More babble about Priorities

  Although Beth and I spent last weekend visiting family in the east and attending the wedding of an 'old' good friend in Prallsville, N.J. I shall not comment much on friends and grandchildren and other relations in this blog, not wishing it to become a Facebook like exposure of other peoples private affairs. There is more than enough of that on the web and the world does not need another Kim Kardashian clone. ( .... Forbes claims she is worth some 45 million and Wikipedia reports that she writes 'sponsored Instagram and Twitter posts which are collectively worth $10,000-25,000 per post")... for doing what exactly? Apparently fame itself can be very profitable and that is a sad state of America when there is so much real need. Care to help build a new water system in Flint, Michigan Kim? They need clean water a lot more than a new lip gloss product. Which is not to pick on her rather the 'establishment' which so obscenely corrupts priorities. As always it comes down to individuals making good or bad decisions and the Flint city officials who lied about lead levels are no different than the local CEO of the Corry, PA teachers credit union who embezzled over $700,000 for personal gain. Just more morally challenged people in positions of power, and they were the few who got caught. What a superior world we could inhabit if people more often considered the greater good rather than narrow personal interests. For perspective:

     According to Forbes these two individuals have this amount of wealth-

• #1 Bill Gates, worth $75 Billion
• #2 Amancio Ortega, worth $67 Billion ...totaling 142 billion... The cost to rebuild New Orleans after hurricane Katrina is estimated to be 92 to 125 billion. So these two people could repair all the damage with money to spare. How did we create such as distorted distribution of wealth? I am not disparaging capitalism, or Mr. Gates, who actually seems to have a conscience, but am distressed that we are dependent on the whims of individuals....on human nature.. to decide what is just and fair and where all the money is spent.  Recall that many of these power brokers are fighting a living wage for the average worker.

     But I digress and am certainly no saint, and regret the mindless killing of insects and birds and frogs I did with my BB gun as a kid. It was not maliciousness, but true thoughtlessness without real consideration of them as living things that motivated me, and I wonder if it is sometimes a similar lack of self awareness that causes people to do immoral things. As they ( we ) mature we become more conscious of the effects of our actions and hopefully behave more wisely.
   -4pm. The dog and I walk along Big Four road near the Conewango River. The stream at this time of year runs high and dark, and pushes against ice encrusted logs that in warmer seasons sit atop exposed sandbars. Because melting has left a film of water atop the ice, we are forced to hug the plowed piles at the edge of the road, so it is slow going. One half mile along the road a gas company has bulldozed a new road up the mountain to the east, which offers us a new place to explore. I welcome these new roads and trails and do not worry about their long term impact, for it is apparent to me that a century of drilling and logging has not left any permanent scars on the landscape. Fracking may spoil a few water wells, and logging roads may linger for a few decades, but eventually erosion smooths away the cut and shrubs and trees obscure the land until it is difficult to discern where the original damage had been inflicted. Because of that long term perspective, neither do I worry about climate change, for it is not humanity that concerns me so much as the fate of the planet, and I know that nature will heal without us. Which means that I mourn for all the innocent people and other organisms that have been and will be killed by our abuses, but I am assured that Creation will endure. Nature has caused mass extinctions in the past and we are one more meteorite in a long history of destruction. Besides, with a president elect who denies scientific evidence and a general populace who refuse to live efficiently, there seems to be a ball rolling comprised of overpopulation and consumerism and resource depletion that is unstoppable. I do not believe that we are powerless to change, only that we will not do so, and so our children will reap the consequence of how we are living. Humanity needs a crisis to act, and even then can act only to the best of its ignorance.

December

12/15- Tis the season to clear an inch or more of snow from the car and sidewalk every morning, or at least five mornings out of seven, as lake effect snow drops daily squalls like frozen summer showers. So there was an inch this morning, two and a half yesterday and another nine inches over the past week. Overall it has been much colder and snowier than last December.

