Do you have enough time in the day?

 I was reminiscing recently with a friend about perceptions of present-day technology we now have, in the 60s, 70s, 80s and even the 90s that was supposed to make more free time available, because as the thinking went it would make us more efficient.

That is not exactly how things have turned out, and this point I'm sure you will agree, technology has eaten up our free time. Mainly due to the fact that we can now do more (or so we tell ourselves) and so pack more activities or duties into each hour. I personally have things I would love to do, but don't because I am already doing too much. A little of this, a little of that, and of course the inevitable interruption which always at least 10 minutes takes away from whatever I'm trying to do in the first place. The difference between the modern world and that of let's say the 1970s is that back then you could focus on one task were subject. It was much easier to become "unavailable" and people knew this therefore life was structured in bigger blocks of uninterrupted time to do whatever important study or activity needed to be done. Very often then the result was the job or activity was done better.

I wonder then if today we do more but understand less. I recently began taking a computer science introductory course on brilliant.org and while I understand everything it seems to me that a lot of the deeper aspects are just not there in the material, simply because the way the information is presented it's in short bite-size chunks. They know that no student has several hours free now days.

This I think has far-reaching implications because it will ultimately lead to a society which lacks the depth and patience gained by a long term undertaking. Yes you still here of many people who undertake activities that consume a good portion of their life, but I'm afraid the average person is convinced they can learn it all quickly. Have you ever noticed when you become really proficient at something usually there has been a fundamental shift in the way you do other things? It is my personal belief this is because the act of true learning changes not only immediate situation but has much broader effects.

This is one of the things I think we are losing when we take abridged "bite-size" lessons or courses, because it is only with proficiency that we gain the extra margin of knowledge which allows us to truly build on what we now know.

Leave a comment down below if you find yourself having a thought about this.

"Hey Google Park the wheelchair."

 

New Year's and Christmas have passed, and so I found myself thinking: "You know, I really should get my self something novel but yet useful." (The word useful can be applied very loosely here in this context.)

I am a geek, and am always fascinated by creativity combined with technology. So I set my sights on finding something out of the ordinary in the truly gizmo range. I had no idea my quest would be so difficult...

When it comes to wireless technology it seems that everything relates to one of the following, it is either, smart lighting,-including thermostats and switches etc., smart cameras, smart speakers, smart assistance. While the list of devices goes on and on there doesn't appear to be any real innovation. Every year it appears to be a rehash of the same narrow products. With all the companies out there involved you would think there would be at the very least a plethora of good, for example smart coffeemakers that could grind your beans, so that when one staggers out of the bedroom you have an excellent cup of coffee waiting. The point is there there are a wide variety of potential products it uses that could benefit from automation but we seem to be stuck on a fairly narrow range.

So I have a question for you: Have you heard of any unusual devices that are part of the burgeoning smart technology? Something that really adds functionality or convenience to one's life.

Personally since I use an electric wheelchair, I would love to have a self parking chair. Thereby relieving the staff from having to drive it into its parking spot every night. (For new staff driving a expensive highly sensitive motorized wheelchair can be a little terrifying for both them and myself. 😄)
 

To put it another way, which might make the question clearer:
In regards to the "Internet of Things". Do you find the range of products diversifying into new uses and abilities or is it more of a rehash of a limited range of categories?

 
Leave your comments if you have any thoughts on this.

New Year's Eve Blurb 2023

 

This is going to be in ultrashort, "New Year's Eve Blurb". I'm wishing everyone who reads this no matter where there are the world to take a moment strictly for yourself. The world can get on for at least a minute on its own. Actually let's extend that to four minutes, and here's why:

Earlier today I was pondering how to start the new year off in my assistant living residence, which can always choose a little extra joy, a little play is good for the soul regardless of your age. So for no particular reason I put together this little video made up of photos from humble and the new James Webb telescope. All the material comes from either the Hubble website or NASA's Flickr account. (Details are in the end of the little video.

So without further ado, and wishing you a great new year. Here it is..... (Turns out it's too big to upload directly to my site. As an alternate this is a link on my Google Drive)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hAoNDQa7Dyf8yvFMj1TY67G-8XS-Va8i/view?usp=drive_link

All the best Patrick Clark

"Genius is the rediscovery of childhood."

 

Have you ever noticed that children between the ages of two, to lets say about years old, have unbridled enthusiasm. They simply light up like Christmas trees when ever they noticed something going on. They frequently enjoy the box a gift came in more than the do the actual gift.

They try the box on, if they can fit into it. Exploring every little facet of the thing (yes this may involve destroying it in the process :-)). They are little learning machines, and it is obvious watching them they are having great deal of enjoyment. What was it Einstein said, and I may be paraphrasing here, "Genius is the rediscovery of childhood."

You know for me, I think that is the biggest lesson we can learn from the festive seasons. Simply the rediscovery of the joy found in finding something new.

