Joseph Smith's Kirtland Bank Failure

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Even now, over a hundred years later, it is difficult to access this information. You will have to search for this title, with its many embedded links.  Photos of banknotes are included. 

The RLDS Wanted Their Church Back

But they had no idea what that was.

The Church was whatever Joseph Smith thought it was, but he changed his mind frequently. 

This mental instability is what attracted people to him. And this what I want to write about today. 

I could be blunter, and describe him as a crazy man, along with his followers, who were numerous. They were part of a craziness that swept the Western World, sometimes called Industrialization.  

Part of this was religious revivals, such as the Second Great Awakening, that the Smith family was part of. America has always been a religious nation. 

Part of this was a search for buried treasure, that employed people (such as Joseph) who could detect where this treasure was. This was an illegal occupation and got him into trouble with the Law. 

This was a persistent pattern throughout his life: he thought he had special powers (of many kinds) that made him a leader other people should follow - a religious dictator. He was often described as a Prophet of God. 

His LDS church moved frequently because it was the subject of violent attacks. From Kirtland, Ohio, to a number of locations in Missouri, to Nauvoo, Illinois.

Its time in Missouri was especially unfortunate - they should never have gone there. 

THE END OF EGYPTIAN COTTON

New Yorker

This was such a good article, I had to put it in my blog.

You will not have any trouble reading it, because it's all about people.

The Democrats haven't got a Chance

At the Presidency, or the Senate.

Because Americans do not want them there. They will keep them in the House, where they belong.

To understand this, you have to understand the American mind, and what the two parties mean there.

Americans are destroying America, and the Republicans are helping them do this. And the same thing applies to the Brits, who are also destroying themselves.

Once you know what is really going on, Everything else makes sense.

Software is People Talking to a Computer

No one will argue with this, and they will not ask themselves the obvious follow-up question "How does this change us?"

They will not say "It changes us a lot, in a lot of ways." But insist it changes us not at all.

This is a stupid attitude, and is part of a larger result: it has made us stupid.

The Computer, that was supposed to make us smarter, has made us stupid.

And it has done this in a lot of ways.

Getting in Touch with the Self

This is difficult for most people -  because they have no self, and do not want one. And do not want to know this.

This is the strongest shame of our time. And one we resist knowing about the most.

I sometimes think of a friend of mine, a woman, who impressed me as having her own person. We dated, and I got to know her better.

We continued to correspond after I moved to Costa Rica. Then she made it clear to me that we were no longer friends.

And I concluded from that, that she did not want me to know her better. There must have been something that she was ashamed of. And did not want to reveal.

The Office

Of all the things invented by mankind, this must have been the worst. But we cannot imagine anything replacing it.

What is it? Someplace where people work at there jobs, like little machines. Each doing whatever they are assigned to do.

But what is it really? Someplace where people are destroying themselves.

Their values have been reversed, and behavior that should have horrified them was seen as desirable.

The important word here is someplace. It implies there are special places where important things can go on. That cannot go on anyplace else.

This was a result of Industrialization.

This can be explained in two ways: (1) we started using fossil energy, and (2) people went crazy!

Another result was the appearance of the Railroads, and the Steamships. And the Office.

And an unawareness of what was going on.

The Woodward Book

Fear: Trump in the White House

I knew things were bad, but I didn't know they were this bad.

All you have to do is read the Prologue to the Kindle version of this book to know bad this situation is.

It will take maybe an hour to buy and download the book, and 15 minutes to read it.

You will learn how some people in the White House are doing their best to save us from the President.

(Why) Social Democracy is the Key to Defeating Authoritarian-Fascism

Medium

The author is umair haque.

He supports Bernie. He writes like me.

How to Persuade a Trump Voter

Medium

This is short and sweet.

When I was traveling in Sri Lanka in the Seventies, I noticed that Elephants, while considered sacred symbols, also creat a lot of smelly shit.

The Kingdom of Nauvoo

I finally got the Kindle version of this!

We now have a history of Nauvoo by an RLDS historian (Robert Bruce Flanders), and an LDS historian (Benjamin Park).

