The Crucifixion and the Resurrection

These events were Christian beliefs, that are being acted out again, in our time.

Christianity succeeded because it introduced the idea of a suffering God to a suffering humanity.

And two thousand years later, they are suffering again, and they are being resurrected again. But are not aware of this.

Let's take suffering first.

This happens, up to the point of suicide. This happens, but no one learns anything from it. Nevertheless, they suffer, whether they know it or not.

But they are aware of, and fight, the many bad guys in the underworld (the Hell) they live in. Milton, with his Paradise Lost, would feel right at home here.

Now, Resurrection.

This is what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is. It does not work very well, but it keeps getting better and better. And it functions in the Cloud, the modern version of Heaven. It didn't exist for a thousand years, but now rules the world.

We have the Social Media (Facebook) that is also creating a Heaven for us.

The world of two thousand years ago has changed some of its clothing, but is still with us.

What Facebook is Doing to Us

MIT Technology Review

This article spends most of its time reporting on events in Silicon Valley and Stanford University.

She says:

But after Harris’s talk at Stanford, I started thinking a lot more about how I get sucked into watching auto-playing ads for bras and shoes that I actually do kind of want to buy. And how I feel when I get a notification on my smartphone that someone liked, or loved, or retweeted, one of my posts on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. There’s definitely a little charge in my stomach and a ping in my brain, and I really, really like it. I crave it, even, after putting up a particularly adorable baby photo or cleverly worded status update, and getting one of these notifications inevitably induces me to open whichever social app it came from to see what’s going on. Am I just going to keep liking photos on Facebook, retweeting funny tidbits on Twitter, and feeding the AI that runs these networks until I keel over and die?

I don't use  Facebook myself, and the reason for this is simple: there are other apps I can use that do a better job. 

For example: Blogger, that I am using right now. I like doing a better job (even if is more work) but most people prefer doing whatever is easiest. I like being myself, but most people like being nothing. 

And this is what Facebook makes very easy: being nothing. 

This what Rachel Metz is saying: the Social Media has got her hooked, but she doesn't know how it does this. And probably doesn't want to know. 

She will keel over and die, we all will. But there is another possibility: we can hide behind Facebook and let the world see it, instead of us. 

It will die, everything does, but we will live on in the Cloud that contains everything that ever was, including Facebook. 

We will be Crucified, but rise again. 

The TV, from Entertainment to Education

Movies were the ultimate form of entertainment. The usual dosage was one movie a week.

But with Television, people could easily watch several shows an evening. The TV became part of the family. An important part of the family, that showed the rest of the family what to buy and how to behave.

I rebelled at this and refused to watch it, but most people accepted its advice gratefully. Even my mother, as domineering a person as ever there was, accepted its guidance.

The Consumer was born, and most people could see nothing wrong with this role, especially if they lived in much of America (the Midwest and the South), where nothing much was going on.

The Shopping Center appeared, surrounded by vast parking lots, where people could park their cars and go inside to see the advantages of having an affluent life.

The Computer (with its Internet and Cellular Networks) was next, and would also change who we were.

My Tongue and my Coffee

I enjoy having my coffee first thing in the morning. And I enjoy being particular about the taste of my coffee, while I read something interesting on my laptop.

This morning it's Does Who You Are at 7 Determine Who You Are at 63?  And I have to admit that this mix of High and Low Tech (Coffee and the Computer) suits me well.

Here is a sample of his writing:

To spend time with a child is to dwell under the terms of an uneasy truce between the possibility of the present and the inevitability of the future. Our deepest hope for the children we love is that they will enjoy the liberties of an open-ended destiny, that their desires will be given the free play they deserve, that the circumstances of their birth and upbringing will be felt as opportunities rather than encumbrances; our greatest fear is that they will feel thwarted by forces beyond their control. At the same time, we can’t help poring over their faces and gestures for any signals of eventuality — the trace hints and betrayals of what will emerge in time as their character, their plot, their fate. And what we project forward for the children in our midst can rarely be disentangled from what we project backward for ourselves.
I open a can of Garbanzos con Carne de Cerdo, the local version of Pork and Beans. Latinos know how to eat well at a low cost. This is the taste I acquired when young: simple home-cooked food. I was born during the Depression (in 1936) and this enforced our simple life.

We did not drink coffee, however, this was considered sinful. And I am now leading a sinful life.

