noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.
Black Belt Magazine, from Aikido’s Morihei Ueshiba: Classic Martial Arts Profiles:
Every man, as he grows older, seeks some real or symbolic achievement with which to cap his career. If the calendar years have flown past the 80 mark, pushed upward to 85, you’re going to check your personal record books that much more…
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My background is not in Computer Science. (My background is in Engineering; More in About.) I happily stumbled, more or less backwards, into network and systems administration. Although I’ve always had the analytic and scientific skills for this work, I’ve had little education, formal or otherwise, on the theoretical side. Recently I was delighted to find a survey-level CS column in the Communications of the ACM.
Reading CS classics widens your perspective by introducing stable, timeless ideas. You escape the popular themes of your times and evaluate the field from a more literal position. You learn about the qualities that make a person a great scientist. You realize those people are delighted to think over problems. By learning the history of computers and studying the lives and works of eminent computer scientists we all recognize the true merit of being part of such a respectful profession and privileged community.
~ Selma Tekir from, Reading CS Classics, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 55 No. 4
slip:4uaoma3.
I dutifully queued the reference list for assimilation, and eventually I arrived at the following. If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool computer scientist, you surely see where this is going, and I encourage you to start laughing at me at this point.
I propose to consider the question, ‘ Can machines think ? ‘ This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms ‘machine’ and ‘think’. … Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words. The new form of the problem can be described in terms of a game which we call the ‘imitation game’.
~ Turing, A. M. I from, Computing machinery and intelligence, MIND LIX, 236 (1950)
I had to hand type a URL to figure out that “MIND” is a “quarterly review of psychology and philosophy”, and “LIX” was the volume number. This quoted article being from volume 59, issue number 236, circa October 1950. That’s a tri-axel dump-truck load of awesome in one citation.
HAH! Clueless me. This is THE article by Alan Turing. <me, stands gawking in awe>
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This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
~ Shakespeare Sonnet number 72
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
What happens if you’re in love with a young woman and, with age, her beauty fades? Old love.
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JAN 1 – The New Year dawns to a crisp winter morning. 3 inches of fresh snow adding to the snow that was already on the ground. This was the first “white Christmas” we have had in years. This new addition gives us a good snow cover. We clear the driveway quickly. It’s an easy job with everyone helping.
JAN 2 – 6 more inches of snow fell last night. I awakened to a beautiful winter wonderland. Snow covers everything and Jack Frost has decorated our windows. We clear the driveway again and have a snowball battle with the neighbors – WE WON! We are in awe of nature’s magnificent grandeur. Life is good. Them folks down south don’t know what they’re missing.
JAN 3 – Had to clear the end of the driveway because the snowplow pushed it closed. Also fixed the mailbox he knocked down. We all went for a walk in the snow and built a big snowman.
JAN 4 – 3 more inches of snow. Cleared the driveway again. No sooner finished, the snowplow closed the entrance again. I’l clear it tomorrow.
JAN 5 – Cleared the entrance to the driveway.
JAN 7 – 6 more inches of snow. Spent an hour and a half getting the snowblower started. I think the last time I used it was 1989. Put the mailbox back up. Mail can be delivered again.
JAN 10 – The temperature has not been above freezing in 17 days. Every flake of snow that came down is still here. The weatherman is predicting 14 inches of snow for tomorrow. That can’t be right!
JAN 12 – The weatherman was wrong. It snowed 18 inches. Spent the entire day shoveling and clearing our roads. Got some help for a while but not much. Soon as I finished the snowplow closed by driveway and knocked the mailbox down. No mail today.
JAN 13 – Bitter cold. Opened the end of the driveway again. Searched for a half hour to find the mailbox and then made quick repairs. Snowplow came by as soon as I finished. Near as I can figure, he waits around the corner watching me.
JAN 15 – More snow. I don’t know how much. There’s so much here I can’t keep track anymore. Who cares? The mailbox is down again. The hell with it. Who needs mail.
JAN 17 – Bitter cold – High winds – Dangerous wind chill factor. I cleared the end of the road. The snowplow came by as I lifted the last shovel full. I’ve had enough of this winter!
JAN 18 – Actual temperature -10F degrees. Coldest temperature in this area since the weather bureau has kept records. In the 30 seconds it takes me to walk to the garage my feet get cold, my hands and ears are numb, the hair in my nose is frozen, and I have ice in my mustache. Winter sucks!