Park's book, looks to be the best because it is based on newly released material.

To quote from it:

Examining the rise and fall of this American empire demonstrates how Americans still struggled with the concepts and practices of Democracy only a few generations after the nation's birth and highlights the legacies of the nation's commitment to one of its most cherished ideals: religious liberty.

Having Two Laptops

I got a new one because my old Windows 10 Laptop was not reliable.

Amazon shipped a new one Miami, and Aeroposr delivered it Cartago, for $50.

Then my old laptop started working fine - for a while!

I got Dropbox so I could move files (such as passwords) between them.

But lots of little problems crept in. My apps did not know where everything was. they have lots of dependencies built into them.

My Computers think I am smarter than I am!

Software, Aesthetics, and Craft: How Java, Lisp, and Agile Shape and Reflect Their Culture

InfoQ

InfoQ is an awesome site, and this article is especially impressive.

This AI Researcher Thinks We Have It All Wrong

Forbes

I look at the clothes people are wearing. This guy is wearing a business suit, with a tie. He is saying the right things, but wearing the wrong things. 

He is saying what Ron Schmelzer wants him to say, which is:

AI systems are akin to a new species with a different mode of intelligence than humans. 

I went to his Web site, Cognilytica. This has so many smarts, it is spilling over the edges. 

Lamoni Rail-Trail

TrailLink

This has no info about the Railroad that used to be here. One comment says:

While the view is very nice; the trail itself is poor for biking on as it's concrete and not clear of debris. The concrete is broken in several places, and poorly patched with asphalt in other places. Low hanging branches obscuring half the trail as well as leaves, twigs and large puddles of water make it dangerous ...

Tech Experts Are Pessimistic About Their Industry

The Atlantic

I tend to be pessimistic myself, but these guys put me to shame!

They call a spade a spade and don't mind talking about dirt.

Downtown

I once visited a remote town in Costa Rica. It happened to be a Friday, and the locals were getting ready to enjoy their weekend - by getting drunk.

The dance hall was open and the taxi dancers (beautiful young women) were eager to please the dancers. I'm sure there were bouncers around to restrain any over-eager customers.

What struck me most was the music: it was "New York, New York, what a Wonderful Town!" (In English).

They had no idea what the words meant, they only knew it was English, a high-class language, that encouraged wild behavior.

They want to be Bad

I am still trying to understand my Fellow-Americans. A single word popped into my mind: bad.

It's a strong word and needs no definition. And it says a lot.

I am not saying they are bad, although they often are. I am saying they want to be bad. This is their goal in life, what satisfies them most.

"Isn't that putting it a bit strong?" You may ask. Maybe, but as I already said, this is not what they are, this is their goal in life.

She is no longer interested in Men

Some women go through a profound crisis, which makes them lose interest in men. This crisis is so profound they can hardly walk until it is over.

As usual with mental problems, they are usually not aware of this. They can still be friends, but cannot be sexual friends.

Chinese Government-Backed Institute Releases New Ranking of 37 Crypto Projects

Bitcoin news

In January, news.Bitcoin.com reported that the CCID released a report stating that there were more than 33,000 registered blockchain companies in December.

People who Wanted to be Deceived

What I have in mind here, were the Mormons of the 19th Century. Who took the cake for idiocy. Although they have plenty of competition in that department.

My family, who belong to one of the numerous sects that have descended from the original church, are making a strong effort to prove they are even stupider.

Does Learning Programming make you a Better Person?

Maybe.

It depends on where you were, where you are, and a few other things.

If you are in the right place (metaphorically speaking) it can put you in a better place. If not, it can't do you much good.

Software Development (another name for Programming) is very social. To succeed there, you have to be adept at its kind of socialization.

There are people, however, who are adept at seeming to socialize in this space. Hard to believe, I know.

Our Need for a Leader

Originally, this was expressed in the body of a King.

But this was replaced by many kinds of Democracies, and many kinds of ruling classes, that often became dictators.

Underneath all of this was our need for a Leader. One person, or a small group of persons (the Presidency) to represent everyone.