Crypto, What is it, and Where is it Going?

Crypto is built around Blockchain and Decentralization (two big subjects). It has many enthusiasts, mainly young men, but it is too early to tell if it will become economically important.

It has produced many cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, that have had plenty of problems. But they also have plenty of possibilities. Their future probably lies in an application that has not been thought of yet.

Its development might be similar to the phases the Internet went through. A boom, a bust, and then a recovery, where many uses have been found for it, that didn't exist before.

Facebook is trying to build its own currency: Libra, which has generated intense interest from the Banks, mainly negative. They are afraid, for a good reason.

Crypto is entirely abstract, it is not physical at all. Which gives it its intense appeal, like that of Religion.

The Ethereum currency also includes Smart Contracts, and I am tempted to buy some, so I know what is going on there. It has good documentation here.

Inside the Underground Baby Trade in the Philippines

ZORA

The Philippines, let me remind you, were once a possession of the US and they did not gain their independence until after WWII. They were the possession of Spain and we took it from them, in 1898, in a war that also gave us Cuba and Puerto Rico.

There was a huge debate about what we should do with them. We could have simply given them their independence (what they wanted) but we decided to subjugate them instead, in a long and violent war.

Some Americans thought our presence there would civilize them and make them like us. What happened instead was a humanitarian disaster - that we were responsible for.

They Don't Exist, They Don't Understand

Sometimes I am like this myself. I hate people passionately and want to destroy all of us. Because we are so awful.

I have spent some time trying to understand this myself: when did it start? How did it start?

But I think it is best to just recognize that it exists, and we can do nothing to change it.

This last phrase is important: we can do nothing to change it.  we have to live with it the best we can.

We have to begin by defining what it is. And this is a huge job.

Or is it? We get through life by making many small decisions. "What shall I eat for breakfast?" If I don't know what it is (a big question, for sure) this will not make much difference. I can just eat whatever is available for breakfast.

Was Humanity Simply Not Ready for the Internet?

Team Human

The seemingly God-like abilities offered by the net were productized. The World Wide Web of personal homepages gave way to Facebook’s consumer profiles. Intelligent agents through which users were to gather information became the algorithms that monitor and modify our behavior. The internet went from town hall to the shopping mall. As a result, instead of seizing the interactive potentials of digital technology, most people engaged with this stuff as if we were still in our previous roles as consumers of media.

The Fishburns adopted Amira Zapata

Now that I have lived in Latin America for a while, I can understand how this happens.

Every adult here wants a child to take care of, If they don't have any children of their own, they take care of someone else's, there are plenty of children to go around.

This works the other way also, children (and their families) are on the lookout for adults who will take care of them better than they can.

This is probably what happened in Amira's case. Her mother let the Fishburns take care of her. Amira didn't have an education, but she didn't need one, because she had herself, an attractive young woman. She also knew English.

As part of the Fishburn family, she had many of the advantages of being an American, including access to American young men.

People who do not Think are now the Usual Kind

There has been a huge shift in human behavior. We were once the animal who thought, we are now the animal who used to think. And we are not aware of this difference.

There is another alternative: crypto. These people believe a new world is dawning where people will take control of their world, as soon as they understand the complicated mathematics required. Which is the same as saying "As soon as they recover their normal intelligence, and become a smart animal again."

The chances of this happening are slim.

We can watch as the world goes through a huge change, and perhaps understand why it is going through this change.

A Historical approach may help. There was an Ancient World, the Middle Ages, and then the Modern World. Does this help our understanding? Maybe, but not much.

What about diet? There are people who try the strangest diets, without much effect.

The difference must happen in the mind, that seems clear enough. But here again, we are stuck asking ourselves "What are the necessary changes?"

Dad's Haitian Girlfriend

Dad was in the Marine Corp from 1930-34. And his unit was sent to Haiti, to protect American business interest's there (rich Americans had acquired the best land in Haiti, and where hiring Haitians to operate it, for low wages).

It was a common practice at the time, for rich countries to exploit poor countries, and protect this arrangement with their military. This how England acquired the riches of India.

Dad took advantage of this opportunity to learn French. Haiti had once been a French possession, operated by slave labor, but the slaves had revolted and won their independence.