       The dog and I walked Hatch Run on the 13th for the first time in weeks since deer season had ended, and she boldly scratched to remark her territory not realizing the folly of her claim. I imagined the fox and coyote who passed that way afterward wondered where their potential meal had wandered off to. Someone had blazed the trail with snowshoes which made walking easier for both of us, and the abundant hemlock trees lessened the accumulation which reached the ground.
        For as complaining as I become about winter sometimes, there is always a part of me that admonishes myself for my poor attitude, and the enthusiasm of the dog as she runs and jumps through the snow, oblivious to the challenge with her short legs, reminds me of my good fortune.
        -   Reading about the human brain, or rather, about the injuries and illnesses that inflict some people makes me question the reality of any perceptions and beliefs I hold dear. As J. Browne writes " If I'm truthful, I'll say that I was blind to everything about this life but what I had in mind".
  According to neuroscience, there are people whose brain afflictions cause them to believe with all conviction that they are dead, or that imposters have taken the place of  people they have known all their lives, or that their own limbs are attached to other people- and no amount of logic can persuade them otherwise. Neuroscientists make the analogy to how optical illusions fool the healthy mind; our brains have trouble believing the truth despite the false witness of our eyes. I have always suspected that consciousness is what I call a 'constructed illusion', but the narrowness of some of our perceptions and exactly how angles and lines and smells and textures are arranged and retrieved from specific groups of neurons to form "reality" makes me wonder if such a thing as reality exists. If  memory can be destroyed with a few excisions to the hippo campus, what is that which we call our past? So a crucial question is whether some sense of reality/consciousness exists independent of the brain, perhaps in what science calls a 'collapsing of the quantum wave function' that is unrelated to human beings? Science believes in a reality independent of us, but is there anyway to prove it, or at least, to ascribe any meaning to it without our consciousness to measure and describe it? Of course to think the moon disappears when we are not looking at it is the height of egoism, and we see evidence of a reality that preceded us in fossils, but still it is this collection of neurons in our heads interpreting those things with our senses. I have no answers, except to assume that it is this enduring mystery which inspires religion and science and all of human striving.

Journal

12/7-Several hours of the sun, the most in two weeks.35F The dog and I walk the roads near Hearts Content in morning.The notable silence in this part of the state is due to the low population and the lack of air traffic. I sometimes hear the low rumble of a commercial jet far overhead but their flight paths are generally too high to be heard and local aircraft are almost non existent. Occasionally the emergency helicopter from Erie lands at the hospital to transport a patient, and in spring and summer there is pesticide spraying to control black flies, but those few flights are rare. The silence here reminds me of those days immediately following the 9-11 attack in New York, when all flights were cancelled and which for that short time period offered the only silence I had heard in decades living near the eastern cities. Today I hear the yelping of wild turkeys in the distance; they sound somewhat like wild dogs when far off, and call to reassemble the flock if they are scattered. It reminds me of Joe Huttos film "My Life As a Turkey"  in which he discovered their aversion to sawed off tree trunks as well as other sensitivities in the turkey mind that humans were unaware of. Such knowledge of course requires tremendous patience and commitment, which even he admits he did not know he would need before beginning his study. Will researchers like Jane Goodall and Hutto become more rare as the attention span of humanity shortens?
12/8-To post office and bank in morning, then walk four miles in Russell with Beth. Very cold wind today, with flurries until dusk, when snow becomes steady.
12/11- About nine inches total accumulation this morning, with more predicted. The persistent lake effect of clouds and snow showers has settled onto the county, so a white Christmas is assured this year. B. and I shop Jamestown then I walk the dog near the Conewango, where I discover a small 'dogleg' tributary that flows inland and parallels the main flow for a quarter mile before emptying back into the river near 5th street bridge. I had never noticed this ten yard wide flow because it is hidden behind woods and houses some 200 yards off the sidewalk, and I had never occasioned myself to trespass. Yet there is a well trodden path here easily followed once one know it is there, and the dog and I scamper through the snow in the woods just minutes from the road. No doubt the local children and fishermen use this path in the spring.

Journal

12/4- Sunday-Walk the woods atop Mohawk Avenue. Clouds, 40F It is more pleasant air today than yesterday, although in Warren in December such changes are subtle and only by small accounts more agreeable. No hunting on Sundays in Pennsylvania allows the dog and I to move freely. As we exit the car we hear the whirring thump of a natural gas engine pushing the natural gas through underground pipes. These pumps are relatively quiet-unlike the large diesel engines that push oil within similar pipes-and they burn the same gas which they help to extract to power their own existence. Sometimes I am startled by the starting of a jack pump miles from civilization when a sensor trips the pump, but generally the oil and gas extraction is unobtrusive to a hiker-except during the initial drilling and bulldozing of access roads.

       Otherwise the woods is unusually still this afternoon, silent of even a slight breeze, and we are too far from town to hear the noise. A few juncos and chickadees trill and chatter from the hemlocks, and a solitary goldfinch passes in the distance- unusually late for this time of year. The dog enjoys running during autumn for it is cool and the ground is not yet covered with snow. She explores every smell unnoticed by me and sometimes dashes into the woods after a chipmunk or squirrel, following the scents for hundreds of yards then rejoining me further down the trail. Despite her age she is still able to run ten miles and remains wholly acclimated to the woods. No doubt her small size would make her vulnerable to coyotes were she alone, but I suspect she would not yield easily.