JAN 20 – It warmed up to 30F degrees. Just warm enough to rain. 2 inches of rain. Everything is frozen – including me.
JAN 21 – Temperature drops to +10F degrees. The snowplow closed my driveway again and this time the snow mound is an immovable frozen ice mountain. Tried to clear with the snowblower. Hit something terrible and wrecked the snowblower – I think I found the mailbox! Terry says, “What’s the wether for tomorrow?” I say, “I stopped watching the weather channel – Surprise me.”
JAN 22 – SURPRISE! 8 inches of new snow. Managed to get to the hardware store to buy repair parts for the snowblower – they’re all sold out. They don’t have rock salt either. Cleared the end of the driveway again. I’m ready to move to Florida.
JAN 23 – Good News. The heatwave melted the snow on the roof but the gutters are frozen solid. The water is coming in around the front windows inside the house.
JAN 24 – Water started coming in the kitchen ceiling and bathroom window. The frozen bathroom window broke. Went to the hardware store for more buckets. They’re all sold out. Cleared the end of the driveway again. Broke the snow shovel – my back is killing me. The zippers are broken on my snowmobile boots.
JAN 26 – Went shopping for new snowmobile boots. They’re all sold out. They don’t have any snow shovels either. But I did manage to buy a bag of salt out of the back of a rental truck from Florida for $20.00.
JAN 27 – The dog can’t go to the bathroom. The snow is too high. I have to hold him up in the air.
JAN 28 – How many days does this month have? More snow, more bitter cold.
JAN 29 – Good news. There are no storms coming for a couple of days. Finally got the snowblower running. Got the roads and driveway cleared.
JAN 30 – End of driveway plowed shut again.
JAN 31 – It snowed most of the night. If I see one more flake of that white shit… Snowplow closed the end of the driveway again. I swear I heard that snowman laughing at me.
FEB 1, 3:45am – It’s snowing. I’m crouched behind a snow pile with my gun – waiting for the son of bitch that drives the snowplow. Winter sucks, life sucks – I’m moving to Florida!!!
~ Bruce W Constantine
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, my father tinkered with writing. It turns out he wasn’t very good at it. Never the less, as we went through various things in the house, I found a ring binder with a few stories. It pleases me greatly to think that once again my father has told a story, and perhaps even made you laugh.
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The Interwebs are a-buzz with the news that our current administration has formally responded to the petition about building a Death Star. (“This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For” …well played, sir!) It’s a nice response touting NASA and current space exploration. But, uh, I wasn’t expecting the petition response to start off by linking over to a Lehigh article, “So You Want to Build the Death Star?” as a reference.
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Let’s fix that shit and go get beers!
This. Yea verily this!
Here’s what I do know. There are plenty of frustrated system administrators, developers, engineers, “devops” and everything under the sun who don’t want much. All they really want is for shit to work. When shit breaks, they want to be notified. They want pretty graphs. They want to see business metrics along side operational ones. They want to have a 52-inch monitor in the office that everyone can look at and say: See that red dot? That’s bad. Here’s what was going on when we got that red dot. Let’s fix that shit and go get beers.
~ From, Why Monitoring Sucks
slip:4ucowy3.
Hat tip to John E. Vincent. …and what’s network and systems administration (NSA)?
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I have yet to speak to anyone in the big blue room, (that is to say, anyone who does not work deeply within the Internet behind the magic curtain,) who has the slightest idea what is going on in general with “big data”, or specifically with “the customer is the product.” But “We Value Your Opinion” by Neven Mrgan — and that’s not a typo — is pure, sweet, ambrosia. It explains perfectly what is really going on. If you’re not paying for it, then you are the product. Have a cigar. Welcome to the machine. For more enjoyment and greater efficiency, consumption is being standardized.
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There is a four-part interview series with Neil Armstrong from evoTV’s series, The Bottom Line. Armstrong did not give many interviews, and the show’s producers say this was the first on-camera interview Armstrong had done since 2005.
This is a very special interview series. It includes Armstrong describing, for the first time, the lunar descent side-by-side with Google Moon imagery. He also gives his thoughts on leadership and taking risks to innovate for the future, and speaks candidly on his early life The series also includes previously unseen footage of the lunar descent.
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please. PLEASE. No Christmas music before Thanksgiving!
While many people enjoy holiday music — especially people in the northern hemisphere who have warm memories of family and friends — please, PLEASE don’t play it before Thanksgiving.
