REFLECTIONS

This simple corkscrew is like the one my father used.  Surfing through the web I found some interesting ones, especially a very complicated machine for removing corks. This is the type of bottle opener I own.  It's only a little more complicated than the first one. This must be an antique model.  I have no idea how it works. Below is a video of the complicated bottle opener I was telling you about: I think the gun hammer is a bottle opener. Open it without a corkscrew. This is a sort of erotic model.   

I think this is a great idea.  Japan Railways put these pathways in to prevent the turtles from being run over by passing trains.

Do I have a mild case of OCD obsessive compulsive disorder? I have the Google Calendar application, a weekly schedule, a fitness log and even a paper calendar.  Now I'm setting up the Wunderlist to-do list program.  I like the name.  It sound like Wonder List, something wonderful. One problem is to make sure I don't get duplicate reminders from all of these applications. I set the the Google Calendar to send me emails when something is due, like doctor appointments. The Wunderlist can do the same thing. I had to make sure that I did not get email reminders from both the Google Calendar and Wunderlist.  Otherwise it would make things cluttered and difficult to follow. Finally, I can check my paper calendar to see what's coming up.  I print it each month from the Google online calendar so it has the same reminders but I can check it on my desk without turning on my PC. My fitness log keeps me motivated.  I check off each exercise when it's due during the week.

Here are a few funny cartoons to enjoy: Here's a video with some advice I'll try to follow.  It seems practical.  I think the best thing is to limit my resolutions to a few important ones.  Too many will make it impossible to accomplish.

I usually use tea bags because they're easy and fast with almost no cleanup. Sometimes I play around with loose tea.  The quality is supposed to be better. I've heard that the price per cup is cheaper. I like Tazo English Breakfast tea bags.  There's more tea in each bag and it makes a strong cup of tea. Bigelow has a nice variety.  The English Breakfast tea is not as strong.  They have an American Breakfast tea with more caffeine and stronger flavor. The Earl Grey tea is made with bergamot oil which is much better than the bergamot "flavor" that Twinings uses. Bergamot Fruit from Calabria Italy I have to admit that playing with loose tea is fun.  I use a frog tea infuser. I put sugar and milk in my tea except for green teas. Now I'm using Twining's Irish Breakfast loose tea.  But I need more tea leaves to make it stronger. In the supermarkets near me I can only find Twining and Lipton loose tea.  I don't like Lipton t

When I nap for over an hour I wake up tired and depressed.  It seems like a good part of the day is gone, wasted. I tried shorter naps with a timer set for 30 minutes.  The problem is how I keep resetting the timer for 5 or 10 minutes more until I just let myself go into a long nap.  The result again is waking up tired and depressed. From google images What seems to work for me is what I call a short "caffeine power nap": 1. Right before you crash, down a cup of java. (I use tea.) The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in.  2. Close your eyes and relax. Even if you only doze, you'll get what's known as effective microsleep, or momentary lapses of wakefulness. 3. Limit your nap to 15 minutes. A half hour can lead to sleep inertia, or the spinning down of the brain's prefrontal cortex, which handles functions like judgment. This gray matter can take 30 minutes to reboot. From   htt

This chart shows my personal genealogical goal. Anything more is just too involved in details which will be very difficult to keep track of.  I want to make it enjoyable, not a tedious task. My parents were from Italy so even going back as far as this chart will be difficult.  So far I've reached my great grandparents on my mother's side and my grandparents on my father's side.  I may not be able to go back to my great great grandparents without professional help, which I'm not sure I want to do. At least I'll have made some progress to make it a little easier for my descendants to continue if they like. The video shows how difficult genealogy can become.