Ray\s Dog is Going to have Puppies

Six of them, in fact.

She is a Black French Bulldog, very affectionate.

Want some?

BLOOMBERG To Spend Ten Billion Dollars To Buy Entirely Different Personality

The Borowitz Report

Acknowledging that some attributes of the former New York mayor’s new personality have yet to be ironed out, campaign advisers indicated that the eleven-figure outlay would be used to purchase warmth, empathy, and humanity.

Additionally, billions of Bloomberg’s war chest will be used to remove several unappetizing qualities from his current personality, including arrogance, touchiness, and a glaring inability to hide his contempt for others.

We have to live with our Childhood

This is not easy, because most of our childhoods were so terrible. But we have to do this anyway.

Most people, however, will either insist they had happy childhoods (even though they did not) or refuse to work on them.

I have had a number of therapists, and most of them had unresolved childhood issues themselves. They can still be useful, but you have to be careful about how you use them.

Don't Be, Don't Think

This is a difficult position to explain; but easy to execute in our personal lives and our many group affiliations.

We can be busy, busy, busy - doing nothing. And avoid doing anything real. And be pleased with ourselves for being so clever. And for being like everyone else.

There are people who are different, but they have little effect on most people. Who are determined to be the same on everything that matters.

One way that matters is our attitude towards reading and writing. We much prefer social media, which was brought to us by the Computer.

I am a Computer person myself, but I also do a lot of reading and writing inside that ecosystem (as I am doing in this blog). The Computer was the latest development in the technology of writing, that made us civilized.

Whether or not this was a good thing, we do not know.

As if by magic, AI, Data, Culture: In Conversation with Ben Horowitz pops up on my screen. He has written a book What you do is who you are.

I just got back from my Dentist, is she what she does?

1838 Mormon War

Wikipedia

I found this interesting and informative. it explains why the move to Missouri from Ohio was such a disaster. And it shows how violent the times were.

All this would result in the Civil War and Civil Rights violations that would last for over a century. As a boy, I could remember newspaper reports of lynchings.

In Nauvoo, Illinois, all Blacks had to leave town before sundown.

The Church was two Organizations in Lamoni

One organization was financial and one was religious.

The first was formed by rich farmers in Northern Illinois, who had been members of the LDS church, They reorganized and called themselves the RLDS church. 

The second were the sons of Joseph Smith, mainly Joseph Smith III. Who were hired by the RLDS to manage the church for them, and serve as its religious leaders. 

In 1870, the first group bought farmland in South Central Iowa and moved there. The second group hand no choice but to follow them. 

The first group, the owners of the church, decided to build a city on their land, and they called it Lamoni, a Book of Mormon name.

The history of Railroads during that time is complicated (and this is what made Abraham Lincoln a successful Railroad Lawyer). Evidently, the Lamoni railroad was abandoned in 1872. 

Meanwhile, Joseph Smith III was growing what he considered to be his church, These two churches coexisted in Lamoni, without much conflict. 

But gradually, the move was made (by the second group) to Independence, Missouri, And the first group were forgotten.

A large group of rich people ceased to exist!

The Church and Politics

By the Church, I mean the Community of Christ, and its founding Prophet-President Joseph Smith III.

His father was very much into politics and planned on running for the President before he was murdered. 

His son, by contrast, avoided the politics of his day, and did not want church members to fight in the Civil War! 

I got an email today from Hillary O’Connor Mueri, who is running from Northeastern Ohio, which must include Cleveland and Kirtland. 

I have a cousin there, Becky, but I have no idea what her politics are - or that of the Church's. 

Probably it has continued the policy of not getting involved in politics, A policy that does not appeal to me.

My brother Steve added this:

JS3's position was not against fighting in the Civil War. When he was in Nauvoo he was the speaker at an Army recruiting event and was so successful that the Nauvoo quota was over-subscribed! However, as he considered the issue of war and violence as the Church's new President, he expressed his opinion (it never became a church policy) that church members should not volunteer to enlist, but wait to be drafted--and serve if drafted--and then the ethical burden became the Nation's responsibility, not the individual's.