Seriously. I’ve been making this “NAACMBT” joke for as long as I can remember. (to wit, Skew circa 1995.) I’m now too old for this sh*t, so, up go the web site and FB page. “Waiter, check please!”
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The Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas are a wonderful place to live and work. Because of the density of people, tech companies and professional opportunities, I think there is a real opportunity for a community of network and systems administrators to develop.
In hindsight, I see that I’ve now spent over 18 years doing network and systems administration. Along the way, I’ve mostly had no idea what I was doing; I simply had a desire to build things and the will to figure things out. I’ve worked with fantastic people, have accomplished much, and had an insane amount of fun along the way.
This open letter is not trumpeting a grand vision.
This is not a rallying cry.
This is not a call to organize into any sort of formal structure.
I think it would be amazing for like-minded individuals to get together, to share knowledge and experiences, to create inroads to employment for those just starting out, to create opportunities for internship and mentoring, and much more.
Interested?
Update May 2014
After more than a year of talking to people – and I mean a lot of people – I was unable to find a single person who was interested in helping me organize the group. So the only way it was going to happen was if I did all the work of finding a location, finding sponsors, coordinating meetings and speakers, etc.
…and that’s just too much for me to do alone. :^( But definitely reach out to me if you’re interested in starting something. I’m still interested.
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“As a 6th kyu, I have spent very little time, and have very little skill at sensing the timing of a coming attack. Though my teacher has worked on this with us, I find I am slow at learning to ‘read’ my attacker, and rely on knowing what is coming and the very slow attacks of training. Have you any specific techniques for this?”
~ name withheld
I do have specific things you can practice. But first, I’m going to wander very far afield…
An aside for those not well-versed on Aikido: ‘6th kyu’ is the first rank one reaches in Aikido. “A minimum of 40 hours” of practice time is commonly seen as a baseline requirement in the various styles of Aikido. A 6th kyu student is definitely a beginner, but also definitely someone dedicated enough to have stuck with their training through their first real test.
Martial arts are mentally and physically difficult. Everyone is their own worst critic. When students express frustration with something, (a technique, a principle, etc) I often say, “that is why it is called ‘practice’.” My best advice is to simply practice. I assert that such advice is not trite!
“If you want to go east, go east. If you want to go west, go west.”
This is a handed-down quote which Sensei Wirth attributes to Sensei Koichi Tohei. It is clearly echoed in one of Sensei Wirth’s phrases, immortalized on some of our t-shirts years ago: “No this. No that. No delay.” So whatever is being practiced, do that thing, the whole thing, and nothing but the thing. Do not entertain some mental storyline about how, “this is a great opportunity to work on sensing,” nor “this is particularly hard so I need to pay special attention here.”
Physically, do only what must be done. Do not flail, twitch, wind-up in preparation, shuffle before starting, speak, nor any other of countless things. Practice being physically calm; Act calm until you are calm. Simply move. Move simply. Go east. Go west. Practice this physical aspect always and everywhere.
Mentally do only what must be done. Don’t have a running mental commentary. Do not think, “I did that one wrong”, “I did that one better”, “that one was horrible”, “my partner does this so much better than I”, nor any other of countless thoughts. Observe your thoughts, but do not add one iota of energy to them. Thinking, “I am thinking useless thoughts”, is a useless thought! If you were handed a large bucket of sloshing and disturbed water and told to calm the water, you should simply set the bucket down and wait for the water to calm. You would definitely NOT shake the bucket in an attempt to convince the water to calm down. You cannot think your way to sensing an attack; You can only NOT think, whereupon you will discover your senses work rather well.
Here are several other sources of information which I think are apropos…
O’Sensei mentions a ‘mountain echo’ in at least one place. The best source I see is AikiNews (AN), later known as Aikido Journal. Refer to issue 46 from March 1982 wherein Seiseki Abe Sensei — who was O’Sensei’s caligraphy instructor in addition to being an Aikido student — granted permission, under the supervision of then-doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba, for AN to publish a selection of O’Sensei’s ‘Doka’. (Alternatively, ‘Poems’. But ‘poem’ is not a perfect word to describe what O’Sensei was writing, so you’ll need to read the entire AN article to get more context.)
The article contains these two doka among many others:
(#48)
Blend with ki-musubi the
Universe of Heaven and Earth (tenchi)
Stand in the center (of all)
In your heart take up the stance
Of “The Way of the Mountain Echo”(#68)
The cold expanse (samuhara) of the Great Vast Sea
Which is foaming in the world of kotodama
Is “the Way of the Mountain Echo”.
