Quick thinking … and an excellent photo memory … helps.

Advanced Math, chess theory, philosophical essays are interesting to me to exercise my brain power. To understand the scope and the limits, the finite and the infinity, of Nature and various theoretical methods. The more knowledge the better.

Everyday business, chores as well, is not seldom a sort of "Lightning chess". Then the outcome, success or failure, depends mainly on what’s in the spine. No time for pondering and making a detailed analysis of anything at all. Just quick draws!

School kids, students, yes everybody, use a similar model of ‘Just quick draws’ to survive the all important next exam. Then after the exam they forget the whole previous mess to concentrate on the exam after that … It’s an important art to be able to drop things .. No one learns anything just for life .. The chase is on. Good marks, that’s what counts!

Guys have various arguments for their cognitive process, i.e. what, when and how to learn. The capability of the photo memory is very important for the selection of study method. It’s an elective principle. Compare the Essay called Morality and Art by Philippa Foot to which I refer to inform what an elective principle is supposed to be.

Some arguments students have during exam periods when they concentrate on essentials and refuse learning other things could be: There’s no time really just now for other matters! No use of learning other things just now, maybe later! The principle of necessity is applicable.

Most guys have good Rational thinking under very pressing conditions, the factor of time is always the limiting factor, that nearly bust them.

Knowing to use Power Point effectively is certainly more important.

When I visited Montreal in Canade I bought my first book of Samuel Beckett called MOLLOY, after that En attendant Godot, then COMMENT C’EST.

Montreal is the most interesting city I know.

The ladder of life

"Midlife is when you reach the top of the ladder and find that it was against the wrong wall." Joseph Campbell

Campbell may have been referring to the career ladder but his statement applies to whatever "ladder" you are on. It may be the ladder of marriage or family. It may be the ladder of a unique goal you are pursuing. Or, it may be the ladder of personality development. If Campbell is right then a great many people in our society are soon to be frustrated as they near the top of this ladder and begin asking that all important midlife question, "Is this all there is?"

http://lessonsforliving.com/ladder_of_life.htm

I would prefer to say that the wall may be the right one, but the ladder wasn’t long enough. I would also tell that I am a different guy than Mr Campbell. Instead of the question, “Is this all there is?” , I would say that there is far too much here of everything. Bernard Shaw writes that we need to live here several hundred years to understand this complicated world. That’s true. I will not elaborate on this evidence.

Dreams and wishes are serious things...!

We have been made up of a dreaming material, says Shakespeare.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to realize Dreams and Wishes? Maybe it will be important for the future…?

What we achieve every day will disappear fairly quickly from our minds into eternal oblivion, but ... later on we will regret having left the Dreams unfulfilled. The things we will remember, our minds will be cramped by them, are the things we didn’t do, the opportunities we didn’t take or left, the Good Deeds we didn’t do. There are lots of them! Like old collectibles in the garage, in the basement or wherever we put them. It’s a kind of curse!

It’s a kind of blessing as well letting the Dreams and Wishes remain unfulfilled, though they make us feel ill at heart. It’s like having collections of statues, in black and white, in the mind. We will always remember them or rather, they will never let us forget them.

Our actions, thinking and sayings today will maybe decide what Fantasies will haunt us in the future.

Ref. Racine Bérénice and William Shakespeare

Advance… or be left behind…

I’ve learned, Veni, Vidi, Vici, that the Energy, Force, Momentum I need for my perpetual advancement is obtained from the Good Angel and Holy Godess named Interest.

But the Good Angel, in whose heels I’m, is followed by a shadowy ghost, a scary indescribable monster, now and then mumbling “You could be Left Behind”. I hate the thought of being left behind, alone by myself and the monster, in the dry and lifeless dessert. Just the thought scares me, it doesn’t matter whether the circumstance is bright or lousy, to advance, to go on steadily...from the dark into the unknown dawn.

The main heading is one aspect of the harsh realities of the principal of necessity within the labor market and various fields where knowledge and ability counts…Each individual must adapt to another principal, namely the principle of division of labor.

The only thing that stands between you and your highest ideals and every desire is Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (F.U.D.). Don't FUD your way to failure. Free yourself to success. By Warren Henningsen

People may forget what you have said, and people may forget what you have done, people however, will NEVER FORGET how you made them feel. :) ♥ By Nina Kovacs

The Myth of Sisyphus

The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955.

In the essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd: man's futile search for meaning, unity and clarity in the face of an unintelligible world devoid of God and eternal truths or values.

