met, on the part of the person (or persons) doing the deceiving.

But there is is also a deep emotional need being met on the part of those being deceived. Who are also fairly common.

The classic example was Hitler and the German people in the Thirties. An entire nation was being deceived, and they loved every minute of it!

The Internet has created new forms of deceit, that these people have been quick to adopt. I recently bought a digital camera from Amazon, that was made by a company in China. When it arrived, I could not even get it to turn on!

Amazon has a location, that it maintains, that contains all the reviews by customers of this company. Mine is there, as the most recent one - and more unfavorable reviews right below it. All the legitimate reviews are negative - and highly so. This company is shipping a defective product.

But there are also many highly favorable reviews (over 80 of them) that must have been generated by robots - and these are the ones used by Amazon when recommending their products.

Why it would go to the enormous expense of making a defective product, when it could just as easily made a good one - can only be answered by assuming it wanted to deceive the buying public. When I worked in Silicon Valley, I worked for companies like this, and there are still some of them around.

A few people at the top of a company, set the policies - and the rest of the company has to go along with them.

Americans Have Never Decided, What They Wanted to Be

I think this is a fair statement, made by one American about his fellow Americans. I am tempted to take it further, and say Americans destroyed America - but that is probably not necessary. They destroyed America - because they could not think of anything else to do.

Deciding what they wanted to be, and then working at becoming that - was not part of their national character. What was part of their national character, was the war against Communism (the Cold War) - at which they were successful, because the Soviet Union, collapsed on its own. Once that happened, Americans didn't know what else to do.

I can say something about the Cold War, because I was part of it - as an Electronic Engineer, specializing in Radar. Radar that was going to protect us from Soviet Bombers - that never existed. The important point here, was not the details, of this particular war - but the fact, that some kind of war was necessary (we thought) - and we could not think of a peaceful solution.

We never realized, that should keep the huge advantage we gained during WWII. In the Fifties, we should have taken stock of where we were - and then worked at keeping it. But instead, we let it all slip away. And once it was gone - we didn't realize it was gone.

I can be specific here - what happened to my hometown of Ft. Madison, Iowa, in the Second half of the last Century. It went from being a boom town, with plenty of jobs - to being part of the Rust Belt, with no jobs at all.

Without anyone noticing.

Industrialization and Inequality

The world I found myself in, when I went to work, in 1959 - was not to my liking. I kept saying, in effect "Something is wrong here!" But everyone else seemed to feel that nothing was wrong - and, to the contrary, something was wrong with me, for criticizing everyone else.

That was not good place to be in, and it didn't get any better. I needed someone to take me by the hand, and admit that things were bad indeed - but not completely bad. But no such person appeared.

I did have my therapist, that I spent a lot of time with - but he was stuck in the same place himself. All he had to do was admit that the world we inherited from our parents, was fatally flawed. But he could not bring himself to do this.

This would have meant our parents were defective, which they certainly were. And not only that, their parents were defective also. We needed to admit that, sometime in the 19th Century - things had gone terribly wrong. And plenty of persons had been saying so. But not in the Midwest that I came from - or in the church I came from.

We have to back up, in time, to early in the 19th Century.When Industrialization took over. One of the results of this, was to make America rich - just as it had made England rich before it. But it also created a huge income inequality - outside America, and in it. Some people got rich, and some people got poor.

This inequality was not as extreme as it had been in England. America, after years of struggle, had a large middle class. But Americans still felt, that some inequality was natural, and could not be prevented.

They were right - and they were wrong. And what I want to do in this posting, is clarify this. No easy job.

The place I want to start is Ft. Madison, Iowa, in the Fifties. The West End of town was dominated by the Santa Fe Railroad - and the East End by the Sheaffer Pen Company. There were plenty of jobs - and, overall, it was a good place to live, if you could tolerate the air pollution and the nasty smells.

But this would not last. Today, less then fifty years later - it is part of the Rust Belt, and its buildings stand vacant. There were many reasons for this happening - but I want to concentrate on one. The American inability to understand what was going on. Instead of trying to understand, they decided to not understand - and to enforce this decision vigorously. They could not have made a worse decision.

America went from being the most powerful country in the world, to one of many powerful countries. From being a leader, to being a follower.