The Abuse of People by Business

This abuse was obvious during the Industrial Era. People were forced to work for long hours in hazardous conditions.

But now, during the Computer Era. they are still being abused. How?

By forcing them to do what the organizations want, not what they want.

Everyone will agree that this should not happen, but most people manage to get along with it, without much trouble. And consider themselves good people for not being critical of their organization. For not being too smart.

Why would I want to Go into Business?

My times in the Business World were the worst times of my life, why should I want more of them?

I think this is what is behind the destructiveness of today's world: people have been abused, and now they are getting even. They are not aware of this, however, and cannot fix it.

The end result: they form defective companies, and nothing gets improved.

The only business I would be interested in would help people understand this.

Doctrine and Covenants

Wikipedia

This will only be of interest to those with a Mormon background.

It is very long since there are many Mormon churches, some of which I never heard of before.

Over 100 sections were received before Joseph's death in 1844. After that, there are many different editions printed by the various churches. These are all listed in the table at the end.

Identity Politics

I am reading Why We're Polarized, and have taken this idea from him.

I have a Fire Tablet and download all my Kindle books to it. I recommend you do the same.

Making us Stronger

I keep asking "What are we trying to do?" And one answer is "Making us stronger!"

This is the answer given by everyone: including those who are making us weaker.

The Human Mind can easily see opposites as equals. And this should probably be the title of this posting "We can easily feel the Bad is Good!"

History is full of examples of such defective mental reasoning. It seems to have great appeal,

Wallace B. Smith

Wikipedia

This covers a confusing period in Church history. It is not an easy read.

He was a practicing ophthalmologist in the Independence, Missouri area before accepting ordination to RLDS leadership.

His presidency was also noted for promoting a church conference vote on April 5, 1984 which approved ordination of females to priesthood offices.

My Final, Gradual Decline

There is no cure for old age.

I have never been a strong person, but I find myself outliving people who were much stronger. The two top athletes when I was in High School, Rich Rhinehart and Rich Frost, are gone, and so is the High School.

I am 83, and too old to drive a car, or ride a bicycle. So I take the bus and ride taxis. I haven't missed much.

I suffered from a serious disorder, diagnosed as a Seizure. I would fall down wherever I was, lay there in a little puddle of blood, and could not get up. They would call an ambulance, and off to the hospital, I would go!

After several of these, I decided on my own cure: I would pay careful attention to my body and when it started feeling woozy. I would sit down! And ask someone to call a taxi, to take me home.

This will not work for most people, because they cannot pay close attention to their bodies. It's a technique I learned from meditating.

The Inner Life

To have a healthy mental life, this must be a vital part of your personal life. A part of your life that is only known to you, but you must share with your intimate friends.

But for many people, this relationship does not exist, and they do not want it to exist!

It is important for other people who know them, to recognize this vital fact.

This is a problem for the children of these people, which sometimes handle this problem surprisingly well. But sometimes do not.

In my personal case, I am the only child in my family who is aware of this problem.

Our parents were religious, and this has added to our problems, that my siblings are not aware of at all.

I am aware of the Coffee and Alcohol that I drink, and only need small amounts of them. Many people, however, cannot taste their coffee, or their drinks, and need larger amounts of them.

I am sure this applies to other drugs as well,

My Brother and the Church

I have avoided writing about this before, because it is so embarrassing, for me.

But not for the rest of the family, who support him, and can see nothing wrong with what he is doing.

He has accepted the position of Site Director for Liberty Hall, the residence that Joseph Smith III lived in when the RLDS church was in Lamoni. He is now involved in making the Lamoni period more important in Church History. After it has become the Community of Christ church.

The City of Lamoni was built by the owners of the RLDS church when they bought farmland there and sold City Lots to other people. The church, from its beginnings, was always involved in Real Estate.

Small Flying Insects

These are abundant in the tropics, and there is even a museum for them in Costa Rica, where I live.

The first attempt to build a Panama Canal, by the same French company who built the Suez Canal, failed because control of the insect population was not undertaken.

