Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
I haven’t watched a lot of the Olympics, but I’ve enjoyed everything I have seen. I love watching athletes give everything they have, and finding extra reserves or incredible composure in the face of exceptional competition.
For some athletes who dream of gold, the only acceptable place to come in is first. For others, the silver medal is an incredible achievement, that seemed almost impossible before the competition.
To one person second best is amazing and to another it is the first loser. It’s the same medal, but it means so much more or less, depending on what they believed they could achieve. It’s a good reminder of what our expectations do to our experience.
Exercise, writing, meditation, diet… even vitamins… my schedule and routines are completely out of whack, and I’m feeling the struggle. I don’t mind a few days off, but I’ve been off of a regular schedule for over a month now and it’s getting to me. My back is achy, I have less energy, and I’m not sleeping well.
I often talk about this, and I get comments like, ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself.’ But the reality is that it’s not about me beating myself up or not giving myself a break. Rather it’s that I get huge benefits out of maintaining my routines, and I am not as energetic and vital when I let things slip.
Furthermore, when I lose my routines on holidays, I spiral a bit and end up missing things that are well within my ability to schedule. For example, I’ve only meditated twice in the last week, but I’ve definitely had at least 10 if not 20 minutes each day that I could have used to meditate. Also, I’m writing this when I should already be sleeping.
So, once again I’m sharing my complaints, but neither for sympathy nor for comments about not being so hard on myself. Rather I’m sharing because outwardly discussing this, putting it ‘out there’ is a way I hold myself accountable. And so I’m just saying that I need to do better… and tomorrow I’ll make things better.
This is my way of manifesting the behaviours I want for myself. And I’ll feel better both physically and mentally.
I haven’t done a lot of board sports. The last time I stood on a surfboard I was 9, and I was not very good. I didn’t skateboard and I don’t snowboard. I do ski, and I’ve been on water skis a few times, but it has been 3 years since I skied on snow and over 2 decades since I skied on water. So I didn’t expect wake surfing to come naturally to me… and it didn’t.
The one time I actually got up, I was behind the wake, and instead of taking my time to gain some confidence, I raced forward to the front of the wake, and kept going for a nice wipeout.
After about 7 or 8 attempts, I’d had enough and then a few others took turns. Then my friend Mark suggested I try again with a start off of the back of the boat… and I found success.
I had a full 3 and a half minute run, trying my best to put myself in a position where I could actually surf the wave with slack on the rope, with the wave pushing me forward. Although I couldn’t get the knack of it, I had a few near falls trying, and was able to recover and keep trying. A few things helped:
1. Good coaching. Mark was amazing. He was calm, with clear instructions, and good space between coaching to just let me try.
2. Positive cheerleading. Everyone on the boat was rooting for me, and every wipeout was met with encouragement.
3. Watching others. Seeing others both struggle and find success made the task seem like it was something I could accomplish.
4. A willingness to fail. I knew that I wasn’t coming into this with a lot of similar skills, and so a wipeout wasn’t really a failure but a learning opportunity.
But of all these, good coaching was the most critical. A good teacher is a gift.
I’m back in Ontario and I was invited to my friend’s cottage. He specifically invited friends that I’ve known for years. Most of them I met in 1986, one of them I met back in ‘83. One I hadn’t seen in over 25 years, another one I’d last seen close to a decade ago.
Every one of the boys, in the photo I’ve shared, I’ve played water polo with. All of them have also coached. There was a lot of reminiscing today. A lot of teasing, and a lot of mutual respect and admiration.
There is something so special about lifelong friends whom you can have long breaks from and still easily connect with. The time we spend with them is priceless!
After a 4 year hiatus, I’ve just published another podcast. Unfortunately, my link isn’t updating to my podcast hosting app or to Apple iTunes right now, and so the best place to listen is on my podcasting blog.
Description:
Join me on a trip in to Haliburton, Ontario, where Joseph Truss and I discuss the building blocks of the universe. This conversation assumes the conjecture that “We Live in a Tetraverse,” (the first video in a series called, “Book of Codes”). Watch this video first, to appreciate the premise of our conversation.
A conjecture is defined as: “an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information.” Joe is challenging the way Mathematicians and Physicists look at the universe today. Most perspectives put us in a three dimensional world based on three axis: X, Y, and Z. Joe says these are “necessary but not sufficient“, and that while we can do calculations based on this model of the universe, it will always require us to work with irrational numbers and rounding errors… but it’s all a question of resolution. Go deeper than the perspective of X,Y, Z and you encounter a universe built on triangles, or more specifically tetrahedrons. In a way, his premise is that working in a cube-based, X, Y, Z, universe is conjecture… it is working ‘on the basis of incomplete information.’
If we recognize that the smallest possible object in the universe (at the Planck length) is a tetrahedron and not a cube, (again see We Live in a Tetraverse to gain this insight), this doesn’t dismiss any calculations done in a cube universe, it simply allows greater resolution… and maybe eliminates the need to work with irrational numbers and rounding of decimals.
A simple metaphor for this would be moving from the imperial system of measurement to the metric system… measuring in millimetres instead of 16th’s of an inch.
Admittedly, this is a bit of a challenging conversation to follow, first because we start talking about waves as seen drawn in 2 dimensions on paper, and so the conversation is lacking some visual descriptions we discuss. Secondly because we have discussed these ideas at length previously, we are quite comfortable describing shapes and making connections that are not so easy to visualize when you haven’t had the same background conversations we’ve had. And yet, I felt the need to share this conversation, to bring to light some of the brilliant insights of Joseph Truss. One specific topic we discuss, that I haven’t seen anywhere else, is the idea that infinity is a fractal. The infinity conversation begins at 21:08 of the podcast and if you only listen to one segment, that’s the one to listen to. If you want to follow the full conversation, I’d suggest watching the video first.