But something else was happening - the Computer appeared, and built its own economy, based on Software. And the center of this economy, was in America!

Today, everyone has his Phone, a miniature computer, that connects him with everyone (and every thing).. But, once again, he doesn't understand how this works  - and doesn't want to.How it works is complicated, but not impossible to understand - I can understand much of it myself.

But he still wants other forces to be in control - and not him!

Being Part of a Group, Or Being an Individual

Any society is composed of these two types of people - and the relationship between the two is crucial to how it operates.

Only individuals can understand how a group is operating. And in group-dominated societies, these can be severely discriminated against (even burned at the stake) - and their observations ignored.

When I was part of the Computer Industry, in California, in the Eighties and Nineties - I could not help but notice how group-orientated those societies were.

Previous to this, I had been an Electronic Engineer, a position of some status, where I was expected to operate as an individual. That career ended with the invention of the transistor. I decided to become a Technical Writer - where I was still well-paid, but had no individual status.

I thought I would be explaining products to the people who would be using them.- but instead, found myself part of Marketing, making the company look good, when it usually was not. I got to see an amazing amount of incompetence - in one company after another. And also got to see, how how no one was noticing this. Amazing!

Gradually, however, something else made its appearance - Software. That created its own kind of person, its own objectives - and even its own economy!

Two societies were operating at the same time - Hardware and Software. Where the Hardware was only dimly aware of the Software. But the Software was aware of the Hardware - because it had to be. The Computer hardware was the environment, in which they worked. And their work evolved as it evolved - from the PC, to the Desktop, to the Laptop.

And to the its networks - the Internet and the Cellular. And to the Phone, a computer you could hold in your hand!

All this happened rapidly - in less than fifty years! Most of the people were left behind, somewhere in Hardware - when Software was where it was at. 

What we have now, is intense confusion (even self-destruction) - that authoritarian leaders are benefiting from. 

My Attempts at Being a Programmer

This is all about Programming, if you are not interested in that - you will not be interested in this.

I have spend most the day trying different approaches to learning to become a Software Developer (a Programmer, in other words) - just as a hobby. Some hobby! 

I first heard of a book about Angular 5 and .NET Core. I loaded the book into my Safari account - but it didn't take long before I realized it was too hard for me. I even cancelled my Safari account. 

Next I searched and found some instructions for using Visual Studio, and .NET core. I downloaded the Visual Studio installer, Then tried to install Visual Studio, with the required Workloads.This has taken all afternoon - and I could not cancel this installation.

Then I found some instructions for using VS Code in Azure (Microsoft's cloud, where I already have a free account). I installed node.js - a fairly long install.  I had already installed VS Code, but I now had to install the functions that would let VS Code work inside Azure. This took some time, but eventually it was installed also. 

I followed the instructions up to the point where I was supposed to create a Function in Azure - but I here the instructions departed from what I saw on the screen, I could not continue, and I could not report this problem. My attempts to use VS Code in Azure was over - completely.

So I went back to using Visual Studio 2017, and here the instructions are working fine. I start ed a project in Angular, but had no idea what I was looking at - and could find no help online about using Angular in Visual Studio.

I installed git.

I went to angular.io, and are following the instructions for using the Angular CLI. I don't like using a command line interface, you have to type everything in very carefully - but other than that, it's easy. 

Supercomputing Solutions

This was a company I worked for, in San Diego, in the Eighties. This posting is about its rise and fall.

This company was started by a man, who had been successful in another industry - he had had some kind of food company (what kind I never knew) - but in his eyes, that made him a successful businessman.

He looked around for some other industry to get into, and decided on a supercomputer. At the time, supercomputer companies, such as Cray, were getting a lot of publicity - and their computers sold for a lot of money - because they were expensive to make.

This businessman decided he would make a supercomputer that would cost less - and make a lot of money that way. So he looked around for some experts who could do this for him. The solution, that had been known for a long time, was parallel computing - break the programming task into components,  execute them simultaneously, and then combine the results.

He also found some experts that said they could do this - and they set to work to build a machine that would. The result was a huge machine (six feet tall, six feet wide, and three feet deep) with many small computers in it - each with its own hard disk. But this was not all - the really amazing part, was a huge switch, that could connect the inputs and the outputs of all these computers together - as directed by an internal program.

