Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no mor

[mc]

"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:IbednSs9Uft90JPeRVn-iQ@comcast.com...

mc wrote:

I think you mean ex-Christian ex-altruist.

Simply saying "altruist" would have sufficed.

Pop Christianity teaches a lot of self-destructive crap about forgiving
evil-doers...
I shouldn't have used the "Christian" label which doesn't have a damn
thing to do about sorting the honest from the corrupt, and the sheep from
the goats. Suffice to say altruism is evil, whether its used as an excuse
to pay sacrifices or extort sacrifices.

So now you're out to get all of us?

 

I do software for a living, hardware for leisure, and cook wonderful
works of culinary art for my family.

They say that when you accept cash for your hobby, then it is no longer
a hobby but merely a job. That's why I would never be a professional
chef no matter how well my wife thinks of my cooking.

The Eternal Squire

 

[Scott Stephens]

mc wrote:

I shouldn't have used the "Christian" label which doesn't have a damn
thing to do about sorting the honest from the corrupt, and the sheep from
the goats. Suffice to say altruism is evil, whether its used as an excuse
to pay sacrifices or extort sacrifices.

So now you're out to get all of us?

Do you got payback coming from me? Have you used some cheap excuse to
defraud me?

Scott

--
**********************************

DIY Piezo-Gyro, PCB Drill Bot & More Soon!
http://home.comcast.net/~scottxs/

POLITICS, n.
A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. - Ambrose Bierce

Don't ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it - Ayn
Rand

**********************************

 

[Scott Stephens]

eternalsquire@comcast.net wrote:

I do software for a living, hardware for leisure, and cook wonderful
works of culinary art for my family.

They say that when you accept cash for your hobby, then it is no longer
a hobby but merely a job. That's why I would never be a professional
chef no matter how well my wife thinks of my cooking.

A hobby is a rest, an escape. A profession is the means for living.

The Eternal Squire

Those unworthy of the task do not bear the armor of lesser men, as long
as they are free. And if they are free, they fight.

Scott

--
**********************************

DIY Piezo-Gyro, PCB Drill Bot & More Soon!
http://home.comcast.net/~scottxs/

POLITICS, n.
A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. - Ambrose Bierce

Don't ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it - Ayn
Rand

**********************************

 

[Roger Lascelles]

"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:C4udnR3wJ57Jf5DeRVn-iA@comcast.com...

Roger Lascelles wrote:

You sound like an interesting person Scott. I think it is very hard to have
a good discusson on a newsgroup, without misunderstandings, because it takes
a lot of time to craft a thoughtful, accurate reply. I would have to tell
you about my life, so you know why I speak as I do.

Right now I have a bad headache from working very hard for my boss. My code
just doesn't want to run today ! I hear anger, experience, wisdom in what
you say.

My situation is this : my health is poor, so I only work a part week. To
pay the rent on the house, I have increased my work hours to more than I can
handle, so I am fatigued and my brain doesn't work properly. I can't stop
work, because the government will not class me as sick enough. I have a
wife and two children dependant on me.

I try to avoid anger and bitterness. I haven't worked out the meaning of
life or anything. I have stood up to bosses on behalf of fellow workers -
and paid the price. The fellow workers didn't thank me either !

I think we are part of society - for good and bad. The culture here in
Australia, like every culture, has some ugly aspects. I have some too. For
better or worse, the human race is my people - and your people. Before we
can be heard by people we have to love them.

Many business people have a drive for wealth and power - naturally, or they
would do something else. I appreciate my boss looking after the hassles of
finance, customer relations, while I get to do interesting stuff. Maybe I
will make him rich. I admit there is ambiguity in my attitude towards my
employers - yes, I get used, yes the world is not fair - but then I can walk
away if the business folds, while the owners take the loss.

I can hear that religious background coming through, Scott. "Prophet",
totally bad vs good. They are such a confusing lot, those christians.
Wonderful, too.

Would you take a regular pay-check from Adolf Hitler or Joey Stalin in a
death-factory?

That would be really bad.