He found a teacher who would teach him, French. She had a daughter who was Dad's age and they developed a romantic relationship. We don't know what this relationship amounted to, but she must have hoped Dad would marry her, and take her home to the States. Dad never made it clear to her that this was impossible.

They continued to correspond, in French, after Dad married. Linda found their letters in the attic and asked her French teacher in High School to translate them for her. She refused because they were too hot. Soon after this, the letters disappeared. probably destroyed by our mother.

After Dad died, Mother opened his strong box, and discover a letter in it from the Haitian girlfriend, written in English! After I was born, she realized she didn't have a chance and was terminating their relationship.

The Rise and Fall of Evo Morales

New York Review

This will help Americans understand Bolivia - the Americans who are well-read and want to understand their world, a small percentage of the population.

This is no easy job because Bolivia is so different from the US. But he does a good job of it.

I had to read it twice, to absorb some of his viewpoint - that of an American living with his family in Bolivia. A strange situation to be sure, but a necessary one to understand the subject.

It's too bad more people, especially those in Bolivia, will not read it. 

Computer companies made themselves useful to Legal Companies

My brother was a lawyer, a partner is a successful law firm. Money seemed to flow naturally in his direction.

His firm bought laptops for each of its lawyers and subscribed to a service that indexed every legal decision in the past, which made it easy for them to reference them in any case they had pending.

They could see that information (properly processed) was essential in their profession. The trick (as with all Artificial Intelligence) was in understanding the processing that made it useful. If you did not understand that, you could end up looking stupid.

This had always been the case (you had to be smart, to look smart) but now lawyers had to understand computers (or actually computer software), a skill set entirely different from their own.

This is true for any profession now, you have to understand computers, and they keep getting harder to understand.

The Boom that Never Happened

Back about 2000, American Real Estate Developers looked down at the beautiful Orosi Valley, and they saw money!

Other Americans would want to live here, build houses, and build a new life for themselves.

Now, twenty years later, this has not happened.

There are large housing developments full of small, inexpensive houses that Ticos can afford, but Americans do not want. The ones who were here have gone back. And the little businesses that were built for them have closed down.

I live in a house that was owned by an American couple who opened a vegetarian restaurant.
The husband died and is buried just up the road. The wife and daughters have gone back to the States.

I have a small Social Security retirement income. Once a week I take the bus to Cartago, the nearest large town, and get packages that I bought from Amazon, and were delivered to Miami, and then flown to Cartago. And get some groceries from a Walmart store.

If I get sick, I use the National Medical Service, which costs me $50 a month.

I am living on the remains of a boom that never happened, but set things up for me.

The Advantages of Self-Destruction

This can happen when a powerful external force makes destroying ourselves advantageous to it.

Such a force as the parents over their children, or that of any strong person, or a dictator. Powerful people can still function, but only within the limits set by law.

The individual will be made weaker, but the group, of which he is a member, will be made stronger.

However, there are also internal reasons for destroying oneself. We should be carefully analyzing what these are. Why did the US elect Trump?

Sometimes I wish I Never Learned to Read

I feel this way right now, as a sit down to read "Hope and High Drama: A Year With Two New Democratic Congresswomen" in the NY Times Magazine.

This kind of writing makes me feel better about Democracy in America.

But at the same time, I can feel the Information Overload. My brain can only process so much, and it is crammed already.

Most people have a sensible solution: they do not read. They stopped doing that hundreds of years ago, and they are not going back.

Winners and Losers of the Democratic Debate

NY Times

A clever idea, that will give us information overload. Here is its description of one opinion writer:

Jorge Castañeda (@JorgeGCastaneda), Mexico’s foreign minister from 2000 to 2003, is a professor at New York University and the author of “Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War” and a contributing opinion writer.

A Fire Engine and a Snake

The Snake was 8 ft long and weighed 45 pounds. The Fire Truck was the usual huge red thing from Paraiso the nearest town to Orosi, where Ray and I live. It had a crew, wearing their usual heavy gear. All for one nonpoisonous snake!

The roof of our house is corrugated sheet metal with some translucent fiberglass panels to let the light in. Below these are plastic panels in the ceiling to let the light into the rooms. The snake had been living in the ceiling over my bedroom for some time.

I just saw it this morning, resting on a plastic part of the ceiling, and it took me a while to figure out what it was.

Ethereum turns Me On

The basic idea behind Ethereum is Decentralization. An idea I like, but many people dislike, often intensely. They feel something else must be in control, and not them.