There was only one problem - the operating system that could manage all these components did not exist yet! The Linux operating system, that would do this, was not invented, until years later.

This company had been financed, by selling stock - which was easy at first. They even floated another sale of stock, that brought in millions of dollars.

The project manager, who was a idiot, kept telling the CEO what he wanted he hear - that there was plenty of money available. When they were burning money at an incredible rate.

Eventually the CEO was told the truth, and he held a company-wide meeting and informed everyone - that the were fired, right then, no exceptions. The stockholders got nothing, and engineers, who worked long hours, got nothing.

But I'm sure he kept a sizable amount for himself - how much we will never know.

Has the Computer Made People any Better?

Foolish question, right?

But it's not such a foolish question, actually. There are lot of people who believe it has - using the rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence, to make their point. The Spam filter in my Gmail, works fine, and keeps getting better, as I show it where it has made mistakes, and put the wrong mail in Spam.

But on the other had, it is clear that our ability to govern ourselves has deteriorated - as shown by the election of Trump in America, and the rise of many other authoritarian leaders, in the world.

Computers have gotten better, but people have not. And in some ways, they have gotten worse.

Their technology made them believe they were superhuman, when they were actually becoming subhuman. The classical example of this was the Nazis.

But something similar happened in America. They had technologies (manufacturing and transportation) that made them rich and powerful (especially back in the Fifties) - and they thought, this proved they were better.

I remember that time well, and I remember when their power diminished - later in that Century. Their solution was simple - they didn't notice it! And in fact, they stopped noticing most social events. They became social incompetents.

The Problem with Being Social, is that You Have to be Social with People

Obvious, huh? But that is not saying enough - before you respond to any social situation, you  have to determine, in your mind, what that situation is and how you going to respond to it - in advance!

Let me give you an example, from my own life. I have a neighbor is a social recluse, she lives alone, by herself - in a large, beautiful house. Her only company is her dog, who is devoted to her.

I recently met a friend of hers - at least he claimed to he was a friend of hers - who told me she was recuperating from a serious operation, was lonely, and needed company.This guy tells lies more often than not - but this story seemed genuine. I believe in visiting the sick, so I decide to visit her.

I went to her house, rang her doorbell, told her who I was - and said I wanted to talk with her. She said she was sleepy, and didn't want company, right then - and I left, thinking to myself, that was a flimsy excuse. But I decided to try one more time.

Two days later, I tried again. This time, she said she was cooking, and didn't want to be bothered, right then.

I don't have to tell you about the future of this friendship.

The Phone is What Connects Us with Everything

These devices are miniature computers, with an advanced user interface - the best ever invented.

What they do is simple - they connect us to everything else. Every person, and every thing. Because, with the Internet of Things (IoT) things are also connected.

I saw this in action, recently - to my amazement. I was at a local eatery, that was run by a local woman, as as a family business. She was in the kitchen, working away, as usual. But in the kitchen, was also a man, I had never seen before. He was not working, but was taking photos of her working - with his Phone. She was enjoying his company!

I was asking myself "Has this woman lost her mind? Why is she putting up with this guy? I was not seeing what was obvious to her - she was now connected! And was much bigger, and more important - than she had ever been before.

The Monster that is In Control

What is it trying to achieve? Does it exist at all?

I think we can safely say, that it does exist - but is complex in its manifestations. And it is not possible to say what it is, in any simple manner.

For me, the best place to start, is with my family, in Ft. Madison, Iowa - right after WWII. When a new world seemed to be dawning. When, in fact - a world was ending. Note the contradiction here - what seemed to be happening, was the reverse of what was actually happening.

This contradiction will remain central to the American history I will relate. Right there, in the tiny part of the world bordered by Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. A part of the world that many of us left - in a hurry, when we were young.

We can only say one thing about them (those that stayed, and those that left) - they didn't know what was going on. The most important events in history, were not observed by them. They were swept along by the currents of history, having no more idea of what was going on - than the fish in the ocean.

We can only say, they didn't understand - and didn't want to understand. Because they knew that was the right way to be - to not be. Note the contradiction here. To be, you have to not be.