On further reflection, I identify the essentials of geek and
business-predator:

Geek: A person that thinks social competency can replace either
brutality, deceit or popularity in a dishonest, rat-race culture.

For me, the Geek lacks social competency. That is why he can't read "shark"
when he sees the predator. I think that a balanced adult has a working
knowledge of people and can avoid the big cons and flare-ups.

The only redeeming quality of this forum is it helps me identify the
precise nature and modus operandi of the evil corrupting the system.

I enjoy the contact with people on this forum.

The ugly subtext here is the rat-race premise; People are to be deceived
and bullied as means to your ends, which is making money. And money is
good however you make it, and therefore you are good however you make
your money.

Good point.

Only a fool thinks they are good by doing good things for bad people.
The subconscious mind we rely on to identify and create eventually
becomes the means by which dishonest people undermine their own
motivation, as witnessed by Dave's personal problems.

I have never worked for a totally good person. Must I starve, therefore ?

And my culture, by its choice to deceive me in my naive youth, has
chosen me as its prophet rather than its workman. So be it.

Yes. Crap, manipulated culture. It has always been thus. Macaulay's essays
150 years ago showed the shabbiness of wealth and power. Tribal chiefs ran
a similar racket for thousands of years. Ancient Greek and Roman culture,
too. We seem to be able to adjust our point of view to favour our own
advantage. At least you have the gift of seeing what many will never know.


Roger Lascelles

 

[Scott Stephens]

Roger Lascelles wrote:

"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:C4udnR3wJ57Jf5DeRVn-iA@comcast.com...

Roger Lascelles wrote:

I think it is very hard to have
a good discusson on a newsgroup, without misunderstandings, because it takes
a lot of time to craft a thoughtful, accurate reply. I would have to tell
you about my life, so you know why I speak as I do.

Yes, you say one thing about your employer, and I make a metaphor with
Hitler & Stalin! Did I provoke you to clarify?

Right now I have a bad headache from working very hard for my boss. My code
just doesn't want to run today !

When does code ever *want* to run? My code seems to have a malevolent
will to frustrate me, as if *Murphy* was inside it. I think that is
common. Christians attribute it to *Original Sin*, God cursing us. No,
its our finite minds. Our consciousness manages finite amounts of
high-level abstraction. Our subconscious levels un-lossless encode the
lower abstractions. When we replay our cartoon-like dreams on the
reality of our real computers, we are introduced to the cruel reality of
reality.

But we get smarter, faster and stronger. Just as muscles are exercised
by weights, so are minds exercised by conceptual integrations,
regurgitations and reiterations.

I hear anger, experience, wisdom in what you say.

Do you hear information crunching into an organized conceptual framework?

My situation is this : my health is poor, so I only work a part week. To
pay the rent on the house, I have increased my work hours to more than I can
handle, so I am fatigued and my brain doesn't work properly. I can't stop
work, because the government will not class me as sick enough. I have a
wife and two children dependant on me.

I'm sorry if you feel I insulted you, I don't know your plight. I have
nothing more valuable to lose than my freedom. Perhaps you have family
and other values. Unlike most people that figure "we're all dead in the
long run", I figure if I'm dead after some odd years, I ought to die
servicing what values I am proud of, because that is better servicing
what dishonors me for a longer span of years.

I try to avoid anger and bitterness.

Its only good if you can kick-ass effectively. Lobbing grenades and
pissing people off unreasonably serves no good. Which is why I still
respect the motives behind, if not the reasoning of religion. People
mean well and are compassionate. And that counts. A kind, silly word
helps more than a mean, wise one to many.

I haven't worked out the meaning of life or anything.

That's sad, because I'm convinced life's meaning is what the living
chose to find meaningful. Yes, its a tautology, but as you know from 2nd
order differential systems, its the nature of reality.

I think we are part of society - for good and bad. The culture here in
Australia, like every culture, has some ugly aspects. I have some too. For
better or worse, the human race is my people - and your people. Before we
can be heard by people we have to love them.