We now have something new: blockchains, people agreeing to follow certain mathematical rules. These are explained at ethereum.org.

The previous solution was provided by religion, and finding a substitute for religion is hard. Usually, an authority figure appears in this space, and people give their power to him.

This is now Donald in the US or Boris in the UK. Democracy is not working very well.

Cryptocurrency could probably manage part of this problem, the money part. And this would be a strong move in the right direction.

But people don't understand it.

Understanding it would have to be done in small steps, the first one being "Do we want to be in control of our lives>" The second one follows immediately "How do we do this/?"

Most people are not sure. But there are plenty of other people now debating this question online. I recommend btcmanager.com and bitcoin.com.

The RLDS Church

This is the church my family was in. And this is a history of that church.

It originated from the LDS church, (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). They were named Mormons from the Book of Mormon, translated by Joseph Smith, who became the Church leader.

When Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, many men tried to lead the Church, with Brigham Young being the most successful. He led his followers across the Rocky Mountains and they settled on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. They became the most successful LDS church, by far.

Some rich farmers in Northern Illinois wanted their church back and formed the Reorganized LDS church (RLDS). They had some church buildings but needed a church leader. The obvious choice was Joseph Smith III, the oldest son of Joseph Smith, who was living in Nauvoo, Ill, that had been built by his father but then abandoned. But he was not interested at the time.

However, he was a married man with a family to care for, and no other employment opportunities. He accepted the appointment of the Church leadership, in 1860, along with his two brothers.

He concentrated on getting new members and was successful at this.

The Church headquarters moved to Lamoni Iowa, on land purchased by the farmers, and then to Independence, Mo also the home of President Truman.

After JS III died, it had poor leadership and eventually became the Community of Christ church in 2001.

Being Good is not Enough

You have to be smart also.

And the kind of smarts you need gets greater all the time.

My family are Mormons, which means they are not too smart about Mormonism.itself. They are good people if you overlook some of their sexual practices.

My brother's son, and his wife. were active in the church, and were missionaries in Eastern Europe, someplace the church knew nothing about. They had the smarts to terminate that relationship. But will say nothing about why they terminated it.

This is happening to the Church in many ways, it is changing but the church members are not aware of this.

This is true of Americans in general: they are changing, but are not aware of this.

Americans do not Like People

I met a fellow-American yesterday who was eager to tell me his story.

Whenever he is in the US, he suffers from terrible pains that disable him. When he is in Costa Rica, those pains go away.

I did not say anything, but I could have sympathized with him and said America was a hard place to live in, and that was why I was no longer there.

He went on, and I could see that much of what he said I could easily discount. But not all of it. What is left can be described as Psychogenic pain.

I have frequently said to myself "Our world is self-destructing!" And other people have been saying the same thing, in various ways.

I ended up in Silicon Valley, in the Nineties, because that was where the money (and the jobs) were.

This is a strange place, as the people there will readily admit. Bur to them it is strange in a good way. Because of all the money there.
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But the same could be said of Rome, 2000 years ago.

The Romans destroyed the Jewish state completely. and formed a new religion: Christianity.

The Computer industry is doing something similar, with Dolly Parton, instead of the Virgin Mary.

North America Exploits Latin America

This is an assumption of Liberation Theology.

They get mad when they see a clever commercial. Because they will say, "Latinos are innocent people and more susceptible to deceit."

A newly born child is probably innocent, but that does not last long. To survive, they have to think of themselves.

This can easily be overdone, If we do not help others, we will not get much help ourselves.

IOST- In Relentless Pursuit of Blockchain’s Fullest Potential

BTCManager

IOST is a new cryptocurrency, that is not doing too well.

This article explains why it should - and also explains the problems all cryptocurrencies face.

They all exist to eliminate the Banks, which is why the Banks hate them.

All the Computer companies are getting into the Banking business anyway - because that is where the money is, and blockchain makes it safe.

Use Money to Transfer Value or Create Value?

I once lived in a remote tribal area in Guatemala, where they showed me how to live a simple life.

During the day, men (mostly from outside, and bringing lots of cash with them) dominated the marketplace. If you wanted something expensive, like a sewing machine, this was the time to come.

Value was being made. This is what the men were there for. Buy low, take it somewhere else, and sell high.