I am by no means qualified to analyze O’Sensei’s writings. I only present these two particular doka so as not to pull “the Way of the Mountain Echo” completely out of context from O’Sensei original writing. You will need to pick up AN #46 to learn more; There is much more in the article than the little bit I’m presenting here. Abe Sensei provided a number of explanatory footnotes for the doka. Here is the footnote for “the Way of the Mountain Echo”. Bear in mind that “today”, although it’s not completely clear, is certainly no later than circa 1982.
“This is a difficult image to define clearly, especially since it is rarely used today by the present teachers of Aikido. A mountain echo repeats back to the caller the same thing that was originally shouted. In O’Sensei’s “Way of the Mountain Echo” the images seem to be something akin to the concept of Aiki, in the sense of responding to or adapting to whatever it may be that your partner delivers and dealing with each encounter as if it were a completely new and fresh event. Associated with this may be the image of the emptiness of the echo before anyone calls out to it, the fact that an echo makes no distinction between two different callers and recognizes no differences in languages, or content of the message. It may also involve the idea of the purposefulness of the echo’s calling back although it never fails to do so whenever called upon and to do so with all its effort. Another possible interpretation or nuance could be the fact that the echo’s answering call always brings pleasure to the caller.”
~Seiseki Abe Sensei, from AN #46 March 1982, footnotes to selections of O’Sensei’s Doka
Next I would like to draw your attention to an article published more recently on the Aikido Journal (AJ) web site. The article is, I believe, publicly accessible. (However, any serious Aikido student should join AJ as a supporting member.) You should read the whole article. The sections “Beyond ‘Sensen no Sen'”, “Up, Down, To and Fro” and “Leading and Directing” are apropos, and this paragraph introducing ‘Takemusu Aiki’ is particularly poignant:
“This is a high-level ideal that is attainable only through long years of training to develop a heightened sensitivity to people and happenings in one’s surroundings. It further involves developing a set of spontaneous skills consisting of physio-psychological responses suited to any conceivable kind of human interaction. The Founder described this state as ‘Takemusu Aiki’ — the highest level of aikido where one is capable of spontaneously executing perfect techniques in response to any circumstance.”
~ Stanley Pranin, Aikido Journal web site
The article is Exploring the Founder’s Aikido by Stanley Pranin.
Another article I recommend is simply titled “Irimi.” It too is posted on the AJ web site, but is written by Ellis Amdur, (who is not directly related to AJ.) There’s so much in this article that is apropos, I couldn’t select a reasonable amount to quote, so go there and read the entire thing.
This second article is Irimi by Ellis Amdur.
Having wandered very far afield, I’ll now circle back to some nuts-and-bolts things you can practice. Only the most die-hard of Aikido students will still be reading at this point. The first two suggestions below are internal/mental things to do and the later two are external/physical things to do.
1) work on not “missing frames” of the movie.
If what you see of uke were actually a movie, would you be seeing all the frames of the movie? Does is seem, in hindsight, that they teleported from their starting position to somewhere mid-attack? Repeat the practice and pay attention to when (which frame?) you first notice they have attacked. Continue practicing, focusing your senses on noticing the gap in your observations. The gap will necessarily grow smaller the more you practice this.
2) stay “pressed against the glass”
A metaphor I probably lean on too often. Consider driving in a car at a break-neck speed. Don’t lean back in your seat cowering in fear of whatever it is you’re going to encounter. (And which, at break-neck speed you could not hope to avoid and would therefore crash into.) LEAN FORWARD. Press your face against the windshield as if somehow getting a few feet closer to the oncoming destruction would somehow buy you enough time to avert the collision. This is a metaphor! Don’t physically lean perilously forward. Move your attention and your curiosity forward. Strain to reach forward with your senses.
3) practice entering into a swinging-jo-staff
Have uke hold a staff by the very end and swing it menacingly through a full range of arc; so the staff goes from behind on the right, around the front to behind on the left. You should have a good “whoosh whoosh” going on with the swing. If you get hit with the end of the stick, you’ll need smelling salts or a cast. Stand safely outside the staff’s swinging range and move as close as is possible remaining perfectly safe. “whoosh whoosh whoosh”. When the time is right, move briskly right up to uke without getting whacked.