I was going through some old notes when I came across this sheet of good advice.  I copied it from one or more places but I neglected to put down the sources. GOAL DETAILS & ADVICE CHOICE 1. Choose goals by importance & priority considering limited time & energy. 2. Quality & effectiveness of effort more important than the amount of time spent on a goal. 3. Appreciate the experience as you do it: enjoy present moment flow & spirituality. 4. Avoid getting it over with & out of the way just so you can move on to next task which only leads to being in a rut and not appreciating what you have, always wanting more. EVALUATION To keep or improve the quality of your life; evaluate how you feel about your activities: I. IF YOU ENJOY SOMETHING: a. MAINTAIN: Do it regularly. b. FREQUENCY: Do it more often. b. ENHANCE: Improve how you do it.  Make it more effective. c. EXPAND: Do more activities like it. II. IF YOU DISLIKE SOMETHING: a. AVOID IT:

I have an obsession with getting organized.  Not that I'm so organized in real life but I try.  Even with a to-do list on my PC sometimes I just have to use a pen and paper.  It's so easy and yet too easy to be very useful.  Without a more flexible system it's not easy to move items on the list or set priorities. Spending a lot of time with an eraser is not fun. All of the to-do lists I've seen are too complicated for me to take the time to learn.  Here are two that I like and how I combined them into one to-do list. These are free. "Do-It-Tomorrow" Link: Do-It-Tomorrow Their description: "-- Fastest to-do entry -- Simple interface - just to-do and just today and tomorrow -- Easily check off tasks as completed or delete them altogether " This To Do list has no priorities and is very limited.  Being limited makes it easy to use but not practical. "Wunderlist" Here's the link: Wunderlist Here&#

Not So Funny "Trickle-down economics" and the "trickle-down theory" are terms in United States  politics to refer to the idea  that tax breaks or other economic benefits provided by government to businesses and upper income levels will benefit poorer members of society by improving the economy as a whole. .. "Mr.  David Stockman  has said that supply-side economics  was merely a cover  for the trickle-down approach to economic policy —what an older and less elegant generation called the horse-and-sparrow theory : 'If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.'" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickle-down_economics Wise

Carl Gustav Jung July 26, 1875 - June 6, 1961 Did you ever notice how some coincidences seem to be more complicated than pure chance?  They have a meaning which coincidences do not have.  The event just makes sense even though there is no physical link.   In an earlier post I mentioned how my daughter took a bus to come visit us. On that bus was a man who offered her some orange flavored Tic Tacs.  She did not accept any.  The man looked a little strange to her. When we met her at the bus station I offered her some orange Tic Tacs!  Now  I usually don't eat orange flavored Tic Tacs but that day I had some.  Was it pure luck or did it mean something?  Was it some force or intelligence somehow preparing for her visit? I read that Carl Jung created the concept of synchronicity to explain these types of events.  I decided to do a little more research. I found this quote: "Jung believed in  the “complex” or emotionally charged associations. He

Last night I watched the movie Deliver Us From Evil.  It was a frightening story about a cop and a priest.  The policeman gave up his belief in God because of all the evil in the world. The priest looked at the question from a different perspective.  He told the policeman that the question should really be why is there so much good in the world? While the movie was an unbelievable Hollywood story, with an exorcism at the end; what the priest said made sense to me.  God gave us free will so why aren't 't people more evil? Every day most people do good, or at least try to be good. Today I had lunch at Chic-fil-A, fast food restaurant and dropped my tray of food.  My cane caused me to lose my grip. Strangers helped me wipe the floor and pick up the tray. One man said they should have helped me to my table.  Another man went up to the counter to get a replacement for my meal and the manager was glad to oblige. I thanked everyone. I was embarrassed but happily surprised by

It's going to happen and soon.  I'm only hoping that computers will never be self-aware . From Wikipedia: Self-awareness  is the capacity for introspection  and the ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals.  While consciousness  is being aware of one’s environment and body and lifestyle, self-awareness is the recognition of that awareness.  (my highlight) If computers and artificial intelligence never become aware of their awareness then maybe they would have no self-motivation ( Motivated to achieve something due to one's own interest)   to dominate humans. Disaster could still happen but it would be due to a mistake in programming. But if computers and artificial intelligence become self-aware beings then we could be in even more danger. There's an excellent lecture with interesting ideas on this topic.  It's about 16 minutes long. Here's the link: Nick Bostrom- What happens when our compu