At night, the women took over, each bringing the goods they wanted to barter. What impressed me most was how quiet the place was then. There was no fighting, everyone knew what a fair price was and all trades were made at close to that price. Value was being transferred.

What about employment. Where people were bought and sold? The same principle applied.

Everyone knew what a fair price was, according to the skills required.

Framework

Application framework used to implement the structure of an application for an operating system (Wikipedia).

These are now very popular, so popular and used for so many things, they have become hard to define. What are they?

Software developers will tell you, upfront, that this framework is similar to that framework, but is better (or worse) in these situations.

They then expect you to try them out for yourself. And tell others what you found, or even write a book about it!

Computers are so sensible! They have to be, they are only machines. And they don't have to worry about being cooked up for dinner.

People are not so sensible, they will write a poem and not worry about what it means.

My Early Life History, 1936-1947

My brother Steve asked for this yesterday, my 83rd birthday.

I was born in 1936, in Ft. Madison, Iowa, my father's hometown, in an inexpensive house owned by my father's mother. It has since been torn down.

My father had joined the Marine Corp in 1930 and was sent to Haiti, where he had a Black girlfriend, much to the horror of his family back home!

Dad sent all his money home to his mother, and when he came back, he used that money to buy a photography studio. But because of the depression, he made little money.

WWII changed everything. Since Dad had the only studio in town he made lots of money and moved his studio to a better location. We also moved one block, into a better house, And I went to Richardson Grade School, which still exists.

Our house occupied two city lots, the other half was used for a Victory Garden and a Hen House. This was an upscale area because the street was paved with bricks, and we had a bus service!

Dad's family had left town because of a Railroad strike, and his father had a stroke that crippled his left side. But they returned, and Grandmother worked as a cook for the Santa Fe Reading Room. Grandfather was a teamster in the original sense of the word. He had a team of horses, one of the best in town. He was always surrounded by his animals; pigs, chickens, and rabbits.

On weekends I could take the bus uptown to Dad's studio, which was right next to the Library that had a section for children's books. I read all of the Wizard of Oz books.

In 1947, when I was 11, we moved across the Mississipi River to my Mother's hometown of Nauvoo, Illinois. A beautiful fruit-growing area with lots of grapes and apples. 

Is he (or she) Like Us?

This is the question most people will ask themselves as they vote.

They will not ask themselves "Will he (or she) be good for us?" This is a difficult question that requires a lot of thought.

Asking "Is he like us? Requires no thought at all.

Sensemaking

I was relieved to discover this entry in Wikipedia. I looked up books by Karl E Weick on Amazon, and settled on Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm, by Christian Madsbjerg.

I was not exposed much to the Humanities in college since I studied to become an Engineer. But I am making up for this in my old age, by spending time reading and writing on my Laptop. 

I have been interested in this subject because most people are focused in the opposite direction: they are determined to not make sense. Because this is the way most people are. 

Liberation theology

As Wikipedia states, this has helped Latin America liberate itself from North America.

But the situation there has been complicated. As you will see.

I met my last girlfriend (Delores) when I was working in Silicon Valley in the Nineties She was a Mexican/American and she was nearly killed when she was in a parade led by a Liberal Bishop in Mexico. She and her girlfriend moved to the Valley and established Spanish curriculums in several of the colleges there.

This girlfriend had seduced her when she was still a nun! But then had abandoned her for another woman. Delores decided to change her sexual orientation by having sex with me!

This did not work (she was incredibly ugly) so I fixed her up with another man and at his insistence that got married!

After I moved to Costa Rica, I used to call them once a week to see how they were getting along! Until they stopped answering my calls.

North Americans want Latin Americans to follow their lead and in many ways this a good idea. The garbage is collected right on schedule in Orosi, using American garbage trucks. But Ticos are much better at caring for their small children.

Crypto Breaking Out

Altcoin Magazine

This kind of stuff interests me. A mix of human interest and technical interest.

Some intelligence is required, but no too much.

My Fitbit is Full of Shit

The publicity for this thing has been enormous, and that is why I bought it for $100 from Amazon.

What I got was the Fitbit inspire, which has inspired me to take a huge shit, and write this review.

Does it work? Not for me.

It does have online documentation that makes it seem better than real.

Get started building on Ethereum

Google

I am now interested in cryptocurrencies, and one of these is Ethereum.