Does the realization of the absurd require suicide? Camus answers: "No. It requires revolt." He then outlines several approaches to the absurd life. The final chapter compares the absurdity of man's life with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. The essay concludes, "The struggle itself...is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

The work can be seen in relation to other works by Camus: the novel The Stranger (1942), the play Caligula (1945), and especially the essay The Rebel (1951).

Albert Camus received The Nobel Prize in Litterature 1957.

Change habits … Advance…I

Hypothesis: To change habits and habitual thinking is nearly impossible, at least very difficult. That’s the real enemy to every type of change. The easiest way to change something is to consult a shrink or a therapist. The more educated and the older the more rigid.

Thoughts can be transcendental i.e. they can be transformed into practical actions. There are many ways to advance, and to get multiple benefit from it. I would like to become a coach of some sort, I imagine that, that would benefit my beloved ones very much. Here are som other examples.

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever pcs might implode, crash, in a twinkle everything’s gone with the wind. My USB-memories backup the computer hard disk and the Word files I write before I copy them to my blog. Analogically, my own blog helps me to express my thoughts, ideas, modes of reasoning ... it’s a sort of personal backup…

Advance…instead of harping on the same old string… whatever harping there is. For instance learn to bargain and negotiate professionally before, before it’s really urgent. Sooner or later that skill will be needed.

I have discovered a great step to improve: I have finally decided to read "Getting to yes, negotiating agreement without giving in" By Roger Fisher and William Ury. I regret now I didn't read it long ago. There are several books by those gentlemen worth reading to get down to essentials. The effect of those books may be a beginning or continuation to reprogramming of the personal BIOS. Those genuine books are some sort of chemistry for crib-biters…!

Old people are nearly always right. Curiosity disappears with age, that’s for sure? Old people seldom expose others to embarrassment and they have learned the difficult art of social competence. For instance how to tell foreigners to pay heed to something or to inform them about interesting places, events etc...

Ref. See the book The Fall by Albert Camus.

About Art

I love beautiful and artful, natural and conceived, imagined and virtual, things and creations as well as designs. They are remarkable in my eyes, they astound me. They take my breath away. I call them true art. They inspire my sense of imagination and space, they live in my mind. Any person informed about Art would ask me: What do you mean? Then I would answer: I will show you when I perceive it.

A kaleidoscope is like that! The pearls, the small bits of multicolored glass, always form new enjoyable and surprising patterns.

In a sneak peak, in a blink of the eyes, with the speed of a lightning, everything is weighed and measured, estimated and valued. Then it’s completely certain what we prefer and even what we love. Instantly, but covertly, accepted or rejected. The sneak peak is completely out of the will power and checks uncontrollably everything popping up all the time. All the reasoning, talking, following afterwards is just nice entertainment to peak again or an excuse to get out of the place as quickly as possible. God help me out of here! Sometimes two different sneak peaks meet and weld together, that’s instant love.

The first sneak peak, during a nano-second, decides it all and it's impression and value stays, it will not be forgotten nor changed. However much you ponder it, tear and gnaw it, there will be no change...

The other day I saw a young Lady at the parking lot, she moved briskly and she looked like a fairy. Do you know the famous poem by Baudelaire? Gosh. It was perfectly like that.

Crabby old man by Dean Letfus

Can’t prove the accuracy of the discovery of this poem, but inspiring never the less!!

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in country N.S.W, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.
Later, when the nurses were going through his meagre possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.
One nurse took her copy to Melbourne. The old man’s sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.
And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this anonymous’ poem winging across the Internet.


Cranky Old Man
What do you see nurses?
What do you see?
What are you thinking, when you’re looking at me?
A cranky old man, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice: ‘I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice the things that you do.
And forever is losing A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking?
Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes nurse, you’re not looking at me.
I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of Ten with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty, My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me to see I don’t mourn.
At Fifty, once more, Babies play ’round my knee,
Again, we know children, My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, My wife is now dead.
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own.
And I think of the years And the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man and nature is cruel.
It’s jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart.
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young man still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells
I remember the joys, I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living life over again.
I think of the years, all too few, gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people open and see.
Not a cranky old man.
Look closer
see ME!!

Stay Inspired and Stay Safe ~ Dean Letfus
http://massiveaction.tv/blog/

To Each His Own Chimera

Beneath a broad, grey sky, upon a broad, dusty plain, without trails, without grass, without a thistle or a nettle, I met several men who walked bent over.

Each one of them carried upon his back an enormous Chimera, as heavy as a sack of flour or coal, or the gear of a Roman foot-soldier.

But the monstrous beast was not a dead weight; on the contrary, it enveloped and oppressed the man with its powerful, elastic muscles; it clasped itself to the chest of its mount with its two vast claws; and its fabulous head covered the man's brow, like one of those horrible helmets with which ancient warriors hoped to increase the terror of their enemy.