      The ground is a spongy brown mass of fallen leaves showing scarcely an inch of open soil. It is mostly oaks here so the pattern is angular, crisscrossing shapes flattened by the rain. Here and there a twig with three or four leaves has been blown down, and those leaves show hints of green where the chlorophyll had not receded. Now they appear youthful among the other leaves as they take that much longer to decay. I notice that fallen logs retain a trace of snow and I assume that that is because they are raised higher than the warmer ground. The tops of rock and a few leaves that are not touching the earth also show some snow, but not all of them and not in every direction. Probably there was a heavy squall in this small area yesterday that did not touch further on. A single crow calls out as we approach, warning whatever animals are within earshot; it is the alarmist of the woods, like a siren in town calling us to a fire. 

    12/5-  Clouds, some drizzle 38F. Do charts at the office then walk Betts Park.11:30. Walk two more miles with Beth at 1:30 We experience a few precious minutes of sunlight and snap a quick photograph of our shadows,  possibly the last time we shall see them for another week or more. 

    12/6- Clouds, hazy sun then rain by 2:30. I walk a circular route through town to the office in morning. It is an unexpected sound to hear water gurgling beneath the road near sewer drains, for I forget that they are there and that the streams are underground in town. Even this small city has a thousand miles of unseen pipes. I once asked retired workers from the refinery whether anyone there knew the purpose and connection of the thousands of pipes in that facility, and both immediately named one supervisor whom they suspected did. Probably such knowledge is accumulated over years like that of a surgeon or lawyer who learns the intricacies of the profession through long experience. On Irvinedale road I pass a road killed doe, but they are uncommon in town considering that there are woods on every side. Some hunters complain that regulations have decimated the deer population, yet I hear enough success stories to know that luck and skill have influential roles. Probably patience is also lacking in the former. One house in town shows a sign reading "It's About Jesus" which of course is only partially true. Rather, "It's About Love" would be a more accurate statement regardless of where one finds the inspiration. At another house the homeowner is collecting leaves for what will probably be the last time before winter. He pushes them to the road where the city vacuums them up for disposal.

      At the office a 'drug rep' as they are called buys access to 20 minutes of the doctors time by purchasing lunch for the staff. So twice a week the pharmaceutical companies spend some $70-$80 per meal to try to influence the physician to prescribe their latest medicine. In some offices-and there are thousands across the country- that would be five days a week for smaller or larger staffs contributing to the 'hidden' cost of healthcare. Until a few years ago the companies spent more millions on pens and magnets and other trinkets, but laws were passed to limit that form of bribery, so now television and magazine ads have prevailed.

Journal

     12/3/16
                 Clouds and intermittent drizzle and snow showers. 38F Walk 5 miles near Frewsburg. Hunting season and a quagmire of mud on the dirt roads confines the dog and I to macadam. Beth is babysitting today for a friend. After leaving the bank two years ago she has been much happier care taking the elderly and cleaning houses part time. Presently she is replacing the kitchen cupboard doors- all of it hands-on labor that she loves.
                  The higher elevations show light accumulation this afternoon, but two weeks ago I yet saw an occasional red legged grasshopper or sulfur butterfly, so Autumn has been mostly clear and pleasant. There are a few fresh dandelions in the yard and a rare goldenrod or yellow vetch plant shows color despite the snow. The latter are beacons within the drab landscape and had likely been late bloomers. I pass an old bulldozer parked on someone property that appears to be at least 50 years old yet looks as if it is used occasionally. Old weather beaten equipment like this appeals to me because it shows a long history and obviously has seen good care to have lasted so long. In truth I do not know if such things were better built decades ago or simply have been well maintained, but in this disposable age of disposable attitudes these old machines are a treasure. On that account is refreshing to see video from Cuba where the people have been forced to preserve their cars, which over time have become valuable antiques to the rest of the world.

Writing

(I have decided to resume my journal after years of neglect, and shall present it here when inspiration permits. Methinks I have been intellectually stagnant of late, and the thought of winter depresses me, so writing regularly helps clarify my thinking.)

    12-2-2016- Clouds, intermittent drizzle. 40F.   Walk Warren at noon. I have not walked though town in months, preferring nature and solitude generally, but there is something new and fresh after such a long absence, and the less traveled roads offer a relaxed, familiar place- and pace- by which to reconnect with my pen. I notice immediately that both time and distance are shortened by the wonderful, distracted immersion that creative thought demands, and I am already less troubled by the winter skies. Perhaps that is the best advice for anyone looking to find a sincere occupation: do that which engages you so completely that time flies.

