Brown Motion

A book written merely a decade ago - very relevant if you are a parent and want the very best for your child.  Very relevant if you are simply wanting to figure out what to do that might make you happy.  The title 'The Element' refers to the state where every person trying to find what makes them perform their very best, ideally finds themselves in. A race car driver performing on the track, a ballet dancer on stage or a carpenter in his natural element selecting his wood and working with the grain they all can be extremely accomplished and fulfilled if they are in fact in their element. This thesis is also a rant against what our current educational system has become, a ritualistic and mechanised assembly line of students who are forced into conformity and assessed in their capabilities as a result of standardized tests that measure nothing more than the ability of the parent to fork out large sums of money. This is somewhat in contrast to another book I read in parall...

The internet is a wonderful thing.  So is curiosity.  Put two and three together and sometimes you get more than six. I stumbled upon a lot of interesting people and facts simply reading about a subject online.  Only to later discover that I could actually land a book about that subject at the local library. So it was I discovered a Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdos (pronounced Air Dash).  Someone who learned about negative numbers at age three, did not ever cook in his lifetime or learn how to tie his shoes till age 11, he was an odd specimen that graced this earth. I recently read a biography about Erdos titled, 'The man who loved only numbers' by Paul Hoffman.  Born to a set of Jewish math teachers, Paul lived the life of a monk in the pursuit of mathematical truth. After reading the book I am still trying to decipher what I had just read and how this amazing mind was able to see what others could not see.  Similar mind bending ideas came to lo...

Would you like to have a chair? That is what Jason Alexander's character made famous in the Seinfeld sitcom asks a security guard at a clothing store.  Does not turn out well for the clothing store.  Guard promptly falls asleep in his newfound sitting appliance and the store gets robbed. Well guess what?  A national grocery chain got sued by one of its cashiers for not offering them a chair to sit on during their cashiering hours.  It is hard on them feet.  Standing and sliding meatloafs, beer bottles and baguettes across the glass reader for five hours straight. I think I can understand that.  I am not sure what the disconnect was in the first place.  A cashier is unlikely to fall asleep with a customer standing in front of them, even if the former was sitting down. Now mind you this goes against what some in corporations across the globe are demanding.  A sit stand desk for all those folks tapping away at computer keyboards.  Reaso...

California.  Land of dreams. Sunshine, Sand and Surf.  Add a smattering of palms to date - eat em or just have one under its shade, and all the botox money can buy to help the stars shine in Hollywood. Land of innovations from putting a computer in your pocket to having a chariot show up on demand and drive without a driver, to finding any piece of information with a voice command, it is everything a marketing postcard might have and then some. Majestic vistas from close to 15,000 feet to hundreds of feet below in a deathly valley in a matter of minutes, snow in season to waves year round.  Can it get any better? It could get worse.  From our politics to our reality check of unintended consequences to the homeless crisis and crap on the street we have of course many faults.  Bribing colleges for admissions (that sent some stars to temporarily set) to cutting off recycling stations; poor infrastructure coupled with gross mismanagement of capex are all but ...

We knew about normal.  And abnormal.  Normally.  But a new contender to the normal has emerged in the past few years.  Ergo the New Normal. What is it?  It is not abnormal.  What you ask? Trumpeting egos. Global Warming.  Or the human ability to figure out that the globe is warming. Quick buck replaced by Unicorns. Drug epidemic. And not just the narcotic kind. Factory grown food. Obesity. Instant attention replaces old fashioned vanity. Digital friends. 24x7x365. Talking assistants powered by a cloud based superpower. Stress.  Lots of it.  As a result of all of the above. Finally, artificial intelligence since clearly the natural kind is dwindling.

I got to thinking of all the ways American English has evolved.  Current use depending on the user provides ample anecdotal evidence of cliches and verbiage being used with no thought given to said cliche's origins or propriety or relevance to time.  It is a hoot. A recent planned power outage hilarity that ensued in Northern California (more on the topic itself in another blog) led to multiple communication experts chiming in with the play by play. Here we go with the idiom(t)s including yours truly. 'Play by play' is clearly a sport term from the days when people listened to an antiquated device called a Radio. It is aimed at providing the listener a perspective that they would miss not being at the scene of the play.  Local and even international TV channels, Radio (that works when American's drive in their car), Social Media apps (when Americans look at their cell phone when driving their car) and other broadcasts flooded the market. For the people at home ...

Many a story bemoans how half the American public cannot put enough coin together today if faced with an emergency exceeding $400. Sounds downright scary?  It is.  For a rich country and by its own marketing the largest superpower in the world, this glaring stat reads incongruent with what might appear logical. Here is my personal take on where the train went off the rails.  Behaviors manipulated by media and marketing observed in everyday life reveal some obvious scams designed to sell/buy more than one might afford or need - Sense of entitlement (among variety of demographic) - wanting things one cannot afford but lets buyer look Insta worthy Retail Therapy - that shopping is sold alongside the myriad cocktails of legal drugs to the unsuspecting and uneducated masses as being therapeutic - really? Buy bigger - brands from large home improvement stores to auto companies actually touting the notion that bigger is better flies in the face of talk show hosts ...

Initial Public Offering.  A way for new businesses to raise capital.  Legit by all the laws of the land.  Done to death. Yet we get a bunch of surprises each year when these so called entrepreneurs attempt to convince the public to invest in their dreams. Recent history would suggest the irony and the bizarre nature of how the broader market evaluates the worth of any business. WeWork - a business founded on the idea of leasing or buying large square footage in busy metros and then renting it out for hefty premiums to other businesses with 'just in time' or 'temporary work space' needs.   This concept garnered ridiculous amount of excitement from the bankers who touted it as yet another unicorn (more on this later).  Turns out the idea of WeWork being workable was flawed.  At least in terms of its valuation.  Revenue models were broken, but marketed as gravy by Ivy league types working for large brands on wall street.  Someone figure...