The first American effort was controlled by its Military, who were not interested in insect control either. They were replace by Civilians, and the Canal was completed successfully.

The control of the Military by Civilians was a basic principle that made the US successful. And made Latin American countries unsuccessful.

This was also true much earlier, when the American capital was Philadelphia, where many died from insect-born diseases, and the physicians only used bleeding to solve the problem.

Can Mexico Wake Up from AMLO's Impossible Dream?

Americas Quarterly

I can remember the Fifties when Mexico was such a nice place to visit. And when Mexicans could visit America easily.

Mexico is no longer the same place, and America is no longer the same place.

Both are much worse.

People need to Feel they are All Right

And for this reason, they will not accept anything that makes them feel they are not all right.

This why Trump was elected: he has no idea what he is, but he assumes the worst, and defends himself against that.

Americans do not Like America

"Whats wrong with America?" People want to know. This is the answer.

However, they cannot accept this answer, because it reflects unfavorably on them. They need to feel they are all right. And this need is powerful!

Waterlines: On Writing and Sailing

NY Review

A boat, like a piece of writing, is first of all conceived as a structure. Whether it is a cargo ship, an ocean liner, a ferry, or a pleasure boat, each has a primary function, a part to play. Its purpose defines its size, its shape, and its overall dimensions. When I write, I proceed in the same manner. The form—short story, novel—must be fitting for the story I want to tell. Its architecture underpins the words. It is with this specific aim that I divide it up and seek a balance. Each part, each chapter, has its own function. Just as the engine powers the boat, as the bow cleaves through the waves, and the keel ensures the stability, even the shortest paragraph fulfills a certain purpose. In my case, the engineer endows the writer with a desire for efficiency.

Dropbox

I have heard about this (who hasn't?) but today it finally got me to download and install it, and then watch as it explained itself. It's big advantage: it can handle files of any size, such as video files. which are enormous.

This is life in the Computer World. It wants to grab your eyeballs, that are directly connected to your brain. The net result: your brain becomes part of the Computer Cloud (and Dropbox) and your brain gets added to its computing power.

Doesn't that make you feel good?

Religious Perfection

Someone could write a book about this, but here I am trying to do the same thing, in my blog that no one reads. Vanity, thy name is Blogging!

The strangest thing about this common obsession is that no one wants to admit it has it. Even as they spend most of their lives in its pursuit. And the computer, that is perfect, leaves us far behind.

I am thinking of my cousin Becky, as I write this. When she was small, no one expected her to amount to much. But now she is a successful executive, many times over. Her sons are members of the Military, and her daughters are married to them. You cannot get more successful than that!

My family were all members of the same church, that was perfect as far as they were concerned. They no longer assume its perfection but are working hard at improving it.

And developing an alternative lifestyle, that doesn't require good individuals but an economy more like Crypto, that is mathematically correct.

It will take a while to get this done. 

Camera Too Much

Amazon

The accessories that came with this almost fill the box it came in. The rest was styrofoam peanuts.

The case was huge, almost big enough to park a car in.

Digital is smarter than film, but you got to be smarter too.

Every Knee will Bow Down to a Silicon Fist

Interaction Design

Since when has the world of Computer Software Design been about what people want?

This is a simple matter of evolution. The day is quickly coming when every knee will bow down to a Silicon Fist, and you will all beg your binary gods for mercy.

Bill Gates

Extreme Old Age

For me, this was 80, when I acquired a balance disorder and could no longer ride a bicycle.

As a general rule, people tend to downplay the effects of old age and say things like "You are only as old as you feel!" Which gives me plenty of opportunities to respond with a long list of disabilities.

Dying is a long process, that begins when we reach 40. and can no longer reproduce.

Men can find younger women, who can. But this is foolishness. You already have plenty of children to take care of, and having more decreases their chances for success,

The traditional emphasis on the family unit, means families who prosper together do better than individuals who only think of themselves.

Gringos have Left Orosi

This has been a problem for people who hoped to get rich in Real Estate here.

Instant wealth was snatched from their hands, and they have lost their minds.