      As I look out over the town after living here for ten years, I realize that I cannot fairly judge it without first admitting and dismissing my own moods and biases about life in general. That is, town is not responsible for what I bring to it, and to call it poor, or conservative, or wealthy, or liberal, or friendly or unfriendly, would demand that I first define those things in myself. The Allegheny River that divides this town is a better measure of my shifting opinions. The river at least reflects my human frailties from an ageless direction.

       As towns go it is less than 10,000 persons by last census, and traffic rarely backs up at the stoplights. People who have passed their lives here tell me that it is a small town in the sense that people know one another, which from my perspective of one who has lived most of his life near the eastern cities, both encourages concern for ones neighbors and inhibits people from addressing the potential problems of nepotism. Despite the impersonal alienation of a metropolitan area, there is a greater opportunity in a larger city to embrace ideas of truth and justice independent of personal feelings. In that regard impartiality is easier when one does not personally know ones neighbor. Of course as I write that statement I realize that there are good, noble people in both places and also the corrupt and unprincipled, and when there is a critical mass of either persuasion social history is determined.

       As I cross back over the river at the end of four miles I pause to watch the pigeons fly over the buildings and circle back to a wire near the bridge. None of them are the same individuals I had watched ten years ago, although in truth I feel mostly unchanged in this sacred, mysterious place from which my words arise. In this place I am an observer of my own life passing by, independent of the outside world, where writing remains a stable force springing from a realm I have sometimes called heaven. Regardless of how dry and lifeless words can be sometimes, at their best they have cajoled and inspired and angered and frustrated me, and made me laugh and cry and feel wholly alive. For those reasons I have resumed my journal today.

           

Random Babbling

    - Another 300 pound patient in the office is getting a sleep study to determine why he is not sleeping well... I have remarked on this flagrant waste of money before because it has become the norm rather than the exception in healthcare spending. There is no cost control nor common sense nor self responsibility in many facets of the business. Unnecessary tests and medications rather than simple lifestyle changes are as responsible for high costs as the overpaid CEO's and other inflated charges. When I see a 90 year old person get a thousand dollars worth of tests to determine that 'yes, you are old and will die sooner than later',  I wonder why that person has not reconciled their own mortality long before. As the true costs have begun to be transferred to individuals with higher deductibles and premiums, I think people are finally getting their heads out of the sand. Unfortunately they are still expecting things to paid by others rather than taking responsibility for their own lives. There will Have to be cost controls and individual accountability factored into healthcare or the system will  implode or bankrupt the country. Sooner or later people will Have to accept that 'yes' I will exercise and watch my weight and not smoke and drink or else I will Not expect everyone else to pick up the tab. Sooner or later the elderly will have to say 'yes, I am ready to die' before I expect others to keep me alive for another 6 months. I am not holding my breath.
    - Another disgruntled husband in Jamestown, NY shot his wife dead rather than face his own pathetic weak ego, and so more innocent lives have been devastated because he wasn't able to control his own mind as much as he wanted to control his wife. Sorry dude, your violent anger and hatred exposed your feeble inner life more than you will ever realize. Your lack of courage and ability to control yourself is all too common in testosterone flooded macho men who lash out at others rather than face their own inadequacies. So the guy hid in an attic for a couple days then stabbed the police dog who found him ( recovering fortunately) and eventually turned himself in. Now he faces a 2nd degree murder charge, which unfortunately means only 15 years to life in New York state-far too lenient for taking a life. The dead wife had obtained a protection from abuse order so no way this guy did not premeditate taking his pistol to her workplace and shooting her in the head on the sidewalk. This is who the guy was over for years...in his core.
  - While I have always been impressed by how the small brains of insects are able to coordinate all the functions of flight, I am astounded by their ability to instantaneously compensate their aerodynamic requirements while mating. The male carries the female in many species, including butterflies, dragonflies, houseflies and others, in some cases with both individuals flapping their wings as they maneuver. Not bad for a small group pf neurons... 

Post Election Thoughts

   -The vote in Warren County went 68% Trump, and while I voted Hillary primarily for healthcare and green energy reasons, I understand the frustration people have against the current government-and America generally- in which they feel the rich and powerful make the rules and hoard the profits. Voters feel a sense of injustice for the same reason that the jury voted to acquit O.J. Simpson in 1995; the historical record of oppression was on trial..Not O.J... So the blue collar working class and others are fed up with Washington and did what they thought was right. As for Trump himself, Peter Thiel summed up the national divide up well when he said that his supporters take him "seriously but not literally", while everyone else takes him literally but not seriously. Which means for instance that building a wall may not mean literally building a wall rather getting something serious done about immigration policy. We shall see what parts of the spin relate to reality. 

