Nuggets of wisdom

Here are a few of my favorite little nuggets of wisdom I've gathered so far in my life:

• Good decision, bad outcome -- 2 hours before your flight you leave for the airport, but on the way someone runs a red light and the crash leaves you paralyzed. "Oh, if I'd only left a few minutes later I wouldn't be left this way!", you begin to think. But we can make the right decision and still have a bad outcome because there is an inherent risk in everything. You still made the right decision. (source: Dr. Jeff Goldberg, UofA college economics professor)
• Cause and effect -- You have a headache and someone gives you only one pill of a new medicine you've never tried before. Later you realize that it didn't work, so you ask yourself, "Did I not take enough, or does this stuff just not work?" I posed this to a great friend John Holman, who without thinking fired back: "Yeah, it can be hard figuring out cause and effect." I don't think anyone's ever broken such a big mental log-jam for me with so little effort. Just because two things seem to go together doesn't mean one caused the other. Look at the economy for some good examples. David Flynn put it another way (if I remember right): "Correlation doesn't imply causality."
• EQ is supposedly a measure of one's ability to understand and control the emotions of themselves and others. The neatest people I know seem to understand how others feel, and they care. This is not like IQ, which a person supposedly can't change -- people can improve their EQ by working on it. (source: Jared Thompson, co-worker)
• Intentions -- "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's razor. You tell someone about a mistake you made, and they respond, "Oh, that sounds like you." Instantly you take offense at the verbal jab: "What?! I can't believe you just said that!". But instead, take a step back and study the person's body language and see if there's really any malice there -- often they're just focused on something else and didn't think long enough before speaking. Just let it go.
• Win the hearts of your children -- Mormons believe that the family unit can continue on beyond the grave into the eternities. The key here is "can". If you have kids, read this article, Love of Father and Mother, by Joseph F. Smith (nephew of the original prophet Joseph Smith), reprinted in the August 2004 Ensign. A beautiful explanation of how our relationship with our kids can and should develop.
  
• Wise as serpents, harmless as doves -- This one's straight out of the Bible:

  "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matt. 10:16.

  I love this approach to the "world".
• You need only believe the truth -- Some think Mormons believe unusual things because they have to. But we don't have to believe anything, see Articles of Faith 11. "There is no truth but what belongs to the Gospel," Brigham Young said. "'Mormonism' includes all truth." Henry Eyring, Sr., said it this way:

  All day long, on a fiercely hot Friday in September 1919, I hauled hay in Pima, Arizona. On Monday I was going to start classes at the University of Arizona, where I was to study mining engineering. In the evening my father, as fathers often do, felt that he'd like to have a last talk with his son. He wanted to be sure I'd stay on the straight and narrow. He said, "Henry, won't you come and sit down. I want to talk to you."
  
  Well, I'd rather do that than pitch hay any time. So, I went over and sat down with him.
  
  "We're pretty good friends, aren't we?"
  
  "Yes," I said, "I think we are."
  
  "Henry, we've ridden together on the range, and we've farmed together. I think we understand each other. Well, I want to say this to you: I'm convinced that the Lord used the Prophet Joseph Smith to restore His Church. For me, that is a reality. I haven't any doubt about it. Now, there are a lot of other matters that are much less clear to me. But in this Church you don't have to believe anything that isn't true. You go over to the University of Arizona and learn everything you can, and whatever is true is a part of the gospel. The Lord is actually running this universe. And I want to tell you something else: if you go to the University and are not profane, if you'll live in such a way that you'll feel comfortable in the company of good people, and if you go to church and do the other things that we've always done, I won't worry about your getting away from the Lord."
  
  That's about the best advice I ever got. It has simplified my life. All I have to do is live in a wholesome way, which is best for me anyway, and be busy about finding truth wherever I can. I suspect that you would enjoy that formula too.
  
  The significant thing about a scientist is this: he simply expects the truth to prevail because it is the truth. He doesn't work very much on the reactions of the heart. In science, the thing is, and its being so is something one cannot resent. If a thing is wrong, nothing can save it, and if it is right, it cannot help succeeding.
  