That is a philosophical issue I'm crunching. We start out as brutal
savages, as in "Lord of the Flies". Nature teaches us wisdom, by painful
object lesson. In grade school corruption is expressed at brute-force
level, and as we progress, through lies, deceit, ridicule and delusion.

In adult-hood, we are playing political "games", corrupt schemes one
gang uses to vote themselves the work of another gang.

I have an optimistic outlook, long-term. If the world wasn't evolving,
we wouldn't have a democracy but dictatorship, we wouldn't organize past
the level of savage tribes, we wouldn't stop roaming to hunt to create
farms and track produce with money, we wouldn't have evolved from stupid
animals or, at the end, atoms wouldn't have formed self-replicating systems.

Nature demands we behave on principle, not self-deceiving predators or prey.

Many business people have a drive for wealth and power

Wealth for what reason? Power for what cause? Go a level of abstraction,
an integration of subsumed concepts deeper. Search out what wealth and
power mean for those that seek them. Wealth and power are means to an
end. Evil seeks them as values greater than the life which gives them
meaning. The wise seek them as means to the living, which give them meaning.

The evil desire envy of others. The wise desire the love of the wise,
and the fear of the wicked. Evil desires domination of others. Love
desires others being the best they can be, the world being the best it
can be, so the best values can be created and traded. The same in
Objectivist or Christian morality (they diverge from this common
ground). Other moral codes optimize other 'values'.

Would you take a regular pay-check from Adolf Hitler or Joey Stalin in a
death-factory?

That would be really bad.

If you want an interesting opinion:

http://jeffcomp.com/faq/murder.html

On further reflection, I identify the essentials of geek and
business-predator:

Geek: A person that thinks social competency can replace either
brutality, deceit or popularity in a dishonest, rat-race culture.


For me, the Geek lacks social competency. That is why he can't read "shark"
when he sees the predator. I think that a balanced adult has a working
knowledge of people and can avoid the big cons and flare-ups.

I screwed that up! I meant but didn't type:
Geek: A person that thinks *technical* competency will be rewarded in an
honest culture. But corrupt cultures reward brutality, deceit and
popularity.

The only redeeming quality of this forum is it helps me identify the
precise nature and modus operandi of the evil corrupting the system.

I exaggerated in my despair. I often get useful technical information
here. But the moral climate is dreadfully depraved. And creating better
technology for evil people is evil.

Only a fool thinks they are good by doing good things for bad people.
The subconscious mind we rely on to identify and create eventually
becomes the means by which dishonest people undermine their own
motivation, as witnessed by Dave's personal problems.


I have never worked for a totally good person. Must I starve, therefore ?

No, I have concluded that the world, as I, am mixed. Sometimes evil,
sometimes good, and incapable of acting on perfect principle. And even
if I could, the imperfect corrupt culture I live in would turn my virtue
against me into my destruction, as it has.

Neither Solomon, Buddha or Rand advocate self immolation in the name of
perfection.

This is my wisdom: Deal with evil on your terms, not its terms. Deal
with evil if you must, in spite of itself, not because you are buying
its cheap, degrading excuses and lies it gives you to enslave you. Hate
it and use it, as it hates you and uses you. Know A is A, know the truth
and be free.

And my culture, by its choice to deceive me in my naive youth, has
chosen me as its prophet rather than its workman. So be it.

I might have said, as I often have, my employers and coworkers never
desired my technical productivity, but rather desired social dominance
at the cost of profits.

We seem to be able to adjust our point of view to favour our own
advantage.

This happens on the schoolyard playground, children calling each other
false names, then denying the shame, pain and injustice.

At least you have the gift of seeing what many will never know.

"Gift"? Sometimes I wonder if the pathetic stupid sycophants, that the
bullies pity, are not really happier in stupidity. But that can't be my
path. What an honor it is, for God/Nature/Fate to have chosen me to
fight a solitary battle against the world!

Reminds me of a favorite Rush song; "If their lives had been exotic and
strange, they would gladly exchange them for something a little more
plain, maybe something a little more sane".