The Monster I started to describe, is just that - a monstrosity.

People Sometimes Hurt Other People - for No Reason at All

We like to believe there are reasons for everything - including reasons for human behavior. If someone does something strange - there must be a reason for this. Even when there are plenty of examples to the contrary.

Let me give you an example. Once a month, I go to the local payments center, and pay for my health insurance. This is a hassle, I know - but this is how things are done in Costa Rica. People line up, at one of these centers, to pay for almost everything.

The first week of every month, I pay for my cell phone, and pay for my health insurance. I have copies of previous payments, and I hand them through the window to the clerk of the other side. She is supposed to make this month's payments, add them up, and then tell me how much I owe. I hand over several large bills, and she gives me back the change.

But they often, only make the cell phone payment, and throw the other bill away. Not noticing what they are doing! My Spanish is so inadequate, I cannot explain what is going on - and I have to return, later the same day, with another receipt for my health insurance - which they will then process correctly.

What is going on in their minds? It has to be their unconscious minds. Some algorithm (to use Computer terminology) is being triggered - and they do whatever it tells them to do.

Perhaps they see I am a gringo, and they take this opportunity to get even. But I am only guessing here.

When the Sixties Ended

I can remember the Sixties fondly, it was a good time to be alive, and no one can understand it now, who had not been through it themselves. And frankly, not many of those can understand it either - because the forces that ended the Sixties, eradicated their memory.

The Sixties, as a social movement, began in the late Sixties, as the name implies - was most active in the Seventies, and lasted until the early Eighties, in some areas, such as San Diego, California.

For me, it was associated with Gestalt Therapy, and I lived with my teacher, and his second wife, in his ranch in the Southern Utah desert (close to Moab, Utah). We were building a better world, and we saw no reason not to.

We were so innocent, and could not understand, how an entire nation could lose its mind, so quickly.

This has happened before, in other countries - for example Germany in the Thirties, with its Nazism.The Germans, the most cultured nation in history - lost their mind completely.

In America, in the Eighties, the results were not so dramatic - but they were just as important, even if Americans themselves, were not aware of them.

This is something I had been writing about, a lot. How America lost its mind, never got it back, and, in fact - doesn't want it back.

The Implications of Unethical Behavior on a National Scale

I am reading The Predator's Ball, that happened in 1985. and learning something from it. These guys exploited weaknesses (1) in the governance of corporations, and (2) in attitude of the general public toward unethical behavior.

These Corporate Raiders were blatantly unethical, but got away with it - and got fabulous amounts of money, as their reward. Something was terribly wrong here, and is still wrong. I witnessed companies being taken over, and destroyed, when I worked in the Computer Industry, in the Eighties and Nineties. And some companies were formed just to exploit their investors. Everyone knew this was unethical, but no one seemed to care.

In the Nineties, Google's initial motto had been "Don't be evil." But recently it seems to have become " Don't oppose evil". And this has been the attitude of the general public for some time. Americans, who helped defined the term Neoliberalism,  have lost interest in making America Great, and only think of themselves.

I am also listening to a course on the Roman Republic, with its emphasis on Virtue. That the Romans took seriously - and was the ethical foundation of what became their Empire.

Overlapping Patterns

I have a woman cousin, who once told me the story behind her husband's death. I was going over this story in my mind today, and realized what a fascinating one it was. 

Her husband had one passion in his life - Men's Clothing (actually Men's Business Clothing). And he was a successful executive in a Men's Clothing business. He was probably the brains behind the business - that was owned by two brothers, that hated each other, with a passion. 

To make a long story short, the business failed. And the husband was left in bad shape, emotionally. This is the first pattern, and common one - businesses fail, for almost any reason imaginable - but they do fail - often to the distress of the people in them. They have devoted their lives to the business - but now it is gone!  

The second pattern is also common - my cousin's husband lived a life separate from that of his wife. The marriage, where two people should have become closer - did not happen. And neither one realized this. And for that matter, no one else did either. A common pattern.

The wife did not realize what emotional stress her husband was under - until he killed himself! 

This brings up a much larger pattern - no one understood what was happening to all of the people involved - the company, the husband, and the wife. I repeat - no one understood what was happening! 