4) practice atemi
The atemi should be the “affect uke’s attention and balance” variety, not the “crush uke and end the interaction” variety. Begin by finding (no small task, ask your Sensei) the atemi options for whatever uke is doing. Then work on noticing — actually thinking, atemi there, atemi there, atemi over there — several (all?) of the possibilities in each attack. Then practice actually implementing one or two (or more!) of the atemis.
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I was home sitting at my desk when I first noticed the news of Mr. Armstrong’s passing. It seemed to me, that I had just experienced one of those defining moments; My parents’ generation has the infamous, “where were you when Kennedy was shot?”, or apropos here, “where were you when they landed on the moon?” At a deep level, I suddenly felt I would always know exactly where I was when I found out that Mr. Armstrong had died.
In the statement released by the family of Neil Armstrong following his death, they said, “For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the Moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”
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“With the publication of Fahrenheit 451, you were hailed as a visionary. What would you warn us about today? Our education system has gone to hell. It’s my idea from now on to stop spending money educating children who are sixteen years old. We should put all that money down into kindergarten. Young children have to be taught how to read and write.”
From the Spring 2010 issue of the Paris Review:
slip:4uteie12.
INTERVIEWER
With the publication of Fahrenheit 451 , you were hailed as a visionary. What would you warn us about today?BRADBURY
Our education system has gone to hell. It’s my idea from now on to stop spending money educating children who are sixteen years old. We should put all that money down into kindergarten. Young children have to be taught how to read and write. If children went into the first grade knowing how to read and write, we’d be set for the future, wouldn’t we? We must not let them go into the fourth and fifth grades not knowing how to read. So we must put out books with educational pictures, or use comics to teach children how to read. When I was five years old, my aunt gave me a copy of a book of wonderful fairy tales called Once Upon a Time , and the first fairy tale in the book is “Beauty and the Beast.” That one story taught me how to read and write because I looked at the picture of that beautiful beast, but I so desperately wanted to read about him too. By the time I was six years old, I had learned how to read and write.We should forget about teaching children mathematics. They’re not going to use it ever in their lives. Give them simple arithmetic—one plus one is two, and how to divide, and how to subtract. Those are simple things that can be taught quickly. But no mathematics because they are never going to use it, never in their lives, unless they are going to be scientists, and then they can simply learn it later. My brother, for example, didn’t do well in school, but when he was in his twenties, he needed a job with the Bureau of Power and Light. He got a book about mathematics and electricity and he read it and educated himself and got the job. If you are bright, you will learn how to educate yourself with mathematics if you need it. But the average child never will. So it must be reading and writing. Those are the important things. And by the time children are six, they are completely educated and then they can educate themselves. The library will be the place where they grow up.
What if there was a way for parents to obtain age-appropriate reading material for their children at a very affordable cost?
Suppose we nationally produced different series of books — picture books, alphabet books, then word books, early readers etc. Certainly, it would be difficult to decide at a national level what should be in the books, but common ground could be reached. Our existing elementary educators would know what would best merge with our education systems already in place. We’d have a massive economy of scale producing these materials, and they could be distributed through the schools.
This seems like it wins in several ways: Easier for the parents, more children exposed to reading and exposed sooner, and more parent involvement with their child’s education. Furthermore, the private sector could produce side tracks (which would be available through retail, not through the schools); This would be similar material but perhaps in additional languages; Or there could be cultural and heritage specific tracks that parents could purchase if they wish.
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Koichi Tohei (藤平光一, Tōhei Kōichi) (born January 1920, died May 2011) was a 10th Dan aikidoka and founder of the Ki Society and its style of aikido, officially Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (literally “aikido with mind and body unified”), but commonly known as Ki-Aikido.
Our friends over at the Bryn Mawr dojo of Kinokawa Aikido have an article providing a survey of the basic information about Sensei Tohei.
Unfortunately, I never saw Sensei Tohei in person. Today, the closest one can get is any of the myriad of videos which remain. One can find a great deal on YouTube. However, a much better place to go is to Aikido Journal (AJ). If you’re an aikidoka, you should go over to AJ immediately and join. There is an enormous amount of information available in general, and about Sensei Tohei in particular.
In particular from AJ, you can find books, DVDs and ebooks for download that are specifically about, or written by, Sensei Tohei. Log into the members site and search for ‘koichi tohei’. You’ll find interviews of Sensei Tohei conducted by Stanley Pranin, details of Sensei Tohei’s split from the Aikikai (including his resignation letter), and much more.