I'm smiling now, anyways. That's all some of us have, or need.


Scott

--
**********************************

DIY Piezo-Gyro, PCB Drill Bot & More Soon!
http://home.comcast.net/~scottxs/

POLITICS, n.
A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. - Ambrose Bierce

Don't ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it - Ayn
Rand

**********************************

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Roger Lascelles
<despam_rklasl@aanet.com.au> wrote (in
<1125038534.5d823798ebd22cbab46d9720a01dcdaf@teranews&gt about
'Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no morals...', on
Fri, 26 Aug 2005:

My situation is this : my health is poor, so I only work a part week.
To pay the rent on the house, I have increased my work hours to more
than I can handle, so I am fatigued and my brain doesn't work properly.

It might well be in your employer's interest, as well as that of you and
your family, to re-negotiate your payments for this reason. Say you
need to earn AU$500/week (numbers just for illustration):

20 hours/week at AU$25/hour - not tired, good code after 20 hours (or
less) - = AU$500

40 hours/week at AU$12.5/hour - tired, not so good code after all of 40
hours (or even more) - = AU$500.

If I were your employer, I'd much rather have scenario 1.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
If everything has been designed, a god designed evolution by natural selection.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Scott Stephens
<scottxs@comcast.net> wrote (in <Wr-dnZPVWa75QZPeRVn-3A@comcast.com&gt
about 'Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no
morals...', on Fri, 26 Aug 2005:

This is a really long article, so I'm going to snip bits that I won't
comment on. No disrespect.

That's sad, because I'm convinced life's meaning is what the living
chose to find meaningful. Yes, its a tautology, but as you know from
2nd order differential systems, its the nature of reality.

I think a tautology is nevertheless preferable to a slackology. We have
far to much of that these days.

[snip]

Many business people have a drive for wealth and power

Wealth for what reason?

Who was it said, 'I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better.'?

Wealth is good if you use it to do more good. I do a lot of voluntary
stuff that I couldn't do if I had no money, but I'm not rich by Western
European standards.

Power for what cause?

Power is good if you use it to do more good. I can use the little power
I have to get good things done that otherwise wouldn't be done.

Go a level of abstraction, an integration of subsumed concepts deeper.
Search out what wealth and power mean for those that seek them. Wealth
and power are means to an end.

Exactly. Or they SHOULD be, not just desired for their own sake.

[snip]

I might have said, as I often have, my employers and coworkers never
desired my technical productivity, but rather desired social dominance
at the cost of profits.

You must have had unusually bad experiences.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
If everything has been designed, a god designed evolution by natural selection.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Roger Lascelles]

"John Woodgate" <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote in message
news:Wew$QmLtXuDDFwsT@jmwa.demon.co.uk...

It might well be in your employer's interest, as well as that of you and
your family, to re-negotiate your payments for this reason. Say you
need to earn AU$500/week (numbers just for illustration):

20 hours/week at AU$25/hour - not tired, good code after 20 hours (or
less) - = AU$500

40 hours/week at AU$12.5/hour - tired, not so good code after all of 40
hours (or even more) - = AU$500.

If I were your employer, I'd much rather have scenario 1.

Hello John. Welcome back to the group. I was going to talk to you about
tansformer leakage inductance and peak current, but since moving house
everything is in a whirl. Spring is coming soon - maybe then.

I think you are right about more productivity for fewer hours. I am doing 4
days now. If I drop back to 3.5 days, we are slightly in deficit. Sounds
like a better hourly rate would help ! My boys are 12 and 14 years old and
seem to cost more.

best regards
Roger Lascelles

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Roger Lascelles
<despam_rklasl@aanet.com.au> wrote (in
<1125061340.7492a4696031f1b16c951aa699bcc21b@teranews&gt about
'Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no morals...', on
Fri, 26 Aug 2005:

Hello John. Welcome back to the group.

Thanks.

I was going to talk to you about tansformer leakage inductance and
peak current, but since moving house everything is in a whirl. Spring
is coming soon - maybe then.

OK, any time.