  - Henry Eyring, Reflections of a Scientist
  

Life in space

A few interesting tidbits about living in space, from Discover Magazine.

"University" Life

I recently was talking to someone at work about what Mormons think about other religions. It's no big secret that Mormons strongly believe theirs is the true and living church of God on the earth, and this person wanted to know what we thought of people who aren't members of our church.

Here's (more or less) how I responded: God made the earth as a place for us to learn and to be tested -- and it's happening everywhere! People out in the middle of the jungle are learning tons of things that God intended for them to learn while here on the earth -- all the "grade-school" stuff.

Those attending other churches get the next level of education; they learn a great deal of truth from the Bible and elsewhere, however they are missing some of the core doctrines that are essential to making the most of this life. Instead of a Thanksgiving feast, they get a few carrots and some gravy -- which is still good...

In that sense, then, the LDS church is God's university here on earth, where we get the best classes, lessons, and homework for what He wants us to become. It really is.

That's about as far as I got with the person. I get the feeling sometimes that folks at work who know I'm LDS end up feeling a mix of pity and vague concern for me -- as if I'd been duped into it and now I sacrifice time and money and effort for a vain cause, and they somehow wish they could think of the logic to gently offer to get me out of all of it. But nothing could be farther from the truth! Just like any good university program, it's not easy, but at stopping points along the way you realize how much you've learned and how far you've come. Not duped, I have my own proof!

The courses can be hard, but I never doubted they were worth the effort. Here are a few example of "courses", and some of the benefits I've seen from having taken them:

• Public speaking -- being asked to give periodic talks in Sacrament Meeting and give lessons in classes means I don't get nearly so nervous when addressing large groups anymore
  
• Human interaction -- having to talk to total strangers every day for 2 years on my mission, and then often with hometeaching and elders quorum callings means that I don't get nearly so nervous when meeting new people either
• Management -- be active in the church and it won't be long before you have a leadership calling; there you get lots of training and practice managing and leading people -- the key word there is "practice", which people (including me) seem to need a lot of before they're worth anything as managers or leaders
  
• Foreign language -- spend 2 years in Ecuador among the people and you're bound to learn Spanish
• Tithing -- paying 10% of your gross income to the church to many sounds crazy; it does force you to be careful with your money, but even more important is that it invokes blessings from heaven that pretty much every tithing-paying member in the church will attest to
  
• Relationships -- we interact a lot with other members of the church; we get called into callings that put us in situations where we have to learn to get along with people who are different from us, which is always a growth opportunity; also, at work I mostly only know engineers, but from church I have good friends who are mechanics, doctors, lawyers, welders, managers, and pretty much anything you can think of; we all help each other out, which is really a wonderful blessing for us
• Personal revelation -- I won't say much about this except that we believe that members are entitled to personal revelation through the Holy Ghost, which means that we have a direct connection to a source of absolute truth that can fill in the blanks in our understanding of the gospel that no earthly teacher could -- I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world
• (and very timely, since it's going on this weekend) General Conference -- 10 hours every six months where we get to learn directly from the seventy, 12 apostles and the prophet. These aren't paid preachers or professional showmen -- these are guys from 60 to 100 years old who remind you of the super-loving grandpa you may not have had. They are perfectly lucid and "bright" and sharp, delivering gentle and powerful lessons and discourses from the scriptures and their own lives. Of all the people I've met or known or read about, these are the best individuals I know of: healthy, devoted, sincere, powerful, loving, gentle, wise, complete. These broadcasts are priceless.
  

"By their fruits ye shall know them."

If only I had time and occasion to explain all that to the folks with the pity.

Found!

I've been found! I'm not sure how Jacie found me since I don't think I've really told anyone about this, but she is pretty resourceful.

Anyway a few items of note from this week:

• A move to Huntsville is still a distinct possibility -- depends on how attractive the final offer is, of course.
  
