We've all heard the saying, "No pain, no gain." I would like to introduce a new saying:
No Loss, No Gloss
When I first tell people this, I can always count on a look of confusion on their faces. Let's break it down.
No Loss, No Gloss
We've all heard the saying, "No pain, no gain." I would like to introduce a new saying:
No Loss, No Gloss
When I first tell people this, I can always count on a look of confusion on their faces. Let's break it down.
No Loss, No Gloss
Everything is a red herring...almost. A red herring is most likely a true statement, but it distracts from what's truly important. Here are some examples:
The out-of-control Federal spending is leading us to a fiscal crisis. I recently posted about D.O.G.E in response to red herrings related to the department. These red herrings point to specific examples of cuts that will cause harm. Still, none of them address the real problem: the interest payments on our debt are already more than our defense spending, which will soon be our country's biggest expense item, surpassing both Social Security and Healthcare spending. I've written about this for over 15 years here, here, here, and here.
We are under attack. Cyberwarfare is conducted against the U.S. by Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and others. These attacks are well documented in "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends: The cyber weapons arm race" by Nicole Perlroth, and "Sandworm" by Andy Greenberg. Our enemies' goal is to create chaos in the U.S., and they are succeeding. I've written about the polarization in the U.S. here and here. Most of the political polarization is just intentionally induced red herrings.
"The world will end in X years"
→ Overstating urgency with doomsday timelines can discredit valid concerns and scientific models.
Red herring: Shifts focus from actionable mitigation to fear-based speculation.
"Anyone who questions anything is a denier"
→ Not all critiques are denial; some are about policy, economics, or priorities.
Red herring: Avoids engaging with legitimate nuances.
"It's all the fault of big oil"
→ While fossil fuel companies play a major role, blaming them exclusively avoids discussing individual or governmental responsibility.
Red herring: Oversimplifies a complex, systemic issue.
"We must act now, regardless of cost"
→ Urgency is real, but ignoring economic trade-offs can alienate support.
Red herring: Sidesteps cost-benefit or equity discussions.
"The climate has always changed"
→ True, but irrelevant to the current rate, causes, and human contributions.
Red herring: Distracts from the core issue of anthropogenic climate change.
"It was really cold last week"
→ Weather ≠ climate.
Red herring: Uses short-term data to undermine long-term trends.
"Scientists used to warn about global cooling"
→ A fringe hypothesis in the 1970s, not a serious consensus.
Red herring: Undermines current science by misrepresenting past uncertainty.
"Environmentalists are hypocrites who fly in jets"
→ Even if true, it doesn't disprove the reality of climate change.
Red herring: Attacks the messenger, not the message.
TL/DR;
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Costco Tuxedo Cake |
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Blood Glucose After Eating Tuxedo Cake |
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Instant Oatmeal |
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Relaxed Eating (Whole Oats, no walk) |
Yesterday I drove an hour away to my cousin's funeral. This post is about my drive home and its connection to my previous post on the Four Dimensions of Time.
The second dimension relates to the cumulative time spent with each person, object, or action on our main journey through the first dimension of time. The more time we spend, the deeper our relationship can become, the more adept we can be at a skill, and so on.
There were two accidents on my way home, which turned a one-hour drive into a three-hour drive. Luckily, I was in my new EV, which can be a very relaxing experience if you aren't in a rush to get somewhere. I had plenty of content on my phone to listen to. At first, I felt myself get angry at the people passing on the shoulder or sneaking into the merging lane to get ahead. But I reminded myself that I didn't need to hurry.
At the first accident, I happened to glance over at a young woman sitting on the ground, leaning against the white cement barrier. She was being attended to by an emergency medical technician (EMT). I only saw her for a second or two. In the second dimension of time, she is insignificant.
Later that night, as I lay pondering the day, I thought about how much of an inconvenience the accident had been for her. For me, it made me slow down. For her, whatever she had planned for the day was interrupted. She may have a lasting impact from any injuries she might have sustained.
We never know how a brief encounter with a stranger may impact them. Not that we have any responsibility to make an impact. We play a bigger role in life than we can ever realize.
Imagine you have a loved one who has been diagnosed with cancer. The doctor's prognosis gives a 50/50 chance of survival from treatment. The thought of losing this person to cancer is most troubling. The doctor devises a treatment plan, and your loved one starts treatment. This is an uncertain time, so you provide as much support as you can.
Then you discover that the doctor has politics you vehemently disagree with. Unfortunately, you are too far along with the treatment plan to change doctors. Still, their politics! How can someone so smart be so dumb about politics? How can they have these opinions? Of course, the doctor doesn't share his politics during medical visits.
But the thought of this person succeeding drives you crazy. Wouldn't this just embolden them in their stupid political beliefs? You find yourself secretly hoping they will fail—that will teach them!
You take advantage of every misstep or setback during treatment. "You're not so smart after all, are you, Doctor?" you say with a snarky tone. Your dying loved one looks at you incredulously. "He needs to realize that he's not perfect! You know, he's not as smart as he thinks."
Of course, this scenario is as ridiculous as this comedy sketch from College Humor.
If the video doesn't work for you, the scene shows scientists explaining to a general about an asteroid coming towards Earth for an extinction-level event. They are proposing launching missiles to stop it, when the general says, "Just Let The World Die."
But there is a sick patient. The United States.
Government Accountability Office reports $200 to $500 billion in fraud annually. That's from criminals in Russia, China, and elsewhere stealing from the U.S.
There's an ongoing obesity epidemic in the U.S.
The people in charge have only recently brought these problems, or "cancers," to our national attention and are trying to do something about them. But it seems the response is political. If we care about these problems, we should all rally together to address them.
I try to keep an open mind and critically examine information. When I hear arguments from the Right or Left, I find elements of truth in both. But reconciling the contradictions between them can be difficult. Then I was analyzing some data at work (unrelated) and came up with a way to piece both sides together. I call it "The Missing Middle."
In my experience, data can be overwhelming for many people, so to make this post accessible to more people, I'm going to keep it as simple and relevant as possible.
We are all familiar with the Bell Curve, which helps teachers assign grades in class. The problem with using it in education is that it identifies one side as good and the other side as bad. The general "Normal Distribution" curve used in science and medicine recognizes the middle as "normal" or acceptable, and the "tails" on either side as unacceptable. For example, blood pressure that's too high or too low is cause for concern.
The problem is when either side treats every action of the opposing side as alarming. If a person is criticized for everything they do, they will stop listening to criticism.
The following are some current examples.
This post is a journey through time to illustrate how one might self-reflect on the passage of time. We've all experienced "time dilation", where time seems to pass faster or slower than usual, but the following story illustrates extra dimensions of time.