Spring Forward, Summer's Here! aka Taking My Own Advice, Pt. Deux

Six months ago, also on a Thursday night, I began this blog.

On January 1, I said, echoing my own words from, oh, April of '82: If you're not doing it everyday, you're not doing it.

Then I promptly stopped doing it.

Not that I wasn't doing something else. There's your velvet lining.

Reading Seth Godin today, as I usually do, I got turned on to a new review of some old truths, recast, and true again, let's face it: Hugh MacLeod's Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity.

So, particularly if you're a Watkins Mill Class of '09 graduate, on this the 34th Anniv of my own gradiation from HS University, I offer some of Hugh MacLeod's advice:

#1. "Ignore everybody. The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you."

#2. "The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours. The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will."

#3. "Put the hours in. Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. Ninety percent of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort, and stamina. . .Put the hours in, do it for long enough, and magical, life-transforming things happen eventually."

#4. "Good ideas have lonely childhoods. . . The better the idea, the more 'out there' it initially will seem to other people, even people you like and respect. Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That is why good ideas are always initially resisted. Good ideas can have lonely young adulthoods, too."

#9. "Companies that squelch creativity can non longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
If you're creative, if you can think independently, if you can articulate passion, if you can override the fear of being wrong, then your company needs you now more than it ever did. And now your company can no longer afford to pretend that isn't the case.
So dust off your horn and start tooting it."

Sorry for the upstaging, Sampy!

Don't worry, nobody reads this thing. Unless I write it.

More to come . . .

The Pragmatic Alternative is . . .

. . .Scientific Method.

How cool is scientific method? Beyond the universe to the universal.

Joe Francis Bacon made it all up, starting with a question starting with What if?

Formalizing the Q, hypothesizing: If >>>> then. If >>>> then. If >>>> then.

How hot is If >>>> then?

It's SofaKing hot!

Then setting up an experiment, figuring out a way to be figuring it out.

Taking some observations, recording some data--hanging and clanging.

Writing it all up in a report, seeing if the experiment revealed what was hypothesized.

If so, repeat for proof of non-coincidentality.

If not, rehypothesize, refashion experiment, run new 'speriment.

Or repeat first, to be sure nothing was awry.

Scientific method is what Paris Hilton was talking about when she first said, "That's so hot."

Knowledge is Power.

Or was that Knowledge is Good?

Either way. . .

Word o' the Day!

2. transition PRONUNCIATION = tran - `ZIH – shin

Definition: a move from one place or time to another place or time
Part of Speech (usage): noun = (n)
Sentence: Making the transition from middle school to high school is easier when you begin with the end in mind. Four years from now are you going to be working, in college, or both?

Derivation/Root: Latin = L transire, to go over or across

The Pragmatic Alternative is . . .

. . . The Dictionary.

The Dictionary . . . is your friend!

Why bother with any other book? After all, all the words you're ever gonna read are all right here, and---there's pictures!

The thing that's so fascinating about the dictionary is the treasure w/in--like a rich vein of gold in which one also finds diamonds and emeralds and rubies, Oh my!~

'Cause you don't get just words.

Here's what you get:

Not just the definition of the word you're looking for but 2 or 3 definitions of the SAME WORD , sometimes as many as , well, Get has ---- defintions , in has .....definitions ... Get in there!

Phonetic spelling--each word comes with handy dandy funetik spelling to help you see it and say it WRITE!

A pronunciation guide-- never mispronounce a word again. Your go to guide for all phonetic spelling issues...Conveniently located at beginning of book.

Diacritical marks!!!Learn the schwa! the macron! the circumflex! They're all here, along with so much more including . . .

Synonyms! Synonyms! Synonyms! That's a spicy! Here's where the language gets its flavor aka "sabor" en Espanol.

Etymology--Roots of rock and roll,so to speak--perchance to know what the hell you're speaking about!

Did you know approx 55% of all English words trace their heritage to Latin? Or that 25% of the English language is rooted in Greek soil?