Google makes it fairly easy for you to do this. It is not really easy, only fairly easy. 

I Can't Believe the Computer Junk You can Buy Now

I just spent $500 on a new Laptop that at is not worth a damn.

All I got for my money is a chance to badmouth it on Amazon. Which may or may not make a difference.

I don't know why I am surprised. When I worked in Silicon Valley in the Nineties we cranked out the same stuff and hired a specialist to keep our stock prices up. And no one saw anything wrong with this.

The next 30 years saw most of these companies disappear, but they're still is some crap left.

Interest in Software

An interest in anything has to be innate and/or acquired.

All you can say once you have an interest is something, is that you have it, or it has you.

The first person to have an interest in Software was Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, who understood its effect on people.

She did not foresee the strong disinterest in Software that also developed. Some people like logic, but some do not. And would rather die than be logical.

The Computer can Make People Better

If they want to be better, many of them don't.

I am learning the Ethereum Blockchain software now, which is making the participants in its networks honest, as long as most of them are honest. As always. the devil is in the details (the mathematics) behind this.

One result is the cryptocurrencies that are springing up like weeds. These people want to let the people control their money, instead of the Banks.

Many of them are losing money but they are getting smarter also.

And there is a lot to be said for that.

What do People think of Other People?

I have been obsessed with this question all my life.

Right now, I am 82 and it is the middle of the night, and I woke up asking myself the same question.

And I answered it by going over some of my life's history when I was a young man and just married.
I got up and turned on my laptop so I could write this down.

I remember how crazy Beth, my young wife was. I should have left her, but I felt responsible for taking care of her!

I was working for the Army at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, making an Atomic Bomb. The story was more complicated than that, but those facts will get us started. Beth also got a job there. Not long after I started to work in the morning when I got a desperate call from her manager "Would I please come up and get my wife, she was tearing up the office!"

I hopped in the car and went up there. Sure enough, Beth had freaked out and was looking at the rest of the people in the office in horror. I didn't know what else to do, so I took her to a doctor. I waited while she was in his office, and when she came out, she was calmer. The doc gave me a prescription to be filled.

So we went to the drugstore. While we were waiting, Beth passed out and they called an ambulance, Off it went to the hospital, with me following in the car. They called the doc, who told them he had given her an injection, and there was no crisis, so I took her home.

I knew Beth needed to see a psychologist, but I could not find one in the entire county. But Beth solved this problem by deciding we would move to California!

I did not question why, we just drove across the country, stopping to visit my brother who was going to college in Indiana. His wife was taken by Beth in her Nightie. She always attracted men and women, but women especially.

Regulating Cryptocurrency

This to a hot subject one that generates a lot of interest on the Web for a few people, because it is so technical. No one else knows what they are talking about.

Consult the Wikipedia entry for BCH to see what I mean.

I am taking a course from block geeks, with the same objective; trying to understand what is going on.

I am reminded of when I worked at a gold-mining camp in Nome, Alaska when I was going to Engineering School at the U of Illinois.

This had been a Soviet airport during WWII. The US was manufacturing airplanes in Southern California and Arizona, in huge numbers, Some of them were sent to the USSR and used to destroy Nazi Tanks. Russian lettering was still over the doors.

Joseph Stalin was responsible for more deaths than anyone in history. Hitler was responsible for 2 million deaths, mostly Jews. Stalin was responsible for 200 million, mostly his own people! But he was an American ally during the War.

A special Airforce was formed of women pilots to ferry the planes from Arizona to Nome over some of the worst flying terrains in the world! If you have ever done any flying yourself, you knew the weather was your worst enemy.

Many of those planes (and their pilots) did not make it.

The Appeal of Evil

Evil is created by people. and only created by them. And can only be perceived by them.

We can easily conceive of a War against a wide variety of Evils. And we seem to be happiest when engaged in a War of some kind.

Even a War against Evil itself. 

There was recently an ambush where 9 Americans were killed by a Mexican Cartel. The Cartel is Mexico's contribution to the vocabulary of Evil. Americans prefer to speak of Gamgs and Gangsters.

No doubt there are equivalents in other languages, such as that spoken by the Ancient Hebrews in the Bible, where murders of all kinds were common.

We are a violent species.