This is sad to witness because we have always believed that more wealth was always possible in some kind of land manipulation.

The Crisis of 2008, was based on this. Americans expected the value of their homes to be rising forever.

The people in Orosi also participated in this. Everyone had been told the price of their property would go up, and it took a long time for them to realize it would not!

Lots of businesses started up (four pet shops, in one week, for example). It didn't take long for them to disappear.

Photography can Help you Socialize

And socializing is a big part of any job. And digital cameras make this easier than ever.

You can snap a photo, or a video, give to the person you photographed (people never get too many selfies) or post it online (on Facebook perhaps). Videos take a lot of space, but show a lot more too.

Going online also has the advantage of getting their email address. "Gimme your address, so I can send you your photo!" You upload the photo from your camera to your Laptop, then from your Laptop to a an online drive. You will need a fast Internet connection to do this.

We are Inventing a New Kind of Failure

With America showing the way.

It can point to some amazing technical successes, and equally amazing social failures.

It all boils down to one basic question "What are we trying to do?"

If you ask this of most people, all you will get is a blank look "What do you mean?"

If you say that. as people, we are responsible for our destiny, the response is clear "No way!" Something else is responsible for that, and not us.

We can take this as our point of departure: what is this something else, that is running the show?

There are no lack of answers. And most of them are defective. The most common one being: "I don't know, and anyone who asks this question should be severely punished!"

Or even more commonly, "This guy (or this group) has the answers, and they are enforcing them!" If these answers is not consistent (as they often are not) this is a problem.

People will have to move to where the rules suit them better. The people in my family all live far from where we were raised. They are still in the US. but the US is a huge country.

I knew of a Jewish family that left Germany as soon as Hitler came into power, and spent the War years living comfortably in Chili. I left Silicon Valley and moved to the Orosi Valley, in Costa Rica. Neither move was easy, but we ended up better off.

The present situation is more difficult, because of Globalization, and the huge number of people on the move.

Most of these people do not have the Computer skills needed in the Computer Economy. I had these skills, but could not stand the people who owned the Computer companies.

They elected Trump, and will probably elect him again.

This is the Failure I referred to. It's not easy to define, but easy to experience.

The Anatomy of Desire

I got WIRED magazine flown into me from Miami last week. This morning I opened it up. and in the center of the magazine, was the two-page title shown above. with the subtitle:

To get past misinformation and tribal rancor online, we need to face why people want misinformation and rancor.

It recommended the book Why We're Polarized. I downloaded the Kindle version, and started reading it.

Being subjected to Information Overload has its advantages.

They feel They are Better because They do not Know

I say this because of some recent interactions I have had with my family, especially my brother.

It does seem to me that we have become divided into those who know, and those who do not know - and feel superior because of this.

This is a strange situation, but typical of our time.

I like Wikipedia because it tells me so much - they hate it, for the same reason.

They would never come right out and say this: never, never, never. But if you consider this as a possibility, you may come to agree with me.

Give it a try.

Cryptocurrencies are not Functional

I am studying F# now, which is a functional programming language. And this is teaching me what the functional programming paradigm is, step by step.

I have also been interested in Crypto and puzzled by its erratic behavior. Which is caused by its interaction with People in the Marketplace.

An analogy may useful: a train is predictable as long as it is chugging down its tracks. But when they end, anything might happen.

In the same way, blockchain is functional but its cryptocurrencies are not.

The Computer is Making us more Like It

This is inevitable. Any successful technology makes us more like it - with some unexpected consequences. We are just beginning to find what these are for the computer, that has only been in existence for 50 years, or so.

It quickly invented the social media. and is improving it rapidly. We cannot remember living without this.

We watch our TVs that have many people telling it where to look and telling us what we see.

We want them to explain the world to us because they can access, and process so much information!

We even have Artificial Intelligence. It is trying to make us smarter - but is only having limited success at this.

3 Reasons Why I Am Leaving Crypto

Medium

• (Most) Crypto Companies Are Not Profitable
• Crypto Is An Echo Chamber
• Adoption Only From Less Developed Countries

What Emma Should have Done

She should have left Nauvoo. This would have been hard because she had inherited a lot of property there, but she also inherited a lot of her late husband's debt and lost most of that property.