  - During the campaign I saw 'Vote Trump' signs in front of  beautiful houses, but I am not sure what definition of 'MakeAmericaGreatAgain' those homeowners thought had failed them; the America they inhabited looked  quite prosperous to me. And I saw signs in front of run down houses whose occupants probably worked two jobs to pay the bills, but they also had satellite dishes on the roof and pizza boxes in the trash. So neither were those homeowners as oppressed as they may have believed. For every 'lowering' of living standard that America has experienced through the loss of jobs, a Chinese or Mexican workers living standard has been raised, so the flux and flow of jobs is nothing new regardless of how painful it is to individuals. America has a deep safety net that many world citizens do not. The disaffected American worker justifiably wonders why billions of tax dollars are wasted overseas in wars and other places while his own life position seems to be stagnating. The income and education gap is real, and we'll see how much a billionaire can truly relate to the working class.

   -Like most elections, this one did not contain analytical discussions so much as sound bites with simple explanations and solutions that appealed to the powerlessness people feel within their own lives. In the Twitter age half truths sound great in a few sentences. I know a  Trump supporter who  emphatically claimed that trucks could never run on natural gas because they would never produce enough power to haul freight. A simple Google search of 'natural gas trucks' exposes the absurdity of that claim. So 'bomb the shit' out of ISIS sounds like a great solution to someone who has never researched the long troubled history of the middle east. It sounded great to the second George Bush who never thought beyond the first invasion wave. If only life were so simple. 

   -President elect Trump described his first transitional meeting with Obama productive and that they had "great chemistry". I believe it. Trump in 2004 admitted that "In many cases I probably identify more as a democrat" and Obama is a careful thinker who knows that he has to insure a smooth transfer of power.  Trumps daughter Ivanka is friends with Hillarys daughter Chelsea and I suspect that both will be positive influences behind the scenes. 

 

 

Computers

         Found some funny 'truths' about computers written years ago:

1~  "We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire woks of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true."
                                                                                          - Robert Wilensky, 1997

2~ " Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot proof programs and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning".
                                                                                            - Rick Cook  1989

3~ "To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer."
                                                                                            - The Farmers Almanac  1978
             

  Shopping and looking up information on Google have become much easier since the internet...but the vulnerabilities to finances, electrical grid etc.as well as the misinformation and propaganda and sheer glut of noise and distraction seem to me to have not really benefited humanity much. I sometime think that the tech industry has perpetrated a massive scam on the world with promises of an improved lifestyle, when in fact they have profited massively while introducing a new set of problems. As always there is no changing human nature, so the power of technology to aid such 'revolutions' as the 'Arab spring' also helps ISIS types to recruit mass murderers with the click of a mouse.

Nature

 Anyone who hikes in nature regularly knows that it is not the flashy birds and flowers and butterflies that describe the essential forces at work in the natural world. Rather it is the mosses and lichens and bacteria and other obscure organisms that form the backbone of decomposition and make the cycling of life possible. So while seeing the large, pre-revolutionary war trees is interesting, it is in the routine things one sees while in the midst of a routine hike that form the heart of the natural world. I compare the latter with the truck drivers and farmers and other humans who do the real work while the actors and politicians get the headlines. (Totally skewed priorities of fame and importance of course but that is human nature.) In the mountains around here there are small streams that one can easily jump across which contain native brook trout rarely reaching more than 4 or 5 inches in length. To glimpse one is before it disappears under a rock is like glimpsing some ephemeral apparition, more wild and unspoiled than any other fish around here, and as marvelous in its way as standing beneath a 300 year old tree. I have seen men bushwack off the trail with  short, child sized  rods to catch these wary fish, despite having to throw  them back, because the challenge they offer is far more satisfying than catching hatchery raised fish. In that regard they are one of the few remaining symbols of the wild Pennsylvania that used to exist, so something indefinable will be lost if they die out from pollution, global warming or some other threat. Meanwhile the bacteria and fungi will probably survive and continue their unheralded work all around us.

Why We Should Elect Women For True Change

   ...In an earlier post I argued that we do not need a change of people in power, rather a change of Consciousness...The below article is what I meant...However, I am perfectly aware that there are rotten women out there and that when they eventually accumulate power nothing fundamental may change. I am ambivalent about both Hillary Clinton and Donal Trump...Too bad she did not make Bernie Sanders her VP and too bad Mr Trump talks like such a jerk sometimes. My reasonable side insists that I vote for Hillary while my rebel side demands that I go Trump to see what happens. POSTSCRIPT:  Everyone should watch the PBS Frontline show called 'THE CHOICE 2016" to get a more complete description of both candidates. At least you will be better informed beyond the abysmally incomplete picture one gets on the network news. 

