Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. - Faith Whittlesey

Sometimes you are not given top billing even though your accomplishments were more difficult and required more talent. If credit is what you want, it is up to you seek it. If you are giving credit to others, look carefully at the cast of characters.

Confused Thinking

Poetry is the work of poets, not of peoples or communities; artistic creation can never be anything but the production of an individual mind. - Lascelles Abercrombie

The poet does not set the type or bind the book - though those efforts are valuable, they add nothing to the verse. Do not confuse creation with implementation, whether it be a poem or a video game.

Raise Your Source

No stream rises higher than its source. What ever man might build could never express or reflect more than he was. He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built. - Frank Lloyd Wright

Building great things requires great understanding.

Giving Limits

Givers have to set limits because takers rarely do. - Irma Kurtz

Set your limits to start with - it's easier to expand your limits than it is to establish them after the fact.

Principled Politics

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. - Alexis de Tocqueville

Still true today except he may be mistaken about "many men of principle."

Planning Big

You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now. - Harry S. Truman

Not bad advice for an individual but for a government I'm not so sure. That's how we got the New Deal and how it morphed into the disaster it has become.

Ending Failure

People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure. - Lao Tzu

Details of the familiar often are obscured by enchantment with the new. Avoid losing the race because you are betting on the come.

Patience Has Its Limits

Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice. - George Jackson

Or procrastination.

Statistically Improbable

Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things. - Richard Dawkins

"Statistically improbable" means most folks would never see it happen. Just because someone has never seen something happen doesn't mean it never happens. That's where the explaining gets tough.

Nattering Nabobs

In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. - Spiro T. Agnew

Not only do I agree but I like his words - they make me smile.

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. Here is a previous post - expanded.

Emotional Fear
Our instinctive emotions are those we have inherited from a much more dangerous world, and contain, therefore, a larger proportion of fear than they should. - Bertrand Russell

There is a definite difference between emotional fear and rational fear. Worry is the result of the former while safety is the usual outcome of the latter.

Just as is there is a big difference in the intelligence of individuals (IQ) there is also a big difference in how people use their emotions to guide their actions (EQ). These need not be related. Some very intelligent people act from their emotions even though the result is very irrational behavior.

One can ponder whether EQ is determined by the environment or is due to genetic factors. I'd say both. Being raised in a dysfunctional environment could certainly have an effect and so could gender. Whatever the case I think that EQ can be changed through learning except maybe for those completely at their emotions whims. For them, there may be no desire whatsoever to act more rationally.

I have also wondered if many of the worlds problems are either caused by or are not solved because of low EQ. My inclination is in this direction, and if so, I hope I live long enough to figure out how the worlds EQ could be raised.

Analysis Leads to Synthesis

Get the habit of analysis - analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind. - Frank Lloyd Wright

Thinking about things leads to creating great things.

Competing for Life

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty. - Abraham Lincoln

Come on Abe........The sheep and wolf are in competition. Liberty does not mean freedom from competition. It's your job to educate them.

Serving a Purpose

He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers. - Henry B. Adams

The question is: Does he who sits and complains serve any purpose?

Sanctioned Force

Confronted with the choice, the American people would choose the policeman's truncheon over the anarchist's bomb. - Spiro T. Agnew

We are now confronted with this choice. I choose the anarchist's (or terrorist's) bomb. The policeman's truncheon will not eliminate bombing but will effect the freedom of everyone. Never trust anyone with sanctioned force.

Stinkin' Publicity

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself. - Abraham Lincoln

Be careful about the kind of publicity you give yourself.

Conceptual Celebration

Isn't it sad to go to your grave without ever wondering why you were born? Who, with such a thought, would not spring from bed, eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be part of it? - Richard Dawkins

I think conception is equally as import, if not more so, than birth. Look up "conceive" or "conception" in the dictionary and marvel at the various meanings of those words.

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. Here is a previous post - expanded.

Money Roots
Lack of money is the root of all evil. - George Bernard Shaw

So what is the root of lack of money?