Nauvoo was a continuation of her life with Joseph, which had been a complete disaster. When he died, there was no one to take his place.

Brigham Young was on a mission to England, but would only join the Saints at their Winter Camp in Iowa after they had already left Nauvoo.

She could have made her position as the Wife of Joseph, and the Mother of his Children, a huge advantage. If she had allied herself with the right people.

These people were the RLDS. She could have easily moved to Plano, in Northern Illinois with her sons, to be with them. Why didn't she?

This we do not know, we only know she did not but stayed in Nauvoo. Eventually her oldest son. Joseph III did join the RLDS Church and become its leader.

Emma died in poverty, in a ghost town.

Emma and Joseph Smith

Emma was the wife of Joseph, but their relationship has not been studied very well.

Joseph was the center of attention and intended to say that way. Emma was always in his shadow. This true of the wife of any famous man. There was always limited space in the spotlight.

When Joseph was killed, she had to update herself, and she did not do this very well.

This is always the case with any widow, but the widow of a famous man has an especially hard time of it.

What she was without him becomes painfully obvious, and many widows kill themselves, as a solution. In many cultures, this is mandatory.

Emma lived in what was left of her husband's last town: Nauvoo Illinois. She, and her second husband, built a hotel out of these ruins, and she died there. But this business failed and the property (the Nauvoo House) was sold at a tax auction.

Living with Craziness

Insanity is part of the human condition and we all have to live with various degrees of it, in ourselves and others.

This fact is not well appreciated. President Trump has serious mental problems, and these could have used in his impeachment trial, but they were not considered. Why?

Probably because mental problems are so common people do not want to consider them, as possibilities.

We should come right and say "Craziness is very common, and we should do something about it!" But we do not, and it gets worse.

At the Corporate level, we have thousands of companies that make our lives miserable. They don't do what they are supposed to do, and they don't care. 

I can use another example: Craziness in Mormonism, Its founder, Joseph Smith, was crazy, but crazy in a way that attracted many people (especially women) to him. He was crazy in a crowd of crazies, that eventually killed him.

PyCharm Edu

This one of JetBrain's products. Written by some of their Czeck developers. PyCharm is their Python product. PyCharm Edu teaches you how to use it.

When I read where these guys were from, I was strongly tempted to not use it. But now I have spent some time using it, I am impressed!

I even looked up the Czech Republic in Wikipedia, to see where all these smarts came from.

Agricultural Robots

These were simply called Agricultural Machinery but in today's terms, they would be called Robots.

Many companies and many people in the Industrial Midwest were employed in making them, and now they are used in all of the affluent countries.

An example is a threshing machine, that also employed a team of horses and a number of men with pitchforks. Robots can also include other things in an integrated system.

But they tend to reduce the number of additional things required as they get improved. An example here is the modern Combine.

The only exception I know of here is the rice paddies where wheeled vehicles could not be used - but I have not searched rice farming machinery, to make sure.

Crypto as the Ultimate Good

Bitcoin News

This a carefully reasoned article about the philosophy behind Bitcoin. And explains why it attracts such fervid support.

I have felt this way myself but found its implementation to be seriously flawed. Perhaps in 20 years, or so, these problems may be fixed, but right now it's a can of worms.

Quite Often, I do not Like People

This mood comes and goes, but when it comes it can be powerful.

I know other people can feel this way, but they do not often admit it, as if it were something to be ashamed of. By contrast, I feel it is natural in many situations and has to be expected,

It can be carried to extremes, certainly and this why people should feel free to express it occasionally.

One common way is through sports, where care is usually taken to keep violence within bounds.

Expressing anger towards parents (or any authority figure) is a common problem, and quite often it is handled poorly and leads to more violence.

Little Awareness

This was one of the goals of Meditation, to become more aware of one's surroundings and become more aware of one's self.

But this goal has been forgotten in the search for more pleasure instead.

This change has also caused us to become less aware that we have become less aware.