This was the final, overlapping pattern. And the man caught in the middle, killed himself. 

Growing Up RLDS in the Midwest

This was an unique experience, that I am trying to understand - but everyone else in my family is trying to forget, because it failed completely.

If I could talk to them about this (which I most certainly cannot), I would explain that we must learn from our failures, as well as our successes. But they are certain, that our failures must be forgotten -and buried, along with the Dead.

By contrast, I believe the Dead are always with us - and we have to acknowledge their presence. This is History - that Americans, as a general rule, are weak at. Especially Midwestern Americans.

The American Midwest once produced much of the world's products - but it is now a Rust Belt. A huge, shocking change - that Americans have done done their best to ignore.

But by ignoring it, they have forgotten themselves - and no longer exist. Allow me to repeat that, because it is so unbelievable - most Americans no longer exist! And they consider this to be the perfect way to be - by not being.

I think I have made an amazing discovery here - by discovering the State of Non-Being. But no one else seems interested. And I am keeping my ear to ground, listening for other people with similar ideas.

I have just enrolled in the MOOC the Psychology of Popularity - presented by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This not in the American Midwest, and is not aware of its problems.

All the advanced thinking is being done on the East Coast, or the West Coast. And they are ignoring what the Midwest is showing them - by its example. Something that President Trump does sense - and from where he gets many of his supporters. They are the forgotten people, and they want to be remembered.

They may be dead, but they still determine who we are.

Americans who are not Part of America

This includes many Americans.

For some time, many of them have not bothered to vote.  They did vote in the last election, to everyone's surprise, but the guy they elected, Donald Trump - does not consider himself a typical American - but something else. just what, no one knows, because he changes his mind, constantly.

He seems to be giving us the message "You can never know who I am, because I change all the time!" And Americans are not complaining. They even consider this a virtue. They feel - if he does't exist, he cannot be a problem. He is letting something else, be in control. Exactly what they would do - if they were in his shoes.

They know this something else, is out there - and it should be in control. And it should not be looked at too closely

I recommend for your reading How Democracies Die. Look.inside it, and read the Introduction.

I Witnessed the Destruction of America

The shocking experience, that told me something was terribly wrong, was the hatred of people that I experienced in the Office - that no  one else seemed to notice.

I graduated, as an Electronic Engineer, from the U of Illinois, in 1959 - and went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Mainly because they offered me a job as a Field Engineer, where I wouldn't have to work in an office. I knew I could never work in one of those.

Now, looking back on this, much later, I realize I was looking at the Destruction of America - in person. And this was the overriding fact, no one wanted to acknowledge.

I suppose most people, in any fading culture, are unaware of this. It happens so gradually, no one notices it. Noticing it makes you a traitor to your country - so no one notices it. And the self-destruction continues.

When did this begin? Sometime in the 19th Century, when Industrialization took over. This was a huge event, we have never understood very well, but the result was a series of wars - the Civil War, WWI, the Depression, and WWII - that were unprecedented in their destructiveness. And to be fair, created the affluence that developed countries (such as America) enjoyed.

And created a new kind of person - that was more like a machine, than a person. These people felt they were super-persons, much superior to the normal persons, that they displaced. The Office appeared, as their natural habitat. Along with the Factory and the Railroads.

I was born in 1936, in Ft.Madison, Iowa, my Father's home town - that had the Santa Fe Railroad on the West End of town, and the Sheaffer Pen Company on the East End. It was a dirty town - but it had good jobs! None of this is left now - it is part of the Rust Belt that dominates much of America.

But let me return to the Sixties, and the Cold War, that wrecked the economies of the USSR and the US. But at the time, it made money for many people - including me. I had my own airplane, that I was proud of.

This is an important point that must be stressed - short term gains can create long term losses! And these both occurred, in the Computer Industry, in the Eighties and Nineties. I was there also.

A Painful Case

I have been reading James Joyce: The Ultimate Collection that you can get, for free, from Amazon. All you have to do is install the Kindle for PC app, that is free also. You probably already have it already.

I have been wondering what story would introduce you to Joyce's style of writing. Try this one. He is as much interested in interesting you in the style of his writing - than in telling the story itself.

