Reality - complex technology is hard

From Deep Work by Cal Newport:

The complex reality of the technologies that real companies leverage to get ahead emphasizes the absurdity of the now common idea that exposure to simplistic, consumer-facing products - especially in schools - somehow prepares people to succeed in a high-tech economy.  Giving students iPads or allowing them to film homework assignments on YouTube prepares them for a high-tech economy about as much as playing with Hot Wheels would prepare them to thrive as auto mechanics.

Foot note on page 31

I am not into politics

I believe that one day I will be judged for how I lived my life. I am sure God will have a long list of items for me to explain and questions to answer. He is a forgiving God. I believe in the saving Grace of Jesus Christ and I know I am a sinner.
 

I do not believe that one of those questions will be for me to explain why I was a liberal or a conservative as it was defined by the self-proclaimed liberals and conservatives in the early part of the 21st century. 
 

You don't have to know much about the history of the United States to know that how liberalism and conservatism is defined today is different than how it was defined in the 1930's, 1950's, 1960-1970's, and 1980's.
 

I am not a self-proclaimed liberal or conservative. 
 

I just don't think God cares about that. 
 

That's it. No politics. No judgment of others. No hate.

Saw on Twitter - Funny enough to share.

Funny enough to post here

Where were you when........?

It is an unusual phenomenon that people remember where they were when certain big events took place.  When the topic came up, a very long conversation ensued as each person would describe exactly what they were doing, who they were with, what they were wearing, how they heard the news, etc.

December 7, 1941 was the date of the event for my grand parents generation.

November 22, 1963 was the date for my parents.

For my generation, it might be January 28, 1986.  That was the date that the space shuttle Challenger blew up.  The 30th anniversary of that event was just a couple of weeks ago.  Seems just like it was yesterday.   I was auditing the books at Modern Builders in Mtn View.  They had a big screen TV on display and we all stopped to watch the blast off.   Instead it blew up and the image will be forever tattooed on my brain.   You can watch it today on YouTube, but I can't

Now the good news is that not all dates that we vividly remember were disasters.   We all remember our graduation, our first kiss, our first..., well you know.   Some might remember something like a vacation.  Brenda loves to tell a story about a family vacation to Colorado the summer before her senior year in high school.  (Oh wait, that was also a disaster).   I remember going to St Louis in about 1968 to see my first Cardinal game.  I think dad might even have a Super 8 movie of Lou Brock stealing second base.   However, I can't remember the date or much else about that vacation.

The purpose of this ramble is to say that tomorrow is one of those dates for me.  February 13, 1986.  Happens to be 30 years ago.  I was in a Shoney's Motel in Little Rock.  I bet you didn't even remember that the Shoney's Restaurant Corporation had a short lived venture into the motel business.  Anyway,  Ed Deskin, Bob Hughes and I were in the motel.  We were in Little Rock because we were on an audit of a home health agency client of Bob's.   Sandye and I lived in Batesville at the time but I was upset because I was not in Calico Rock.   The reason I was upset was because there was a significant event happening in our family and I was not there.   You see, Brenda and Jack had been wanting a baby for a long time.    And finally on February 13, 1986 at about 11:40 PM, Ross Ward arrived.  A bouncing baby boy.

The newest addition to our family and I was in a motel with Ed Deskin in Little Rock.

I remember it just like it was yesterday.

Jeremiah was a bull frog!

Surviving Tax Season - 2016

Powerball

It amazes me how anti-tax this nation has become.   Almost no one is willing to pay more taxes to fix our roads, improve our military, support our fellow citizens to improve society as a whole.   And yet, millions of people, mostly the less fortunate of us, are buying power ball tickets like crazy.   The chances of winning are nearly impossible and yet someone will win and for $2 you can at least be in the game.   A government ran lottery is just another form of paying taxes.   It makes me very sad.   BTW – my numbers in the power ball drawing last night were 24,31,39,54,57 and the PW was 50.   Crap, I didn’t win.  Oh well, neither did anyone else.   Maybe Wednesday.