Fragility within the foundation of trust vs reality

Weightlessly I’m freefalling, hardly able to identify my surrounding, its walls ablur. My hands reaching the farthest extremity hoping to grab a stronghold to stop the fall. Heart racing, I open my eyes to recognize I’m lying in my bed. The freefall, my fears from the chillingly stark reality of this moment.

Slowly I open my blinds and peek outside. Early morning, fall, in middle-class America. The invisible haze of loathsomeness, as the plague hangs low, a fog of war. Every human, we suspect, a carrier of the pathogen.

Firmly I verify…

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”

Rachel Carson

“Civilization is much more than the survival of the fittest and the unrelenting culling of the weakest members. Civilized people share a value system that extends far beyond doing whatever it takes to survive. Mere barbarians might be devoted to a life of exploitation. In contrast, civilized people value nature and care for the most vulnerable members of their kind.”

Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

2020 has been one hell of…

They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am sure I could write unlimited ‘first chapters’. I have indeed written many.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Every Day’s a New Day

Today I’m going to concentrate on writing the entire outline and finish a draft of the novel I’ll call My Life. I’m going to determine every possible outcome and decision now… today and nothing will change those decisions and I’ll never deviate from the plan. This is my life, from being to end, done complete and uneditable.

Unrealistic and impossible you say. Preposterous!!! Okay fine, you are…

“ As data scientists, our job is to extract signal from noise. “

The Big Data Age

We are presently embedded in the fabric of the historical time period presently known as the Information Age and more importantly the Big Data Age. Data and digital storage have changed the way in which we share knowledge and information. It also has changed the vessel in which we consume content. A wealth of valuable knowledge is literally a few keystrokes away.

Technological trends have created a booming industry of “smart” connected devices known as the “Internet of Things”. These devices were previously “dumb” devices such as…

We Live In A World Of Static

As I step outside early in the morning I recognize the silence and serenity of the early morning. Distance traffic and air travel are at a minimum and the sounds of nature take over as birds are chirping and owls hooting off in the distance. One thing we have learned during the Coronavirus Pandemic is just how quiet the world is or better yet just how noisy our world was.

Remember those times when you would sit in a quiet library as you studied or silently read. What noise distracted you? A sneeze or cough? The squeak of a distance…

“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”

- Saul Bellow

Today is day 100 of a 100-day writing challenge. The idea was to attempt to write 100 original articles with original photography and publish them. The topics and context we not of importance. In reality, honesty and self-reflection was the priority of this writing exercise.

Never having written anything before I was presented with a challenge lacking in familiarity and comfort. What was I going to say and how was I planning to say it?

Looking Inside Myself

As I began to look…

“I’m an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers… They use my tools.”

-Robert Moog

Starting in 1964 Robert Moog began building handmade analog synthesizers that helped revolutionize electronic music. Operating for almost 30 years until the company was sold in 1993 Moog synthesizers were synonymous with warm analog tone. The company closed and the assets were warehoused and eventually auctioned off.

Bob purchased back the rights to the Moog name and again began hand-building analog synthesizers in 2002. After 55 years the legacy of Bob Moog continues.

Musicians from Wendy Carlos to Keith…

This is not a story written about Prohibition or distilling grain alcohol, this is a story about encouraging people to develop their pet projects into life-changing experiences.

Most of everyone’s job has requirements that are often narrowly impossible to accomplish. Sales quotas and product yields are designed to increase exponentially based upon increasing profits while often disregarding relevance. Unnecessary stresses are placed on employees following rules and protocols and little thought is placed on innovating or creativity.

Brainstorming and value engineering resources are often placed on solving existing problems leaving little time or energy to nurture ideas that could potentially…