There does not appear to be a solution to this.

Nauvoo in the 19th Century

We don't know much about this. It was a ghost town, with few people in it. The Temple had been destroyed and only a few brick houses remained.

Emma Smith, the wife of the founder, Joseph Smith, had married another man, Major Bidaman who had no interest in Religion.

He rebuilt the Nauvoo House, that only had two walls standing, into a fine three-story building. Emma lived there until she died in 1879. She tried to operate it as a hotel but failed at this.

There were poor roads to Nauvoo, and most people arrived by Steamboat. Emma's sons had moved, with their wives and children, to Plano, Illinois, and then Lamoni, Iowa to be with the RLDS Church.

This church developed an interest in Nauvoo early in the 20th Century (I need some dates here) and they dug up the bones of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, placed them on display, then covered them with Cement.

The Laytons (relatives of ours) were hired to restore the Mansion House but had to tear most of it down.

Our family moved to Nauvoo in 1922, then the depression made Ourths move to Kirtland, Ohio, where our Uncle Jack found them a job managing a Millionaire's Farm. After WWII, they returned to Nauvoo and bought a farm. Arnold Ourth died trying to make it work.

Google Colab

Welcome to Colaboratory

This makes it easy to do Jupyter Notebooks, which I have heard a lot about, but never got into.

But first I have to get into Python, a very popular software language, that is used for all the newest AI  and ML developments. I have a good book Introducing Python for that.

I will also get help from O'Reilly Books Online.

MachIne Learning (ML)

This is one of the important things everyone (or almost everyone) is talking about. Let me see if I can explain it to you:

The usual way to operate a computer is to give it data, and the code to process that data. The   Computer then goes to work on the data and outputs the result. Two inputs (data and code) and one output. Got that?

For ML, the computer also gets two inputs: a one containing input data and other containing the desired output from processing that input. The Computer gets the input data, and output data both, then figures out, for itself, how the input produces the output.

This leaves one question on everyone's mind. How does it do this? The answer is:

If you format the input in a certain way then process it in a certain way - it works!

This what you learn when you take a course like this and then get the big bucks ($200 K a year) for knowing how to do this.

Sex as Enlightenment

I could have used many words here, in the space occupied by enlightenment in this sentence. People have a need to experience something unusual - and the more unusual the better. This is what entertainment is all about. Drugs can also be used.

This often occurs in Business. People who work together feel the need to have sex together. If they go to work for another company, this urge is transferred also.

This also occurs in the Military. In the American military (the most expensive and the most advanced) sex is replaced by the urge to eliminate the enemy. Using the most efficient method available.

If a military unit is employed in peacekeeping, as it sometimes is. this usually does not work very well.

My Laptop is Working Fine

Even the audio, that was not working at all before. is working at full-volume now.

Why? Windows 10 must-have fixed itself.

Pizza was invented in New York City

In Lower Manhatten, in an area inhabited by Italian immigrants (Little Italy). The design was then copied in Italy, and exported again, all over the world.

You can still see them making the Pizza dough there by twirling it in the air. They also invented the Sausage there and the tomato sauce.

You can still get some of the best Italian food in Manhatten (and in Queens) and the beer to go with it. Even early in the morning.

Rust Belt Slums

This is what my hometown of Ft. Madison, Iowa has turned into - and Burlington, Iowa just upstream on the Mississippi River.  You can buy a house there, very cheaply, because there are no jobs there.

Also, many towns in the Industrial Midwest, that once manufactured half of all the goods produced in the entire world.

I include in this list Terre Haute, Indiana, which I discovered when I worked as an Electronics Engineer, for the FAA, and flew my own plane between jobs. I also discovered my first sexual partner there, who had severe mental problems.

I had these problems also, but they were not as severe.

Keija Parssinen on her Saudi childhood

NY Review

Good things and bad things end up in my inbox. This is one of the good things.

If you read this carefully, you will see how it applies to you.

You Want me to do Too Much

Fullstack

This forced itself into my overcrowded inbox, and I am pissed off about it.

I left the US to get away from this crap, but it is cluttering up my screen again.