As for Kinokawa’s relation to Sensei Tohei, remembering his soft and flowing style is something to which we continuously pay attention. Sensei Wirth provides some more details related to Kinokawa’s history:
The grace and power I witnessed in those first few hours at the Dojo drew me into the way of Aikido.
In those early days we spoke little and trained very hard. There were only a few students who endured for long.
Maruyama Sensei was a student of Koichi Tohei Sensei and O’Sensei. By 1971, two years after O’Sensei’s death, divisions of viewpoint regarding who was to lead Aikido and how it was to be conveyed and directed lead to a split between Tohei and Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the Founder’s son. Maruyama Sensei aligned himself with Sensei Tohei, and so it was that our practice in the 1970’s reflected both the early style and training of O’Sensei as preserved and conveyed by Aikikai and the flowing late life Aikido of O’Sensei presented by Tohei.
~ Sensei Wirth, from ‘A History of Kinokawa ryu Aikido’
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Since 1998 I have been continuously and vigorously studying and practicing a martial art called Aikido. Over the years my responsibilities have gradually increased to the point where I am now straight-up teaching Aikido. I was having a terrific time exploring Aikido while trailing in the footsteps of many senior people. I’m now surprised to find that a bunch of people have appeared behind me asking questions.
What is this I don’t even…
I am currently teaching at the Kinokawa Aikido LV dojo, and I study under Sensei Michael Wirth at Main Line Budo.
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cc1315 was my InterNIC handle.
What’s an Internic handle?
Back in the mid-90s, there was only one place to register a domain name. (See Network Solutions.) To register a domain, or to make changes, one sent a specially formatted email message to a special email address at Network Solutions. On the receiving side, a program would read the message and follow the instructions. To verify the request was valid, the program checked the message for a valid InterNic handle.
To obtain a handle one would register with the Internic by sending a formatted email message containing your name, address, and other contact information. The InterNic software would then create a globally unique handle in response. Some program back in 1994 saw my initials and added 1315 — cc1315.
I never managed to figure out the source of the 1315. If memory serves, the handles were always two initials and three or four digits. So my best guess has always been that the digits were the local time-of-day when my registration was received.
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The Freecycle Network™ is made up of thousands of groups with millions of members around the world. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by local volunteers. Membership is free.
To sign up, find your community freecycle list by searching on the Freecycle web site.
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BookMooch.com is a huge (as in: 100,000’s of books), free, book swapping site. Why buy a new book when you can save one from the landfill?
It’s free to join and create your account. You start out by posting up some books which you are willing to give away. If someone would like one of your books, they request to “mooch” it from you. If you accept the mooch, you simply ship it to them paying the postage. In return you get a bookmooch “point”.
If you see a book you want, you can request to mooch it. (If the owner accepts, they ship it to you and they pay the postage.) Each mooch costs you one point. You earn points when someone mooches a book from you; you get 1 point for within-the-U.S. mooches, and 3 points if you’re willing to ship internationally. You also get 1/10 of a point for each book you list in your moochable inventory.
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I lobbied for a new idea: Let’s stop talking to each other from different rooms. Let’s take the time to find the other person, and to wait until they are ready to listen before we begin speaking. I hoped this would eliminate the hearing-related false starts. But to be fair, we agreed this should be a two-way street; We would both work to try this new idea.
Everyone who knows me, knows my hearing is failing. Recently, I realized just how much of the communication at our house was frought with false starts. If my attention wasn’t focused on the speaker, we started most conversations with, “Mumble mumble mumble?” “Pardon me?” “I said, …”
I lobbied for a new idea: Let’s stop talking to each other from different rooms. Let’s take the time to find the other person, and to wait until they are ready to listen before we begin speaking. I hoped this would eliminate the hearing-related false starts. But to be fair, we agreed this should be a two-way street; We would both work to try this new idea.
It turns out, that it’s amazing how much this changes. As the listener, you have time to finish your thoughts. Instead of the speaker demanding your instant attention, you shift your attention when you are ready to listen. As the speaker, you place increased value on the other’s time. You have to invest your time to locate them, and then you have to wait for them to be ready to listen.
People are dubious when I explain this idea. It sounds exactly like the sort of hair-brained, overly pedantic, arrangement people expect me to invent. After all, it is hair-brained and pedantic. And it is life-changing. Try it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
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Flight deck of Endeavor. simply. awesome.