  Compromise nearly guaranteed when a woman is involved in decision-making pairs

Study finds when making joint decisions, men need to prove masculinity, 'push away' from compromise

Date:

July 28, 2016

Source:

Boston College

Summary:

Compromise always occurs among two decision makers when a woman is involved (female pairs or mixed gender pairs) because compromise is consistent with feminine norms. It hardly ever occurs when the decision makers are both men because extremism is a more masculine trait; men tend to push away from compromise options and choose extreme options in order to prove their masculinity in presence of other men, suggests a new study. The findings are pertinent to marketers, managers, and consumers.

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FULL STORY

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More isn't necessarily better when it comes to men making decisions together, especially if you want a middle-of-the-road compromise. That's according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research which finds that compromise always occurs among two decision makers when a woman is involved (female-female pairs or mixed gender pairs), but hardly ever when the pair of decision makers are men. The findings could be pertinent to marketers, managers, and consumers alike.

"When men are in the presence of other men, they feel the need to prove their masculinity," says co-researcher Hristina Nikolova, the Coughlin Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor of Marketing with the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. "Both tend to push away from the compromise option because the compromise option is consistent with feminine norms. On the other hand, extremism is a more masculine trait so that's why both male partners tend to prefer an extreme option when making decisions together."
Titled "Men and the Middle: Gender Differences in Dyadic Compromise Effects" and published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the study was co-authored by Cait Lamberton, Associate Professor of Marketing with the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. While previous research has examined the compromise effect -- the tendency to choose the middle, compromise option in a choice set- using single individuals, this is the first research examining how joint decision-making contexts change consumers' preferences for the compromise option.
"The decisions we make in pairs may be very different than those we make alone, depending on who we make them with," according to the study. "Classic compromise effects, AKA the 'goldilocks effect' or 'extremeness aversion,' may not emerge in all joint consumption decisions."
Nikolova and Lamberton conducted four experiments with 1,204 students at two U.S universities, and a fifth experiment using 673 online participants. The studies involved different pairs of a man and woman, two women, and two men making decisions on such things as buying printers, toothpaste, flashlights, tires, hotels, headphones, different sizes and shapes of grills, what prizes to seek in a lottery, and whether to buy risky or safe stocks with corresponding high and low returns.
"No matter what the product is, we see the same effects," says Nikolova. "The compromise effect basically emerges in any pair when there is a woman. However, surprisingly, when you have men choosing together, they actually tend to push away from the compromise option and select one of the extreme options. Say two men are choosing a car and the cars they are considering differ on safety and fuel efficiency -- they will either go for the safest car or the one that offers them the most fuel efficiency, but they won't choose an option that offers a little of both." In contrast, individuals and mixed-gender and female-female pairs will likely go for the middle option since it seems reasonable and is easily justified.
According to the study: "When making decisions together, men take actions that are maximally different from feminine norms, which prioritize moderation, and maximally similar to masculine norms, which prioritize extremity. Furthermore, because a female presence makes the masculinity of men in male-female dyads obvious, in these pairings we observe compromise behavior consistent with that of individual decision-makers and female-female dyads."
"In contrast to men," says Nikolova, "women act the same together as they would alone because they don't need to prove anything in front of other women. Womanhood is not precarious and does not need the same level of public defense as manhood. That's why we observe the compromise effect in the joint decisions of two female partners."
Interestingly, the research found that compromise is criticized among other men, but embraced by women.
"Only men judge other men very harshly when they suggest the compromise option to a male partner," says Nikolova. "It doesn't happen when a man suggests the compromise option to a female partner or when women suggest the compromise option so it's really specific to men dealing with other men."
Nikolova says the findings are something corporate American will want to pay attention to and gear campaigns around since the compromise effect is a robust phenomenon often used to manage assortments, position products, and drive sales. The findings of the study suggest that retailers and marketers should be aware of the gender composition of the joint decision-making pairs they might be targeting.
"For instance, marketers should be aware of the fact that when two men make decisions together, they are more likely to choose one of the extreme options. So if a company wants to push sales toward a particular option, and they expect their target customers to primarily be men making decisions together, then it's better to make the particular option an extreme option rather than a middle alternative."
For example, the findings can easily be applied by car sales people. When offering different cars and creating the choice set for their customers, car sales people need to pay attention to the gender composition of the decision-making pairs. If a father and a son are purchasing the first car for the son together, it would be better for the sales person to make the particular car which he or she wants to sell (usually the most profitable one) an extreme option in the offered choice set (e.g., the one with the most fuel efficiency, the best interior design, or the highest horsepower.). In contrast, if a male/female couple or a mother and a daughter are shopping together, it would be best to make that option a middle alternative in the choice set by adding other alternatives that offer less or more of the particular attribute.
Furthermore, Nikolova says if an organization wants more middle ground decisions made, it's critical to include a woman in the decision-making pair. In contrast, if a manager wants to "nudge" more all-or-nothing decisions, it is better to entrust them to two men.
As for consumers, it's important for male consumers to know what they might buy themselves is different from what they would choose with another man.
"What we're finding is when men have to choose alone, most select the compromise option," says Nikolova. "But when they have to make the decision with another man, they tend to choose one of the extreme options which is not something they would prefer if they were alone. It's important for male consumers to be aware of this when making decisions with other people since the drive to prove their masculinity might lead them to make decisions that they might not enjoy later."