This is been but a short entry on this blog, because sometimes it doesn't take a lot of words to remember what really is important. The joy in learning something new and approaching it with enthusiasm and curiosity.

Challenge The Brick Wall.

Motivated people, and non-motivated people, why do these two groups exist?

Maybe a better way to phrase this question is: "Why are some people curious, and seek out answers themselves while others do not?"

Many times in the volunteer work I do it is mostly a process of problem-solving, and it is definitely something I like to do. What boggles my mind however is why some people do not. They seemingly hit a problem and it stops them in their tracks; they do not ask or explore how to fix it. Talk about a way to limit one's life because you end up being surrounded by perceived problems. An example:

The other day a friend of mine received a brand-new electric chair. Of course there was much jubilation because they could now zip around on their own. A few days later I heard through the local grapevine that things weren't going so well for this person, they had crashed into the walls of their suite, while learning how to control the sensitive joystick. When I heard this, I went to them and said, "All modern electric wheelchairs have an  indoor and outdoor modes, and it sounds like yours is set on outdoor." A look online quickly determined that yes this was the case, the chair did have multiple modes and it was set on "outdoor" making it too fast. But from the manual the joystick assembly didn't quite match so I told them to phone the store they bought from to find out exactly how to set it into indoor mode.

 The problem was thereby solved and my friend is now happily and safely travelling around. I got the distinct feeling however that if I had not suggested they phone the store or initially investigated further, they would've put up with their chair being in warp drive permanently and probably ultimately would've been injured at some point. Why didn't they have the initiative to simply ask the right questions or even the wrong ones?

This is something that completely confuses me because my friend and others in my building are intelligent. Yet I see this kind of behaviour from a wide variety people now days happening over and over. They usually don't take the incredibly obvious next step, rather they just accept the status quo and everything stops there. This is a quandary I have a no answers for yet. It is just an observation. If anyone reading this as an idea about why this situation exists please do let us know in the comments.

Why does pessimism exist?

Graphic based on image by
Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay.
Used under the Pixabay License.

 I am, by my very nature an optimist. It intuitively for me doesn't make sense to me to waste one's time on negativity, and that's not to say that life is been a breeze, sweet and easy. Far from it, as a matter of fact, the way one faces challenges indicates whether a person is either a natural optimist or pessimist.

Being an optimist is fairly straightforward and it makes complete sense, because it focuses on the benefits of a "bright" point of view, for lack of a better word. It is self reinforcing. If you see the good in that challenge, you don't feel overwhelmed, indeed one gets a sense of accomplishment and joy. In short it is "Good in One End results in Good out the Other End."

So why does pessimism exist?

I have met people who, even when positive events occur they intuitively and automatically strive to think up some negative angle.   If let's say they win $1000 they would immediately think "That's good, but gee I wish I won the $10,000 prize." This behaviour goes on with the person in the myriad of more  subtle ways as well, and in some cases it seems they are in a constant negative loop. It truly is, I believe an addiction mentally - An addiction to pessimism - the default mode of operation for their mind. Still they must be getting something out of it. There must be some larger benefit greater then the grief caused by pessimism.  It has become clear in the last while to me that these people put themselves through hell. They are anything but content. They are not even neutral, but buried in the darkest of emotions. So what is their big payoff?

One possible answer occurred to me. Their pessimistic outlook relieves them of any responsibility. Their negative situation is always due to something else. It is an eternal playing of the "victim card" - something is always being done too them - And whatever it is, it is beyond their ability to control.  In the short run this appears to greatly simplify their life. By transferring all responsibility over to someone else, in the short term, they get to sit back and enjoy the beninifts. Taken to the extreme, the person may believe themselves to be utterly incapable of doing something, and therefore the rest of the world runs in to save the day. Whoever plays the superhero will goes away initially feeling empowered. While our pessimistic friend gets the benefits of some action taken on their behalf without any of the consequences. Or at least that's how it appears at first.

This stage would be equivalent to the "high" effect of a drug. But it only lasts for a short time, because more often than not, since they didn't take any responsibility for what ever occurred, they don't appreciate the value they received. It becomes inconsequential because they know they can call on the superhero at any time. In my view the pessimist then misses out on a great deal of life. To work toward an achievement and then eventually reach the goal is a tremendous feeling. Even if you don't achieve the end result at least you are aware of what you learned along the way and that may be knowledge that you could not have of gained any other way. The person who avoids such challenges limits their opportunities to grow, and become resilient.  Every incident crushes them, because the don't know from passed experience that it is possible to bounce back.

I am so glad that as I was growing up, I met the people I did, and had marvelous creative parents who existed just a little bit outside of the normal line. My father was one of the first anesthesiologists in British Columbia Canada with Polio in the late 1950s, while mother was registered nurse, and I have Cerebral Palsy.  Yup, we were and are, outside of the "norm" and thankfully so.