So whip out that big fat dictionary. Crack it open and take a big ol' whiff!

You'll be so glad you did.

Word o' the Day!

Hiatus--a break in the action...This blog was on hiatus for a while. What was up with that? And what's so great about this entry? Meh. When will this blog go on hiatus again? A hiatal hernia is break in the abdomen where all your guts can spill out. It's a breach or break in your guts, so they all start oozing out. Gross!

The Pragmatic Alternative is . . .

Neil Young and Johnathan Goodwin.

Neil and Johnathan are working together to convert Neil's '59 Lincoln Continental convertible to an all-electric car that never needs refueling, only recharging.

Neil has this to say, (courtesy of NewEnergyNews): "Johnathan and this car are going to make history…We're going to change the world, we're going to create a car that will allow us to stop giving our wealth to other countries for petroleum….And we're going to do it right here in Wichita, a great place that I now love, where people know how to make things, and make things happen."

Why is the veteran rock and roll star geared up about this project? 2 reasons. First, because he loves his cars: "…people are saying we should go to small cars, but I love big American cars with power…I asked Johnathan that first day if we could take a huge American car like this, 2 ½ tons, 19 ½ feet long, and make it so you could drive it without ever refueling. Something practical…And Jonathan said 'Yeah.' And that's what we're going to do."

Second, because his motivation hasn’t changed all that much since 1971. He’s still trying to use his success to make the world a better place: "…I thought long ago you could change the world by writing songs. But you can't…Oh, you can inspire a few people, get some of them to change their thinking about something. But you can't change the world by writing songs…But we could change it with this car."

Johnathan was profiled in Fast Company in November of '07. Here's an excerpt:

Goodwin's work proves that a counterattack [on Detroit] is possible, and maybe easier than many of us imagined. If the dream is a big, badass ride that's also clean, well, he's there already. As he points out, his conversions consist almost entirely of taking stock GM parts and snapping them together in clever new ways. "They could do all this stuff if they wanted to," he tells me, slapping on a visor and hunching over an arc welder. "The technology has been there forever. They make 90% of the components I use." He doesn't have an engineering degree; he didn't even go to high school: "I've just been messing around and seeing what I can do."

All of which raises an interesting possibility. Has this guy in a far-off Kansas garage figured out the way to save Detroit?

America's most revolutionary innovations, it has long been said, sprang from the ramshackle dens of amateurs. Thomas Edison was a home-schooled dropout who got his start tinkering with battery parts; Chester Carlson invented the photocopier in his cramped Long Island kitchen. NASA, desperate for breakthroughs to help it return to the moon, has set up million-dollar prizes to encourage private citizens to come forward with any idea, no matter how crazy. As the theory goes, only those outside big industries can truly reinvent them.

Goodwin is certainly an outsider. He grew up in a dirt-poor Kansas family with six siblings and by age 13 began taking on piecework in local auto shops to help his mother pay the bills. He particularly enjoyed jamming oversized engines into places no one believed they'd fit. He put truck engines inside Camaros, Grand Nationals, and Super Bees; he even put a methanol-fueled turbocharger on a tiny Yamaha Banshee four-wheeler. "We took that thing from 35 horsepower to 208," he recalls. "It was crazy. We couldn't put enough fins on the back to keep it on the ground." After dropping out of school in the seventh grade, he made a living by buying up totaled cars and making them as good as new. "That," he says, "was my school."

This past November, Neil's post in the HuffingtonPost, outlined his ideas on how to retool the American auto industry:

We need forward looking people who are not restricted by the existing culture in Detroit. We need visionary people now with business sense to create automobiles that do not contribute to global warming.

It is time to change and our problems can facilitate our solutions. We can no longer afford to continue down Detroit's old road. The people have spoken. They do not want gas guzzlers (although they still like big cars and trucks). It is possible to build large long-range vehicles that are very efficient. People will buy those vehicles because they represent real change and a solution that we can live with.