I think you are right about more productivity for fewer hours. I am
doing 4 days now. If I drop back to 3.5 days, we are slightly in
deficit. Sounds like a better hourly rate would help ! My boys are 12
and 14 years old and seem to cost more.

The crunch point is that it would **help your employer as well**, to pay
you a bit more so you could be less tired.

You are lucky they are not girls of those ages! For them, you need an
oil well or a gold mine!
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
If everything has been designed, a god designed evolution by natural selection.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Roger Lascelles]

"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Wr-dnZPVWa75QZPeRVn-3A@comcast.com...

Just had a look at your website, Scott. I would enjoy it if you could put
down some of your thoughts on a webpage. Sometimes, when I have a flash of
intuition, I think of writing it up for my little website, but it hasn't
happened yet. Some paragraphs putting forth the issues which interest you.
At least you have a photo, though I can't work out exactly how old you are.

My best web page is http://www.geocities.com/rogerlasau/VCad.html, while the
rest is scrappy junk.

..When we replay our cartoon-like dreams on the
reality of our real computers, we are introduced to the cruel reality of
reality.

When I am in the flow, uninterrupted, not tired and I have designed the
project properly, coding is exhilarating. Today I was rewarming some
substandard low level stuff - small, lean, detailed junk and I followed the
debugger's lead from one mess to the next. I came back after tea and it
sprang to life !

But we get smarter, faster and stronger. Just as muscles are exercised
by weights, so are minds exercised by conceptual integrations,
regurgitations and reiterations.

My hope is to get more cunning - because the IQ goes down, not up, so I
can't use that raw mental grunt I had in my twenties !

I hear anger, experience, wisdom in what you say.

Do you hear information crunching into an organized conceptual framework?

From your words, I don't think you have a highly organised conceptual
framework. I don't. I don't believe life is a solvable problem. It may not
be a problem at all. I think the best to hope for is a peasant cunning about
life - self preservation plus some empathy for others plus some humility
plus some discernment plus some satisfaction in achievement and the joy of
sunshine and the natural world.

Unlike most people that figure "we're all dead in the
long run", I figure if I'm dead after some odd years, I ought to die
servicing what values I am proud of, because that is better servicing
what dishonors me for a longer span of years.

Dignity. Thats all the poor man has. (Bad Joke). Yes, do the best you can
with what you have. Keep learning. Don't give up on others - they need our
support.

I try to avoid anger and bitterness.

Its only good if you can kick-ass effectively. Lobbing grenades and
pissing people off unreasonably serves no good. Which is why I still
respect the motives behind, if not the reasoning of religion. People
mean well and are compassionate. And that counts. A kind, silly word
helps more than a mean, wise one to many.

Yes. I have tried the anger thing - everyone makes eye contact behind your
back - and you don't feel any better ! So true: get rich and you can afford
to employ people then be grumpy to them!

I haven't worked out the meaning of life or anything.

That's sad, because I'm convinced life's meaning is what the living
chose to find meaningful. Yes, its a tautology, but as you know from 2nd
order differential systems, its the nature of reality.

I was admitting to not having a rigid "conceptual framework" as mentioned
above. Anyway, the meaning of life is 27 or something.

I think we are part of society - for good and bad. The culture here in
Australia, like every culture, has some ugly aspects. I have some too.
For
better or worse, the human race is my people - and your people. Before
we
can be heard by people we have to love them.

That is a philosophical issue I'm crunching. We start out as brutal
savages, as in "Lord of the Flies". Nature teaches us wisdom, by painful
object lesson. In grade school corruption is expressed at brute-force
level, and as we progress, through lies, deceit, ridicule and delusion.

In adult-hood, we are playing political "games", corrupt schemes one
gang uses to vote themselves the work of another gang.

You sound sad. I suppose it is sad. Beautiful also. They call it the
"human condition". I am 51 years old. I have been "crunching" since
childhood. I haven't even begun to figure it out. My kids and wife have
taught me a lot. Also work. I expect to die slightly bewildered.