How Mexico’s cartel wars shattered American Mormons’ wary peace

Washington Post

This story has importance for my family, who are members of a Mormon community, and also have lived and vacationed in Mexico. But they have not lived in any rural areas. 

A related story is the Wikipedia entry for Mitt Romney, who was part of this family but left Mexico and did not go back. 

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Determined to Not Understand the Computer

Not understanding the Computer would be understandable, it's a brand-new thing like we have never seen before.

But this attitude of being determined to not understand it is alarming. Why has this social bias showed up so strongly, without being noticed?

By understanding it, I mean noticing its effect on people, which has been profound.

The Computer has changed who we are, in a way that makes it impossible for us to notice this.

This puts me in an awkward position: I can understand the Computer. But I am surrounded by people who cannot, and don't want to.

This not understanding is not complete, many people can understand it a little. But only a little, and nothing on earth will make them learn more.

There are two social movements going on at the same time: rapid software development, and a strong movement against it. The first is conscious, the second is unconscious.

Cartago in the Rain

I took the bus there to get my packages today. But dammit, it started raining. And when that happens it is hard getting a taxi.

I spent hours standing in the rain, trying to keep my umbrella from turning inside out. My wet clothes are now hanging on the clothesline.

My wet packages are on the sofa, waiting for me to open them. One is a new Laptop, that cost me $400 into Miami. But cost me another $100 in Cartago.

Tomorrow I will pay $50 for my health insurance. The first of the month is hard on my pocketbook.

The Fall of the American Midwest

I know what I am talking about here because I lived through it myself.

Right after WWII, the American Midwest (everything between the Appalachian and the Rocky Mountains) produced most of the world's products. Now it is best described as a Rust Belt.

One of the candidates for the Presidency, Mayor Pete, knows this and is tolerated because he speaks for it.

I was raised in Ft. Madison, Iowa, part of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. As Midwestern as you could get. It is now part of a huge tragedy, that is unaware of itself. 

There are no Tourist Buses, exhibiting the remains of Scheaffer Pen because no one wants to see them. This would be too depressing.

The West End of the town, where we lived, was Santa Fe town, and there is even a street sign saying this. It had many small businesses, such as Barbershops and Whorehouses. It is now a slum, where the houses are in bad repair. And many of them, such as the house I was born in, are gone.

Most of the Midwestern Manufacturing has gone to China.

Being Smart and Stupid at the Same Time

I have made the decision to be more social. And my first step here was to have a conversation with Allen.

How did I first meet him? I can't remember, but when I did, he was living in one room in a low-priced place used by backpackers. That was all the housing he needed: one room. I got a distinct impression that he was dimwitted.

He also went for long walks by himself and was a friendly guy.

We both ate at a fast-food place (called a Soda in Spanish) downtown. Neither one of us spoke Spanish, but he did not seem to realize this, and he would flirt (in English) with the women there. He moved to this place, where he also had one room and ate simple meals, and was pleased by the low prices. I went there to buy their chicken burger, which had everything in it.

Then he decided to go back to the States, and when talking to me about this he mentioned that he had been a schoolteacher up there. He left, and I never expected to see him again.

Eight months passed before I unexpectedly met him again, in the store next to the Soda. He had decided this was the place for him, living just as he had. I was so astonished, I didn't know what to say.

But since I had decided to be more social this was a good place to start. A few days later, I asked him about his experiences as a teacher. He really lit up when telling me about this! I could tell he was a natural-born teacher and this where he belonged: teaching grade school in America.

We also talked about programming, something I know about myself. He knows about this and makes some money now using his Laptop to do this. I could not be more amazed!

But he wants to get married and married down here. When he doesn't know Spanish!

The Coffee Industry is in Bad Shape

The Coffee industry has two Components: Growing Coffee and Processing Coffee. And both are in bad shape.

Coffee farmers always want make more money, and to do this they have produced new varieties of the Coffee plant to produce more Coffee. Originally it was a plant that grew in the shade; underneath the large trees that formed the canopy of the forests. These new varieties will grow in the sunshine, and can produce more coffee. But they are more delicate, and susceptible to more diseases.

A virus has appeared that infects the Coffee leaves. The farmers have to spray for this, and  this spray costs money. They have also added fertilizer to this spray, which produces more Coffee, but costs money. The bottom line: they are not making more money.

Now I turn to the second component: processing the Coffee.