Joe and I had walked down to a slow-moving river that adjoins his back yard. Joe, a musician as well as geometer, brought a drum with him and after playing a bit we started this conversation. I realized that this was worth recording and so I went back to to the house to get my phone. The podcast starts and ends with Joe playing the drums, and there is a drum interlude in the middle as well. So, pull up a seat next to us and enjoy this riverside conversation.
It has been almost 4 years since my last podcast, and I’ve got a new one in the works now. I just need to record a small intro, already written, and do a tiny bit of editing, but everything takes more time than expected. I really love having learning conversations and recording them. I wish I had more dedicated time to podcasts, but I don’t think they will come regularly any time soon. That said, I also hope that I don’t wait another 4 years before I do a follow up.
My podcast is called ‘Podcasting Pair-a-Dimes‘ and I came up with that name based on my previous blog, named Pair-a-Dimes for Your Thoughts. While I think I’ll keep the podcast name, I might change the byline, which is “~ David Truss and his PLN ~”. PLN stands for Personal Learning Network, but it could also be Professional as well. PLN is a term that now feels dated and so I think I’ll come up with a new byline, but not for this next podcast.
As a teaser to the podcast, watch ‘We Live in a Tetraverse‘, which I shared back in February. This video is a precursor to the podcast conversation. Unlike many of my other podcasts, this one expects some prior understanding to be appreciated. I know that’s not ideal, but there are parts of this conversation that are so unique, and so insightful, that I feel that I need to share them.
…Coming soon to a podcast (and a Daily-Ink) near you!
Shopping malls are struggling. People are ordering more and more things online, and the foot traffic that walks through malls, impulse buying from places they weren’t really planning to shop at, has decreases significantly. Less shoppers, less purchases, less successful stores. There needs to be reasons to bring people to malls. Malls need to become destinations not just for shopping, but for activities.
I don’t know what the draw could be, but I can give an example of something I’ve thought should be combined for a while now: movie theatres and mini golf. Movie theatres take up a lot of room, and most of them could put an 18 hole mini golf putting range on their roof. Going to the movies? Get a discount on a round of mini golf.
Sit in a theatre for almost 2 hours… then go for a round of mini golf. Hole in one on the 18th hole? Get a half price off on your next movie. Easy added value opportunity for a theatre.
So what’s the added value that can be added to a shopping mall? What ‘experiences’ can be added to get people to actually decide that the buying experience in a mall is better than online? I’m not sure, but I think the shopping mall experience needs an update.
“The mass media serve as a system for communicating messages and symbols to the general populace. It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society. In a world of concentrated wealth and major conflicts of class interest, to fulfill this role requires systematic propaganda.”
~ Edward Herman & Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, 1988
Embrace yourself. We are in for a whirlwind of propaganda directed to both sway and embolden our beliefs. We will need to question the sources of our information. We will need to understand where the bias of the message is coming from. We will need to fact check for reliability, accuracy, and exaggeration.
We will be entertained. We will be angered. We will be emboldened. We will be ridiculed by those who disagree with us. And we will be the ones ridiculing others who hold different beliefs than us. Systematic propaganda will slowly lead us to more polarized views.
This is not a test of your emergency broadcasting system. This is also not an emergency. No, it is the emergence of political propaganda in a post Truth era. Find your own truth, fabricate your own truth. Because the media outlets you believed you believed in are not the ones in existence today… and they do not transmit Truth.
Marshall McLuhan was correct, ‘the medium is the message’, and the medium is designed not to inform but to entertain; to excite; to anger; to draw attention, clicks, and eyes on advertising. No, not to inform, to trick you. Sway your opinion, and lie to you.
Are your beliefs your own or have they been manufactured, manipulated, and swayed by the media you watch? Will you be able to answer that question as convincingly a year from now? Will your beliefs be yours or will they be governed by the propaganda you choose to watch and believe in? Be warned, the answer to that question might not be the answer you currently believe.
Had 2 long drives today, the first one was 2.5 hours and the second one was 1.5 hours. Of the 4 hours, about 45 minutes was spent on the phone to my sister, and most of the rest of the time I was listening to a book. I love solo drives now that I mostly listen to books rather than reading them. The road becomes an endless stretch before me, and time drifts away as I listen… my only interruption being Siri’s voice occasionally giving me commands from Google Maps.
I love to double dip and both enjoy a drive and also enjoy listening to a book at the same time. The drive becomes a pleasure rather than a chore, and the kilometres disappear… time passing faster because of my involvement in my book.
Now I’m where I need to be, and the journey was both effortless and enjoyable.
Yesterday I wrote ‘Flight time’ and said, “Planes are time machines. I can spend 10 days visiting Toronto from Vancouver after a 4.5 hour flight, or I could spend 8-9 days days travelling there and back and less than 2 days in Toronto. Planes don’t just save time, they create it.”
In a conversation with Joe Truss this morning he mentioned that according to Albert Einstein I was speaking literally as well as metaphorically. The faster I move, the slower time goes for me, and so airplanes are actually time machines.
To me this exaggerates the point, it makes the point more poignant. Every time we speed things up, or whenever we ‘save time’, we are essentially creating little time machines… although we can’t actually travel back in time, we can only speed up and slow down our experience of time.
So, airplanes really are time machines, and I just got in one. I’ll see you 5 hours into my future… though I can’t tell you how long that will be for you. 😆