This is my wisdom: Deal with evil on your terms, not its terms. Deal
with evil if you must, in spite of itself, not because you are buying
its cheap, degrading excuses and lies it gives you to enslave you. Hate
it and use it, as it hates you and uses you. Know A is A, know the truth
and be free.

Good.

well Scott, this thread is very long, but it can stretch further. Or put up
some of your thoughts, or some links on your site and send me an email.

best wishes
Roger Lascelles

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Roger Lascelles
<despam_rklasl@aanet.com.au> wrote (in
<1125064444.2932fd09a9d0dd696d98b19d73fae7a7@teranews&gt about
'Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no morals...', on
Fri, 26 Aug 2005:

My hope is to get more cunning - because the IQ goes down, not up, so I
can't use that raw mental grunt I had in my twenties !

Don't you believe it! IQ isn't a single number, not even a vector and
probably not even a quaternion. As you get older, the additional
dimensions open up.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
If everything has been designed, a god designed evolution by natural selection.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:18:13 +0100, John Woodgate
<jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Roger Lascelles
despam_rklasl@aanet.com.au> wrote (in
1125061340.7492a4696031f1b16c951aa699bcc21b@teranews&gt about
'Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no morals...', on
Fri, 26 Aug 2005:

[snip]

My boys are 12
and 14 years old and seem to cost more.

The crunch point is that it would **help your employer as well**, to pay
you a bit more so you could be less tired.

You are lucky they are not girls of those ages! For them, you need an
oil well or a gold mine!

Tell me about it ;-)

Try two girls in college at the same time.

Then two marriages.

Fortunately they're now 40 & 43... no wonder I seem to have so much
discretionary income now ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[mc]

"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hvCdncqXEYb_4ZPeRVn-uA@comcast.com...

mc wrote:

I shouldn't have used the "Christian" label which doesn't have a damn
thing to do about sorting the honest from the corrupt, and the sheep from
the goats. Suffice to say altruism is evil, whether its used as an excuse
to pay sacrifices or extort sacrifices.

So now you're out to get all of us?

Do you got payback coming from me? Have you used some cheap excuse to
defraud me?

No. Until this conversation, I had never even heard of you, as far as I can
recall.

 

[Scott Stephens]

Roger Lascelles wrote:

"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Wr-dnZPVWa75QZPeRVn-3A@comcast.com...

Just had a look at your website, Scott. I would enjoy it if you could put
down some of your thoughts on a webpage.

Specifically what thoughts? I want to add some more of my
amature-science fooling around with lasers & microwaves. I have a lot
going on, hopefully soon.

At least you have a photo, though I can't work out exactly how old you are.

40

When I am in the flow, uninterrupted, not tired and I have designed the
project properly, coding is exhilarating. Today I was rewarming some
substandard low level stuff - small, lean, detailed junk and I followed the
debugger's lead from one mess to the next. I came back after tea and it
sprang to life !

That's why I believe engineering is a kind of artistic expression.

My hope is to get more cunning - because the IQ goes down, not up, so I
can't use that raw mental grunt I had in my twenties !

Younger people are faster and sharper, but us old folks have the
advantage of having (hopefully) polished and refined our concepts,
practiced and hammered down true concepts and methods of reasoning.
Along with acquiring much more information (hopefully of high-quality)
to work with.

That is why good art, literature and technical information is so
important. Garbage in, garbage out.

I don't believe life is a solvable problem. It may not
be a problem at all.

What is the nature of living? What do living things do? Sense, identify,
decide, and act, according to primal drives, values and beliefs. Life is
a "problem" requiring information, consideration and action.

Dignity. Thats all the poor man has.

And what is it that forces the poor man to choose between dignity and
money? "The Great Gatsby" is the closest literature I can think of now
that identifies the evil of degrading dilemmas forced on people that
just want to get by.

If I could write novels, I would blend Gatsby with Rand's account of the
communist culture of "We the Living" or, at the 20th Century Motor
Company in "Atlas Shrugged", to illustrate how the culture and
characters of medieval serfdom is alive and well.