I questioned one of the men, and I asked him where they were going like that. He answered that he didn't know anything at all -- neither he nor the others; but that they were obviously going somewhere, for they were urged on by an invincible need to walk.

A curious thing to note: none of these travelers seemed irritated with the ferocious beast hanging from their neck and glued to their back; you might have said that they considered it to be a part of themselves. All of these fatigued and serious faces showed no evidence of despair; beneath the splenetic cupola of the sky, their feet plunged in the dust of a ground as desolate as the sky, they made their way with the resigned expression of those who are condemned to hope always.

And the train of men passed beside me and disappeared into mist of the horizon, at that place where the rounded surface of the planet conceals itself from the curiosity of the human gaze.

And for several instants I persisted in my desire to understand this mystery; but soon irresistible indifference battened upon me, and I was more heavily overwhelmed than they were themselves by their crushing Chimeras.

Ref. Charles Baudelaire, Small poems on prose, 1862
The story above is the sixth poem, there are 50 poems in all, in the French book called “Le spleen de Paris” by Baudelaire. They have been translated into English in an excellent way. Enjoyable reading I would say.
http://www.piranesia.net/baudelaire/spleen/

See also http://www.aesopfables.com/

A great poetry book!

Paul Valéry ”La Jeune Parque”, French – English Bilingual edition.

The foreword is special as well:
Le Ciel a-t-il formé cet amas de merveilles
Pour la demeure d’un serpent?

Did Heaven shape that heap of wonders
To be the dwelling of a snake?

Pierre Corneille [Psyché]

My own version of the Farmer's walk

This is a challenge for anyone to check and improve overall stamina, not to forget the cardiac stamina.

Farmer's walk part 1
Recommendable to start with: Guys not used to carrying a heavy backpack during a long period of time should undergo a health investigation by their doctor. Don’t forget to bring enough water for the dog.

Farmer's walk Part 2: General
How much weight are you able to carry in your backpack and walk 10 km with it on a forest track? I myself have just done it with 15 kgs in the backpack, on the so called Green track of 10 kms in Hallstahammar, with two large dogs in leash as walking buddies.

The guys trying to get to the top of Mount Everest, as well used by Herzog when his team got to the top called Annapurna, usually hire carriers, sherpas, for taking up the equipment to the various stations. Each sherpa carries 50 kgs in the backpack. It is a terribly heavy load!

I have seen the original Farmer's walk on TV in the program called "The world's strongest man". They carry one weight in each hand, like a heavy suitcase in each hand, and they carry them a relatively short distance. But the weight of each suitcase is so heavy that an ordinary man can absolutely not lift it, walking with them is out of the question. Very strong guys!

It is well known that "walking" burns fat effectively. Adding a heavy backpack will make it even more efficient. Add an appropriate weight easy to carry in each hand. One or two dogs on leash is good for the balance. The distance should be 10-15 kms, to train for the next mountain hike with all the stuff in the backpack. My model shown above is a good deal more fun than power walk, i.e. walking with poles.

Farmer's walk part 3: About weights and where to walk
A common backpack load is about 15 kgs.
Another parameter is to use a smoother or steeper track profile. Various different profiles of the track should be used. The principle of variation increases the stamina more.
A person’s weight can easily be estimated by the Body Mass Index, BMI.

Farmer's walk part 4: Design of Backpacks for outdoor activities
One common special type of backpack (sometimes referred to as a "technical pack" or "frame pack") is designed for backpacking and other outdoors activities. These type of packs are more complex than most other backpacks. Compared to backpacks used for more day-to-day purposes such as schoolbooks, such packs are designed to carry substantially heavier loads, and as a result most such packs attach not only at the shoulders but at the hips, using a padded hip belt to evenly distribute the weight of the pack to the legs and back for better balance and comfort (this is a must for long hikes and extensive trips through trails.) The often heavily padded and sometimes semi-rigid shoulder straps are mainly for balancing the weight. They usually (except for those used in ultralight backpacking) have a metal or plastic frame to support and distribute the weight of the pack. Larger packs of this type tend to have a subdivided main compartment. These trekking packs often have several pockets on the outside; they may also have lash points on the exterior (either directly attached to the frame or webbing loops), so that bulky items may be strapped on, although depending on the pack design and type of trek most backpackers will try to stuff everything into the pack. Multiday packs typically have a content between 60 and 100 liters (and are about 3 ft /1 meter tall). Smaller packs with similar features are available for shorter trips.

My own rucksack is of the make Hiker Vermont 60.