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Nothing New but Still Disturbing

 Another good  book detailing the unbalanced influence of money in politics, mainly how the Koch brothers and other 'conservatives' have distorted facts to favor their corporate agendas. Of course 'liberals' spend too much too, which is why Bernie Sanders is advocating public financing for elections. Naturally, regardless of the laws money will still find its way behind closed doors as it does today under the guise of "non-profits"-which effectively hide the source donors of literally hundreds of millions of dollars. I have noticed a backlash by the public who sometimes vote contrary to the money, but the disproportionate lack of influence by the average person for determining what gets discussed publicly and thus influencing the agenda is obvious.

More Weather

  The good thing about walking in sleet and snow showers on May 15th is that it is not rain, so one's sweatshirt does not become soaked. However, to be walking in shorts and short sleeves one day then snow two days (or months!) later is just plain weird. It was a warm winter, and now the transition from that season to summer has stalled in late March and early April, so that the high today is 41*F after being 68*F on March 9th and 70*F on March 27th, then snow and highs of 28*F on the 3rd, 5th and 9th of April. In May it has been below 60*F for ten of the 15 days and will be below normal for at least 16 of the first 19 days of the month. Weird.
   Passing though North Carolina on our way to Georgia in mid March and then again in early April, the spring seemed about two weeks advanced of Warren, and probably the winter there is a few weeks delayed. With hot but not oppressive summers like the deeper south, and warmer winters, I suspect that North Carolina offers a pleasant year round climate that offers changing seasons but not too much of any one thing. Politically I likely would disagree with many of my neighbors but that's not been unusual regardless of where I've lived.

Time

I turned 60 this past January, which affected me a little more mentally than turning 40 or 50 did, although in truth my health is good so I feel fortunate to be able to do anything that I ever did-albeit a bit slower. My hair has become mostly gray at last and my paunch a little more stubborn, but I still climb mountains daily, thus attribute whatever physical decline I notice to the extra few pounds rather than to any particular affect of aging. That is, my body could easily walk the country a second time if my mind chose to do that, so a lifetime of walking and good genes have blessed me, and I never forget my good fortune.
        Long ago I had an intuition that I would live until my early 80's and I have thought about what I wish to be done with my body after I die. My preference would be to be laid out on the ground somewhere so that the animals and insects and bacteria could consume me in the same way that I have consumed them all my life, but that is frowned upon in Western culture; for economic reasons I'll probably accept cremation as the simplest disposal. When I lament burning up in a fire as a somewhat unnatural waste of flesh, I remember that wildfires are common in nature and that ultimately the entire Earth will be incinerated by the expanding sun-so what is 'natural' is quite an expansive definition. At any rate my family will be able to scatter my ashes wherever they choose and so that is dust to dust and atom to atom.
       In his book "When Breath Become Air", neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi describes his stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis at the age of 36, and in the final paragraph of the book he writes a simple message to his eight month old daughter who will never know him:
                "When you come to one of the many moments in life where you must give an account of yourself, provide a ledger of what you have been, and done, and meant to the world, do not, I pray, discount that you have filled a dying man's days with a sated joy unknown to me in all my prior years, a joy that does not hunger for more and more but rests, satisfied. In this time, right now, that is an enormous thing".
               So life goes on, and we all grow old and die, and nature eventually reclaims even the bulldozers that scar her. All is as it should be.
   

Cuba and Afghanistan

    It's distressing to hear the criticism of the recent opening of relations with Cuba,claiming that we should not  become friendly with a nation/government that jails political dissenters. Meanwhile we continue to spend blood and billions of dollars in Afghanistan( and other middles east countries) where the suppression, abuse and outright murder of women is still condoned in the name of "honor".

