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Thinking about Resolutions

I made some resolutions last year.  I was sure I even talked about them on DMS.  Looking through the archives I can’t seem to find them.  It was a short list, no more than ten items in all.  I only managed to complete a third of the items though.  The remaining will roll-over into next year.  I suppose for most people this would be considered a failure.  They created a list of things to accomplish and at the end of the year if there are still items on the list they failed.

I don’t see it that way at all.

As good as crossing an item off my list felt.  The whole point of the list was to raise my awareness as to what I wanted to focus my time and efforts on throughout the year.  So, while I didn’t participate in NaNoWriMo or write a 50,000 word book on my own.  I have spent more time writing this year than in the past five.  I didn’t participate in a triathlon this year but I’ve got a exercise routine down and I haven’t been in this good of shape since I left High School.

So, what am I going to focus on in 2011?  I’ve got some ideas.  Again, I don’t see myself signing the Compact, if I did I don’t think I’d be able to succeed at it for more than a month or so.  But, having a written, public record of the fact that this is something I care about will help me spend the extra time to consciously think about my purchases.

Changing behavior starts with changing how we think and New Year Resolutions seems like the perfect vehicle for changing thought.

I’ll post my resolutions once they’re finalized.  I look forward the critique.

The Necessity of Dialogue

I graduated from college four years ago.  College is a mixed bag and it seems right now that the necessity of a degree in modern life is facing a backlash.  I’ve read in a few places how a degree is simply a waste of your time and money.  I’m not prepared to offer my thoughts on that subject.  I can vouch for the fact that college offers a lot more than just a piece of paper to hang on your wall.

One of the greatest is a group of people who share many of your own interests and have a decent head on their shoulders.  Not only will these people become life long friends they’re also fantastic sounding boards.  Many of my best ideas and thoughts were further improved by sharing them with others.

After working on a project for any lengths of time one is bound to attach some emotions to it.  Emotions that will prevent you from approaching it rationally and dispassionately at times.  Familiarity with a project can also mean that it isn’t being reviewed as carefully as it could be.  An excellent example is the spelling error in an essay you’ve reviewed multiple times.  Since you’ve seen the words thousands of times and you know what is supposed to be there you overlook the error.  Another pair of eyes and a mind fresh to the project can help you pick out the errors as well as help you approach it from a different light or direction.

Plato and his tutor Socrates realized the value of dialogue.  Through question and answer, the slow process of cutting an idea down into its constituent parts, understanding it, and then rebuilding it allowed for the discovery of the “best” way to live.  This is one of the reasons that our universities, colleges, and laboratories are communal.  Even the lone genius, say Einstein, works in an environment where their work is scrutinized by others.

The access to easy dialogue is one of the things I miss most from university.  I find that my ideas aren’t as clear or understandable because they haven’t had the benefit of others input.

Thankfully, the internet allows for even the most isolated person to engage in dialogue with others.  Regardless of what your field is you can find a group for it on-line where others meet, discuss, and move the field forward.  In addition mail service and the exchange of letters is another way to have a lasting , fulfilling dialogue.

I have been lucky enough to start up correspondences with people (on and off line) that have helped my shape my ideas as well as goals.  I encourage you to make the jump from lone practitioner, of whatever it is, into groupee.  You’ll find yourself challenged more often but you’ll often find the results more rewarding as well.

Where do we go from here?

I missed out on the Space Race.  From all accounts though it was an amazing time to be alive.  The Russian launch of Sputnik into space revitalized American research and development and finally put Americans on the moon and created a permanently manned space station that orbits the planet (I was there for that part.)  It seems though that the drive to put a man on a moon and one day other planets as well as spent itself.  Despite making plans as early as the 1950s to put a human on Mars, nothing has come of it.

There of course has been a lot of talk.  The President of the United States is even talking about a modern “Sputnik Moment.”  A call for re-training and educating the Americans to deal with an economy that has moved beyond the twentieth century is a good thing and is greatly needed in our country.  I doubt though that NASA and other such pursuits are not going to be the beneficiaries as they were of the first “Sputnik moment.”  United States interest in the stars has steadily been declining, as has funding for such missions.  In fact, one can argue that government funding for Science has been under attack since the Reagan administration, the latest example being Congressman Cantor’s idea to have non-experts cut science grants they don’t understand (or don’t agree with, or any ol’ reason.)

A manned mission of Mars seems to be a pipe dream at this point.  But, only for Americans.  China, Russia and India have announced plans to send probes to the red planet, Russia has discussed it since the 50s and India is actively calling for a joint international mission.  Despite the President’s call for NASA to pursue a manned mission to Mars the agency doesn’t have any sort of plans for such a mission (their plans go beyond 2020 but fail to mention any manned missions.)

The debate recently heated up though when Paul Davies of Arizona State University and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University published a paper advocating a one-way trip for astronauts to Mars.  They aren’t advocating a suicide mission but instead the beginning of a permanent presence on the planet.  This is exciting, even more exciting is to know that after the paper was published the authors in-boxes began to fill with people volunteering for the mission.  What is lacking though isn’t the human spirit and will, it is the political will to make anything happen.

What has happened to Americans?  When did we begin to dream small?

A Late Apology

I was going to write about the Pentagon’s report on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell today.  I was going to laud the report’s findings and our military’s commitment to equal rights.  I might have even crowed a little about how bigots in D.C. and elsewhere can no longer use the Military’s policy as a shield to hide behind anymore.  Even throw in a joke or two at Senator McCain and Mike Huckabee’s expense.  But, the report speaks for itself, and many other, more qualified people have already spoken on the matter (here is a single example.)

I have to say I don’t understand why letting the courts do it is such a bad idea, but he Pentagon seems really against it…  Anyway I’m not talking about that am I?

I’m writing to apologize to Finch.  Who is Finch?  Finch is that guy in your group of friends who exists merely to make fun of.  This type of friend is most prevalent in high school, and Finch was ours.  The group of people I knew and associated with in high school were a mix of the “coolest”and the smartest, as little as that means… and by all metrics Finch shouldn’t have been eating lunch or talking to any of the people that he did, I know High School is cruel.

I can’t think of a single time I was nice to Finch.  Even worse, I don’t even know Finch’s real name.  I think Finch was his surname but I really have no idea and my high school yearbook is.

So, Finch sorry for treating you as an object instead of a person.  Sorry, for using you to make myself feel better.  I hope you didn’t let how we all mistreated you get to you and that you are wildly successful today…

Wouldn’t that show us?

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