The government must take advantage of the powerful position that exists today. The Big 3 are looking for a bailout. They should only get it if they agree to stop building autos that contribute to global warming now. The stress on the auto manufacturers today is gigantic. In order to keep people working in their jobs and keep factories open, this plan is suggested:

The big three must reduce models to basics. a truck, an SUV, a large family sedan, an economy sedan, and a sports car. Use existing tooling.

Keep building these models to keep the workforce employed but build them without engines and transmissions. These new vehicles, called Transition Rollers, are ready for a re-power. No new tooling is required at this stage. The adapters are part of the kits described next.

At the same time as the new Transition Rollers are being built, keeping the work force working, utilize existing technology now, create re-power kits to retrofit the Transition Rollers to SCEVs (self charging electric vehicles) for long range capability up to and over 100mpg. If you don't think this technology is realistic or available, check out the Progressive Insurance Automotive X prize. Alternatively, check out Lincvolt.com or other examples.

A bailed out Auto manufacturer must open or re-purpose one or more factories and dedicate them to do the re-power/retrofit assembly. These factories would focus on re-powering the Transition Rollers into SCEVs but could also retrofit and re-power many existing vehicles to SCEVs. These existing vehicles are currently sitting unsold at dealerships across America.

Auto manufacturers taking advantage of a government bailout must only sell clean and green vehicles that do not contribute to global warming. No more internal combustion engines that run exclusively on fossil fuels can be sold period.

No Big Three excuses like "new tooling takes time". New tooling is not a requirement for SCEV transition rollers.

Build only new vehicles that attain the goal of reversing global warming and enhancing National Security.

Government legislation going with the bailout should include tax breaks for purchasers of these cars with the new green SCEV technology. The legislation accompanying the bailout of major auto manufacturers must include directives to build only vehicles that attain the goal of reversing global warming while enhancing National security, and provide the financial assistance to make manufacturing these cars affordable in the short term while the industry re-stabilizes.

Eventually the SCEV technology could be built into every new car and truck as it is being assembled and the stop gap plan described above would have completed its job of keeping America building and working through this turbulent time.

Detroit has had a long time to adapt to the new world and now the failure of Detroit's actions is costing us all. We pay the bailout. Let's make a good deal for the future of America and the Planet. Companies like UQM (Colorado) and others build great electric motors right here in the USA. Use these domestic electric motors. Put these people to work now. This plan reverses the flow from negative to positive because people need and will buy clean and green cars to be part of World Change. Unique wheel covers will identify these cars on the road so that others can see the great example a new car owner is making. People want America to win!

This plan addresses the issue of Global warming from our automobiles while enhancing our National Security and keeping Detroit working.

Neil Young and Johnathan Goodwin: getting it done, making it happen.

Pragmatically. Alternatively.

The Pragmatic Alternative is . . .

. . . President Barack Obama.

Many have commented on it by now, but the point that most resonated with us here at the PA was this one:

" The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end."

Obama continued: "And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good."

Obama also reminded us of the eternal verities, of the age of wisdom:

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship. . . ."

Few Americans today, with money tight and markets uncertain, with our world in seismic spasm, and our steps tentative in response, can deny the need to adopt as pragmatic an approach as possible to the many challenges we face, both at home and abroad; as a nation one among many, and also as the nation which first and still holds these truths to be self-evident: "that all are created equal . . . [and] are endowed by their Creator with . . . unalienable rights . . . Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

And the honor of the Pursuit of Responsibility.

Here's to you, President Obama.

Here's to all of us, working together.

And:

"Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Amen.

You should know this about me . . .

Whole albums on my iPod:


Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Derek and the Dominoes, 1970



Eat a Peach, The Allman Brothers Band, 1972



Europe '72, Grateful Dead, 1972



Wake of the Flood, Grateful Dead, 1973



The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen, 1974



Katy Lied, Steely Dan, 1975



Station to Station, David Bowie, 1976



I know what you're thinking: What happened to '71?

Every Picture Tells a Story . . .

No post today . . .

. . . going to sleep. Please re-read yesterday's.

Or just go to Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto.

Night . . .