Ramblings

   Finished a book called "Symphony for the City of the Dead" by M.T. Anderson, detailing the siege of Leningrad (St.Petersburg) during WW2. I had never realized what a total narcissistic psychopath Stalin was, nor how many people he was directly and indirectly responsible for killing. Because of his murderous purges before the war-including killing top generals-and his incompetence during the war, the Soviet people lost over 27 million dead. That surpasses all other nations combined. Theirs was a history of paranoia and suffering within a totalitarian system, where neighbor betrayed neighbor and people had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive after the Nazis invaded. Nothing in American history compares-at least not among the dominant white population-and it helps to explain the psychology of the Russian people today.
   In another book- "The 2016 World Almanac", I discovered that the violent crime rate in America is less than half of what it was in 1990. Back then 9.4 people were murdered per 100,000, versus 4.5 today. Motor vehicle theft is about 1/3 of what it was then- 655 vehicles per 100,000 versus 221.3 in 2013. So once again the fear mongering regarding terrorism and gun violence and the threat of crime just doesn't reflect the facts. Neither does the teenage pregnancy rate, which was 43.9 births per 1,000 girls ages 15-17 in 1960 versus only 10.9 in 2013. It had been declining every year since then. As for abortions, they peaked in 1990 at 1,429,247 versus 730,322 in 2011. The number of births to unmarried mothers Has gone up, from 399,000 in 1970 to 1,596,000 in 2013. However, the age of those mothers has increased: In 1970 50.1% of unmarried mothers were under twenty years old. Today only 15.3 percent are that young. So women are delaying birth as the traditional family unit has changed.
   Economically, Bill Gates remains the richest man with 79.2 billion dollars, and Warren Buffet is #3 with 72.7 billion. The Walton family comes in at # 8 (Christy-41.7 billion) #9 (Jim-40.6) #11 (Alice-39.4) and #12(S. Robson 39.1) That's 160.8 billion in one family( ...the rest of the Waltons probably have their own share?)    Meanwhile, 46.7 million Americans( 14.8% of the population) live below the poverty level which this year is $12,071 per person. 3,894,213 people receive some kind of government assistance, including 22.6% of employed people, with the average monthly cash input being $628.
    ....So
The Almanac is a great source of information that helps cut through the bullshit. Statistics no doubt can be deceptive, but not so much as the evening news

Global Warming?Car Choice?Free Will?

          I overheard an old man say to his (presumed) 

daughter and granddaughter, “Look at that car!” as he 

pointed at a two seat Fiat. “I wouldn’t buy that. I want something
between me and the road, and other cars.”   

The daughter agreed and the grand daughter will some 

day make her own choice partially influenced by what 

she grows up hearing. Of course the relative safety of a

 vehicle depends somewhat on the mass of the vehicles 

around it, so if most people drove small cars then their 

safety would rise proportionately. And because a small

 car is usually more fuel efficient, the danger a bigger one presents
to his family(considering the potential political unrest
 as a result of  the accumulating affects of pollution and global
warming)might make the small car much safer than the big one.

 Yet his analysis of car choice is typical of

 many people, as is reflected in the surge in truck and SUV
 sales now that oil prices have dropped again.  However, I am
wary of being sanctimonious regarding such things, for I know
 many smart people who do not analyze certain issues very
deeply, or they arrive at very different conclusions, so
 overall I trust that Creation will endure regardless of what
we humans do or do not do. Besides, that old man and
 his daughter may be doing good charity work elsewhere and
so give to the planet that way. Or the dreaded asteroid may
strike tomorrow and make all our opinions and behaviors
 ultimately irrelevant. I think it is worthwhile do our best but
 I try keep an open minded sense of humor about it too.

Paul Theroux's 'DEEP SOUTH'

   I recommend the latest book by Mr.Theroux called "Deep South" in which he travels around the southern United States and relates his experiences in his usual perceptive, no nonsense manner. Having traveled all over the world he compares the poverty he witnessed in the rural south to a third world country-a result of the local economies having been decimated by the loss of manufacturing over the last two decades. Additionally, hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid are funneled to foreign nations while a comparative pittance is directed to needy areas in our own country. He also relates the continuing prejudices that undermine black progress such as the reluctance of white owned banks to proffer loans to black business. It is a sobering expose' of sorts, and not a portrayal you see on the daily news. According to the author- who is from Massachusetts-the white rural south remains stuck in a subtle, unfinished resentment left over from having lost the civil war, and I suppose the problems of racism are no doubt more entrenched in a culture that did not even recognize the perversion of slavery in the first place. At any rate, it's a good read and worth the time.