• Bryan Hampton and I really got lambasted by an IT guy last week when we suggested that Macs would be a better choice than linux for the kinds of analysis we'll be doing -- "I don't get into religious discussions", he said. Ha, little did he realize who he was dealing with. =)
• On a related note, 2 more engineers from my work approached me this week interested in buying Macs. I don't personally know anyone who's bought a Mac that's wanted to go back to Windows (I don't think, anyway).
• A few neat little quotes this week from my boss, Glen Wilcox: "You know you're a leader when people follow you." "We all have to practice being the people we want to be." "If you truly know yourself, you can't be offended."
• We've also had a few more folks stop by interested in the house -- it'd probably go better if I kept the lawn mowed and painted the front and sides of the house, but who has time for that?

Hope you're having a great week, more soon.

ps. If you like reading blogs, check out Google Reader. It's like an "inbox" for the web, only showing you postings that have been updated via the RSS feed mechanism.

I just subscribe to the blogs of all my friends (and a bunch of other cool news-type sites), click "Show: updated", and then they only appear in the list when they've written something new. Very cool way to keep up on everybody's "goings on" without having to plow through a bunch of websites with stuff I've already seen.

If you've got any spare brain cycles left, try this one: http://www.neatorama.com/feed

Ubuntu day 2

Awhile back I signed up for the "Employee Purchase Program" at work, which means you can buy a 3-year old PC that they're getting rid of for $50. It's a lottery, so once you sign up, they throw your name in a hat, and if they pull it, you get one.

Well, last week my name was drawn.

I get headaches just looking at "Start" buttons, so immediately after plugging everything in I downloaded supposedly the most user-friendly linux build -- Ubuntu -- burned a CD and booted up. After a little trouble with ATA1 errors (I had to pull the jumper off the hard drive), it booted up just fine. Install was easy, updating software was easy, adding a bunch of games and cool apps was easy. Didn't come with tcsh or nedit, but nothing a "sudo apt-get" couldn't fix. Otherwise very smooth.

My assessment: eh.

Not because of Ubuntu, mind you. Ubuntu appears to be a fairly clean and easy to use version of linux -- if you have a PC lying around, I highly recommend giving Ubuntu a shot. My problem is with linux itself -- it seems almost like a new dog that with a little training will do a bunch of cool little tricks. But in the end, that's all you've got -- a dog that does tricks. Where are MS Office, Quicktime, AppleScript, iTunes, iPhoto, Photoshop? They're replaced by clunkier versions that yes, are free (very cool), but feel like they're duct-taped together (bad). What else do I use a computer for? Turns out, not much.

So in the end I have a computer that my girls can use to play on pbskids.org, and I don't have to worry about them getting a virus or messing up the OS.

I guess that's worth $50.

Airport security

Kip Hawley, head of the TSA, gets asked all the questions about airport security that are usually muttered as complaints in that security line...

A few terrific quotes:

I have the sinking feeling that you're defending us against a terrorist smart enough to develop his own liquid explosive, yet too stupid to read the rules on TSA's own website.

and

This feels so much like "cover your [tail]" security: you're screening our shoes because everyone knows Richard Reid hid explosives in them, and you'll be raked over the coals if that particular plot ever happens again. But there are literally thousands of possible plots.

So when does it end? The terrorists invented a particular tactic, and you're defending against it. But you're playing a game you can't win. You ban guns and bombs, so the terrorists use box cutters. You ban small blades and knitting needles, and they hide explosives in their shoes. You screen shoes, so they invent a liquid explosive. You restrict liquids, and they're going to do something else. The terrorists are going to look at what you're confiscating, and they're going to design a plot to bypass your security.

Kip actually has half-decent answers to these questions.

NPR interview with Alice Cooper

I have a lot to say about Terry Gross' interview with Alice Cooper (mp3), but unfortunately I'm too tired to say it right now... Still, if you have any curiosity about the bizarre and extreme heavy metal rockers of the 70s and 80s, this is an interesting perspective.

Given that he's famous for shows with guillotines, electric chairs, and lots of fake blood, unless you're quite familiar with Alice/Vincent's life you're probably in for something of a surprise.

I probably couldn't name 2 songs written by him, nor do I think I've ever heard a song of his all the way through. Still my initial prejudices about what kind of person he must be ended up almost entirely wrong...