There used to be two large Coffee processing plants in the Orosi area, one in Orosi, and a huge one in Cachi. Now there is one. Processing plants are now more efficient, cheaper, and employ fewer people. Bottom line: less money is made here.

The big plants welcomed visitors, but the new plants do not. So I am not certain of its location.

Women have a Powerful Effect on Men who are Close to Them

I am reminded of a cousin who was married to an executive in the  Men's Wear business.

He was passionate about this business, and after his company went out of business, he killed himself.

What she should have done was said:

"Honey I know Men's Clothing is important to you, and you need to get a business of your own. And I (and the children) will support you fully in this."

He would still have been alive, and her family would have been alive.

We live in a fast-moving world - too fast in fact

I was just reminded of this in a brutal fashion. I was lying on the floor, unable to get up.

Now that I am 82, this happening more frequently. I bent over to pick something up, and splat! I was laying on the floor.

"That is all?" You may be saying, "A temporary discombobulation?" Yes that is all, but when you are the one it is happening to, it feels much worse, like the end of the world.

How is this related to a fast-changing world? Like all animals we were part of our world, an intimate part of it. And if it changes, we have to change with it. And change is stressful.

We have recently added that word to our vocabulary: stress, because we have so much of it. But we have added another complication - we are not aware of this!

The software industry has made this clear with a saying of theirs: "Move fast, and break things!"

But lots of people are wondering, if breaking things is such a good idea.

Coping with Collapse

Today Ray is cleaning up the mess I made in my apartment yesterday. I don't know what I would do without that guy.

"What happened." You may ask.

Damned if I know, I ended up on the floor in the middle of the night, in a pile of shit.

I have a balance disorder, and sometimes I get so dizzy I fall down. And my guts are affected too.

I am learning about blockchain, which is about that same problem in software.

The people down here have their own solution: find a child to take care of. Maybe that is what Ray is doing: and I am the child.

Silicon Valley Is Over, Says Silicon Valley

New York Times

About a dozen venture capitalists recently took a bus tour through the Midwest, and a funny thing happened: They caught the heartland bug.

But they did not go to Ft. Madison, Iowa, my hometown. People have left there and they are not going back. It reached its peak in the Fifties and has been going down ever since. 

This is not for lack of building space, there is plenty of that. But the people there are not eager to advance. They are stuck, and they like it that way. 

Not Interested in Computers

And not interested in knowing this.

What are you interested in? Shopping and shopping Centers. And Authoritarian leaders.

This last item is puzzling, because it implies that thinking is involved. When this is not true at all; only believing is involved, and passionate believing at that.

They are emulating the early days of Christianity they will say, when they know almost nothing about this period of Christian history.

Another Tech Bubble Could Be About to Burst

Financial Times

This is about private markets and public markets. What companies try to get before they go public, and what they can get after that. Usually, it is much less.

I worked for a company in Silicon Valley in the Nineties (Adaptec) It benefited greatly from being an established company with a good track record - and the Tech Bubble that was about to burst.

I knew something was fishy, But everyone else was so happy stuffing money into their pockets, they didn't want to hear any bad news.

It did burst, and I saw accountants bagging groceries in the supermarkets. And young hopefuls going home with empty pockets, and college debt they could never payback.

Google is acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 billion

TechCrunch

You read that right - billions, not millions. Anything worth anything nowadays has that many zeros behind it.

Amazon has it for $144. You can buy a watch like the one I am wearing for $20.

These companies are getting in fast, while there are still obscene profits to be made.

Wikipedia says: In those who are overweight or obese, a 2016 study indicates that the use of wearable technology combined with standard behavioral interventions results in less rather than more weight loss after two years of use when compared to usual weight-loss interventions.

Our Transition from Industrialization to the Computer

This has been a difficult transition, and may never be made successfully.

The Industrial Revolution took hundreds of years and changed who we were. And a big part of this change was the inability to recognize that this change had happened. We went through a big change but were not aware of it, because the change was so big and so enticing. Who could resist a car with a huge engine and tail fins?

This was true for most of us - who are not interested in the Computer now. Computer people, of course, are. And they are busy telling anyone who will listen about their latest inventions.  They are aware of this transition because they are making it.

They are interested in the Computer because it is them. Take a look at this Consensus Mechanisms video. Aren't these computers acting like people?

Networked Computers are acting more and more like persons. So much so, they may replace us.