This is about a man and a woman that love each other passionately - but can not bring themselves to actually do it. Victorian sensibility in Ireland!

America has Lost its Mind

As you know, I have been trying to understand America - and the is the best explanation I could come up with.

It actually says a lot, when you stop to think about it. It summarizes Trump's personality - and the America that elected him, and continues to support him.

I must clarify one thing, however - Americans have not lost their minds completely. They can think very well - if they limit their thinking to an area of expertise they are familiar with. If they widen their focus, they are lost - but are not aware of this.

This is an important point - they are not aware, and not only that - are not aware, that they are not aware.

This is probably true of much of the rest of the world - but I can only speak with confidence of people I have made direct contact with. And this includes a few Ticas I have known personally. They have bought into the American worldview - and it has not done them any good.

Windows 10 is Better

If you know what kind to get, and how to use it.

And you are not going to get much help for this. There is an incredible amount of Windows 10 junk out there, that will not do you much good. I know, because I have a collection of this junk, myself.

Microsoft wants to sell you its Surface laptop, for a thousand dollars. That I am sure you would be satisfied with. If you have this kind of money - go for it! Windows 10 will boot up much faster, and will operate your apps faster.  It has the latest version of Skype, that you can use to call anywhere.

Then install Google's Chrome browser, and all the Google apps, that you can sync with any other laptops you are using. Keeping everything synchronized is important - and Google is good at this.

Gmail is the best email app. I have Google Calendar, to keep track of my time. And Blogger, that I am using to write this blog. I just fired up MyDrive, that gives me huge amounts of online storage. I
was amazed by all the family photos I have there.

The Computer has given us fantastic new capabilities - perhaps more than we are capable of understanding..

Move Slowly, and Don’t Break Things

Medium

This was supposed to be a 10 read, but it took me much longer than that - and I ended up putting it on my reading list. Some things cannot be digested easily - and it takes multiple passes of the same material, to do the job.

Here is a quote:

Stanford University, the academic heart of Silicon Valley, is developing a computer science ethics course to train new technologists and policymakers to consider the ramifications of innovations like autonomous weapons or self-driving cars before they go on sale. As Mehran Sahami, one of the course’s conveners says, “Technology is not neutral. The choices that get made have social ramifications.
I just got home from by bicycle ride - where I went down a hill so fast, it scared me. But I bought a hamburquesa pollo from an attractive young woman - and that helped me settle down.

Mormonism

My religious family has been writing emails back and forth, with unusual intensity. They think their little church may recover after all - because it has a prophet at its head!

There is nothing I can say to them about this - they have their own ideas, and I would be foolish try to change them. But I can write in this little blog, and explain what is going on to you.

It all goes back to the founder of their religion, Joseph Smith. who thought he had special talents - that he never had at all, but he did have the talent of making other people believe in him.

He began as a person who could see buried treasure. Many people at the time, thought treasure had been buried somewhere in the fields of New York State - and they were digging trenches in their fields, in an effort to find it. But they needed someone to show them where the treasure was, and Joseph was just such a person. He had a special stone, he would put in his hat, then put the hat on his head, covering his eyes with it. He could then see where the treasure was.

But he had a problem - this practice was illegal! And a preliminary hearing was held, to see if he should be tried for this crime. But he left the state, and the trial was never held.

What to do next? He was the kind of person who concentrates on deceiving other people - a fairly common type, actually. And he next came up with the idea of writing a book, using his special powers to translate, from the plates of ancient book that had been reveled to him. The living room of their home was divided by a blanket that hung from the ceiling. Joseph on one side of the room, would dictate the contents of his new book - and a person on the other side of the room, would write down what he said. 

Eventually this was printed, and was called the Book of Mormon. How this could impress anyone, is a complete mystery to me, and to many other people of the time. But some people took to it instantly, and took it England (at their own expense) to show people there. And it was obvious to them, that it was divine scripture.

No one has done an analysis of who these English people were - but they knew Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God - and they wanted to come to America, and become his followers. And this they proceeded to do - in considerable numbers. Joseph Smith found himself the head of a new church - The Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-Day Saints - usually abbreviated to LDS.

His church moved many times - to Ohio, to Missouri, and then to Illinois. Where he was killed by an angry mob, in 1844.