In adult-hood, we are playing political "games", corrupt schemes one
gang uses to vote themselves the work of another gang.


You sound sad. I suppose it is sad. Beautiful also. They call it the
"human condition".

Sadness is appropriate. Most people, aside from fundamentalists, don't
blame themselves when a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster
ruins them. But when people choose to ruin things in stupidity, envy and
spite it is indeed tragic.

I am 51 years old. I have been "crunching" since
childhood. I haven't even begun to figure it out. My kids and wife have
taught me a lot. Also work. I expect to die slightly bewildered.

I understand the human condition. I don't know why the universe has its
physical constants. At the bottom level, physics is a mystery. But I
generally understand the organizing principles of the human condition.

If I could get a grant, I would write a cellular automata computer
simulation that would model individual, group, national and world
behavior. Things happen for reasons at every level of scale. Organizing
principles can be derived from them.

Many people don't want to understand because on various levels they are
dishonest, and subconsciously have come to believe that they can attain
values by cheating, yet still be moral by refusing to recognize they're
cheating.

Starts on the schoolyard; bully calls you a pig, you're obviously not a
pig, you call him a rat. You know he's not a rat, but you choose to
believe it so you can be sincere. Pretend the insults didn't hurt. Then
comes the practice of lying. People find its effective, and sooner or
later begin lying to themselves.

Its only lately I've really come to see the power of double-speak,
redefining language for ulterior motives. While I still don't believe
that words *are* concepts, words certainly have the power to prevent
people from making beneficial value judgments when the concepts behind
them are obscured or emotionally loaded. But I'm rambling.

well Scott, this thread is very long, but it can stretch further. Or put up
some of your thoughts, or some links on your site and send me an email.

Writing requires focus and demands concepts be distinctly states, rather
than vaguely considered. What kind of thoughts? What links?

best wishes

Thanks, and to you to

Scott

--
**********************************

DIY Piezo-Gyro, PCB Drill Bot & More Soon!
http://home.comcast.net/~scottxs/

POLITICS, n.
A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. - Ambrose Bierce

Don't ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it - Ayn
Rand

**********************************

 

[Scott Stephens]

John Woodgate wrote:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Scott Stephens

Who was it said, 'I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better.'?

I like, "the best thing you can do for the poor is not be one of them".

You must have had unusually bad experiences.

I doubt it. Unrealistic expectations and altruism magnify disappointment
with whatever degree of pervasive corruption.

Scott

--
**********************************

DIY Piezo-Gyro, PCB Drill Bot & More Soon!
http://home.comcast.net/~scottxs/

POLITICS, n.
A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. - Ambrose Bierce

Don't ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it - Ayn
Rand

**********************************

 

[mc]

Who was it said, 'I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better.'?

I like, "the best thing you can do for the poor is not be one of them".

Well said. Poverty is not like skin color. It is something people can
easily move out of. So whenever I see a plan for helping "the poor" I ask
if it will in fact move people out of poverty, or just institutionalize
poverty. We've had far too much of the latter.

 

[Reg Edwards]

"It is the LACK of money which is the root of all evil."

- George Bernard Shaw.

 

[keith]

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:43:45 -0400, mc wrote:

Who was it said, 'I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better.'?

I like, "the best thing you can do for the poor is not be one of them".

Well said. Poverty is not like skin color. It is something people can
easily move out of. So whenever I see a plan for helping "the poor" I ask
if it will in fact move people out of poverty, or just institutionalize
poverty. We've had far too much of the latter.

Certainly, but the libs are insane. They continue to try programs that
don't work, yet expect different outcomes. The "Great Society" should
have put an end to liberalism forever.

--
Keith

 

[RST Engineering (jw)]

The problem is that nobody these days has a pornograph to play it on.

Jim



"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Ys-dnV9Y0cFYppDeRVn-3g@comcast.com...

mc wrote:


It sounds real except for the porn part. How many guys get lucky enough to
take pictures of pretty young naked girls all day? Nope, that part is
beyond the pale. BTW its not sex but pornography I meant to equate with
drug abuse.