Since no one answered my question, I will answer it myself. First off I don't fully agree with Mr. Shaw. Having money does not make one either evil or saintly. I assume he is thinking poor folks do evil deeds (like stealing) because they are poor. Then if they weren't poor they wouldn't do evil deeds. So I imagine his solution would be to give these poor folks some money then everything would be hunky dory. Bull crap. Lack of money does not automatically make one evil or saintly just like being wealthy. So where does evil come from? You can take the biblical approach and assume we are all born that way and need to be converted. I reject that - we are born ignorant, not evil. I contend that the path to good is paved with education. I'm not talking about just the 3 Rs - but an education on morality. Morality is the knowledge of the difference between good and evil.

One of the biggest frustrations for me is the ever increasing tendency in our society to limit the discussion of morality (or education thereof). You can't, for the most part, discuss morality because "one should not judge others." One should never discuss religion or politics in public - I guess because you might offend someone. Where does this come from? It comes from our education system, and I'm not talking about primary school - I'm talking about the universities. This attitude filters down through the educational system and out into common belief. Then kids are not taught manners because they are just "kids". If you don't have manners then you cannot have morality. If you don't teach morality in college then you send out parents and teachers who perpetuate this premise.

I decided to take one of the highest level computer classes at the local Community College. During the first class the professor went around the room asking each of the students why they were taking the class. One young man responded "So I can become a better hacker and bring down the evil corporations." Here was a kid who probably couldn't even tell you what a corporation is; he only knew they were evil. This was a perfect opportunity for the teacher to teach morality, but he didn't. He replied "Oh yes, if you are going to be a hacker you need to know this stuff." I was so disgusted I never went back. I kept my mouth shut because you are not supposed to judge people. I regret my silence.

So what is the root of all evil? Lack of morality - which comes with education.

Enviromental Change

Human nature hasn't changed a bit. What has changed is the environment we live in. - Seth Godin

Innovators have always been those who saw the changing environment, and were keenly aware of human nature. Thus they changed the environment. Study both.

Happy Abode

He that is discontented in one place will seldom be happy in another. - Aesop

If you are not happy with yourself you will be unhappy no matter where you go. The solution is to live a life you can be happy about.

Don't Be Late

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. - Abraham Lincoln

Particularly good advice when the dinner bell rings.

Looking On The Level

People who look down on other people don't end up being looked up to. - Robert Half

Ignore those that look down on you. Don't give them the pleasure of even a glance. Likewise, plan on being ignored if you look down on someone.

Where is Zeus?

We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

Is Zeus still there or did he go away when people went one god further?

Recognizing Ability

There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability. - Robert Half


Especially unproven ability.

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. Here is a previous post - expanded.



Jumping Chasms
The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps. - Benjamin Disraeli



This is a great quote to remember for those who want to make change incrementally.



When I was ready to launch my first big application I suggested we ease into the program and run it concurrently with the existing system. The manager said no, we would convert Monday morning; throw out the old system and go with the new. I was scared to say the least. Monday morning I was there to field problems and provide under the gun training for the users. All hell broke loose - but it only lasted a few hours and by noon I went home. It was a great day. Not only did I have the satisfaction of knowing the new system worked but the conversion was done. Since then I've thanked the manager several times for the insight to not try to jump that chasm in two leaps.

Celebrating Existence

It's important that someone celebrate our existence... People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people. There is none in the universe at large. Solitary confinement is a punishment in every human culture. - Lois McMaster Bujold

As much as some of us would like to think otherwise, what she says is true. Remember this when you talk to someone - better yet, remember this when you choose not to talk to them.

Simple Beauty

Simplicity should not be identified with bareness. - Felix Adler

Whether it be a concept, a conversation or a computer-user interface, beauty lies in simplicity with intense content. A stripped down version is rarely beautiful.

All Talk, No Action

After all is said and done, more is said than done. - Aesop

This is particularly true in big, well established companies. Less talking, more doing, goes on in new small companies. Hence they are more innovative.

Bragging About Incompetence

It has become almost a cliche to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature, but it is socially acceptable to boast ignorance of science and proudly claim incompetence in mathematics. - Richard Dawkins

Don't ever proudly proclaim incompetence in anything. You can admit it, but it is a shortcoming, not something worthy of bragging about.

The Road to the Top

The roughest road often leads to the top. - Christina Aguilera

If it wasn't rough it would be a road well travelled.