As in the movie Star Wars "The Force" has both a light and a dark side. Both sides, optimism or pessimism,  regardless require some form of payment, either in effort and challenge or the loss of control over one's life.  Ingrained pessimistic behaviours send a message to everyone that this individual is "incapable" to one degree or another. Once people have made that judgement about a person, they often have to fight very hard to prove themselves as capable. It takes the very things and actions they are so conditioned against: 1) Taking a risk, and 2) Being responsible for the outcome. This for them must be a frightening situation. Yet if their life is to improve by what ever measure they choose, they must undertake it. In small steps no doubt and they must get used to failing and approaching their challenge in different ways.

As one deals with the various challenges in life, a degree of appreciation for the all too rare skill of "patience" is acquired. Knowing that true gratification comes in bits and pieces, and appreciating them as they appear. From my own perspective I find the little achievements much more gratifying, simply because I know that I have the appreciation to be aware of them. It's not the big gift, that makes life worth living, it is a little diverse ones. That if you're observant appear every day. That, I think, is one of the founding pillars of my continued optimism.

The hard part is of course getting others who are addicted to their pessimism to see that little achievements are made up of their own perceptions and their reality is really what they make of it. The key point is that they can change it. I suspect the first step in combating pessimism is disengaging the negative autopilot. And it is obvious this particular pilot is not going to want to let go of the steering wheel. Because it is used to being automatic. Putting one's outlook on life back into manual is at first incredibly difficult and inefficient because one must face a myriad of resistive ingrained to be a views. In many ways, from my point of view this resistance is actually a good sign it means that the individual is altering the very thing that needs to be altered. It is the beginning of a journey, but if one can see the steps and the progress, then one is truly on the way to improving their outlook and well-being on the whole.

If you have overcome pessimism or are dealing with this challenge please leave a comment with your story.

Take care Patrick Clark

Starting 2021 with a legend...

This is just going to be a very brief post to kick off the new year.(All links open in a new tab or window.)

Well I had planned to post something on January 1, 2021 but do a slight mishap with my router, and that's an understatement, things were postponed.

I was looking around for something unique and I ran across this painting. It resonates with me for some marvellous reason. Based on "The Accolade", by Edmund Blair Leighton. 

"The Accolade", by Edmund Blair Leighton.

This is a reprint obviously and possibly a reimagining, I am not familiar with the original painting, by an artist known as M. Dam. So I bought a print through a company called  "Displate".

Perhaps it is because it harkens to those romantic and powerful characters of legend. A queen bestowing some great honour on one of her knights.

I believe these prints come all the way from Poland and are done on mental. So it is going to take some time for the shipment to come through. What a marvellous way to start the new year.


Happy new year everyone! Take care Patrick Clark

What makes up a person's outlook on life?

 No doubt about it, the year 2020 is about to go down in human history as one of the most unusual periods of time, and not only because of Covid 19, but in the myriad of ways people have reacted to the various aspects of the previous 12 months, it seems to have amplified, or perhaps a better word would be delineated, our behaviours. Personally, I have seen some people remain positive, while others steadfastly hold onto their negative behaviours, and the third group who are… What's the word… Indifferent. All this has me thinking, what exactly is it that maintains a person's outlook on life? Are we simply creatures of habit, blindly following  routines? I don't think so.

In recent years I've become very aware that my own personal outlook on life remains overall very positive. Even when I perceived difficulty, my tendency is to immediately go into problem-solving mode. When I cannot control something, and I am becoming more aware of this as I grow older, I tend not to expend energy on what I cannot alter. Sometimes going as far as making a silent agreement with whatever the event is to "let bygones be bygones for the time being". There may be a mental note made to revisit the issue later on, as opportunity an change present themselves. Indeed I am usually thankful for the event regardless of it being positive or negative because it is an opportunity to be aware.

While writing this very text I have  suddenly become cognizant of the answer to the question posed by the title of this post "What makes a positive outlook on life possible?". It is two things:

1. Awareness of the moment or situation.
2. Engagement, undertaking to influence or decide what to do.

 Above all, not to pretend that the situation doesn't exist. Even if the engagement is the decision to make up one's mind about the issue later. But make the action of deferment on your decision sincere make sure to come back and deal with it.

One is not separate from the situation regardless of what it is. There will always be some aspect under a person's control. And of the two points mentioned above "engagement" is the most important. That means being involved with whatever is happening in a very active way. Not being passive and waiting for the answer to come to you. Like everything else in life, it works best when you strive outside of your routines and habits.

Overreliance on habits weakens one's ability to challenge and adapt to new experiences. One begins to take things for granted and slowly loses their connection to the joy in life. In short keep changing when something is too easy find something just a tiny bit scary and undertake it.

I understand now, that in many cases where people are apathetic they are often times holding on to the behaviours rather than spending energy on either being aware or affecting their situation. Simplifying their thought processes down to habitual routines. This cannot have a good effect on any aspect of the person, because over time one would effectively shut down their own cognitive abilities. The self-induced, but very real, extremely mild, coma like state. The result would be someone who never explores and always looks for the familiar, the routine, so they just don't have to think about anything. Regardless of belief system, one must to knowledge that, I wore life as we know it is very brief. Life is a unique experience in that each day cannot be repeated and the future is always full of mystery if one is aware, so let's not waste it.

Here we are again back at the Matrix (opens in a new window) movie parallel. And of course, just like in the movie, if one misses the opportunity to be aware of their situation and be engaged in the same they become prime targets for manipulation. Because someone else has to do for them whatever they are not doing themselves.

Egad I have just scared myself, because I know quite a few people that fit into that matrix category. They seek only what is already established. Never looking for that new experience, that colourful paintbrush if you will. Moreover they tend to be very reliant, if not needy, on other people. Constantly asking and deferring all responsibility for action. They want the new smart TV set or other gizmo. But when they get they rely on others to set it up, because sending something new up involves the very thing they don't want-The New Experience.

Oh what a bizarre situation... Well I am very glad that I love new experiences :-)! I hope this short little article inspires all who read it to be aware of their surroundings and involved in their own lives. Because when you are you realize there is opportunity and magic every time you become aware of your surroundings.

Continue to explore everyone and see you next year in 2021!
Take care Patrick

A Thought about Thinking

Image modified (text added) based on drawing
by MithrandirMage. Creative Commons

Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

I volunteer in the technology sector. That is, building webpages, figuring out problems with computers (usually older ones) and pretty much handling a wide variety of issues over the phone. I can safely say there's never a dull moment.

One would think they'll that with all the tools we have at our disposal to save time, that the average person would be far more efficient and able to focus on the task at hand. But the opposite appears to be true, at least from my perspective. The various services we have to organize our lives seem to each have their own way of doing things and one is constantly switching between one thing or another. That in itself is inherently inefficient and to further add to the recipe of chaos the concept of detailed instructions seems to gone out the door in favour of icons and "relationships". So one is faced with the undesirable task of having to figure out the designer's perceptions.--This is where a well written manual the most beneficial. Now doing this on occasion or when one has a real mystery to solve is downright fun, but on the other hand when your goal of the day is to achieve something well done this gets to be a real impediment.

I find myself thinking about the thought processes of various modern-day developers. Indeed how well do they know themselves when you come right down to it. Because if you don't know your own motivations and it is hard to know exactly what drives your own designs and creativeness and things can get out of hand and the new application being created ends up being boxed in and more limited than its predecessor. A real world example of this is the new upgraded app which controls my smart lights. It seems to have far less functionality, for example you can no longer dim the lights on a timer for the whole house, you must set each individual room which means more time spent. And day help section is more of a philosophical explanation of why "you" the user will find this new app so wonderful. But as to what slider does what, well one has to spend some time playing around with it. And if one's way of using the app does not coincide with the philosophical instructions then it isn't so wonderful after all.

I just wonder about the mindsets and how people are thinking and indeed about their various thought processes. What will the machines think of us when they finally do "wake up" at the singularity? Just how well do we know our own thinking?

There is a silver lining

Photo by Keven Law. 
CC Share Alike 2.0 Generic Licence

Apologies to everyone for not updating my blog in the last several months. I have been very busy and of course the pandemic has changed a great deal on how we do things and as I'm sure everyone knows by now, when you work from home there is a tendency to keep working. No longer do you have the separation, it's just "one more thing", followed by "one more thing…" after that… On and on and, on it goes.

One thing I have noticed in the past few months is a sharp polarization of various viewpoints. No longer are there debates on whatever topic might be at hand in discussion, rather people seem to be digging their heels in. I think this is mostly due to an anxiety response. We all have an innate desire to change and control things. When an event happens which is global in scope there is a tendency to feel helpless and therefore you hold on to whatever you can even harder. Be it a behaviour, or an opinion. The line is drawn deeper in the sand. And just maybe this is had an unforeseen positive impact in that people are once again learning to speak up. The world is a little rougher and a little more uncertain… Some of the cushions have been taken away.

With the current protests and social actions which are so reminiscent of the 1960s in their scope and sincerity, have taken place to the same extent if the pandemic had not occurred. I think for people worldwide this is help the knockoff the "apathetic shoes" we were all wearing. This event is far from over and only time will tell how everything will play out. 

But globally I find myself feeling a little better knowing that people can stand together and take action. I was beginning to lose hope a tiny bit in the human race. But this is proven people still can do great things for those around them, as well as the larger community of humanity.

There is a silver lining. And it is nice to see.

Patrick