Research Papers: now and then

Remember doing research papers for History or term papers for English in high school? The library trips to find book sources and academic articles. The late nights and early mornings finishing up tiny edits and awkward phrasing. OK so the work was awful and full of plagiarized content, the quotes didn’t fit the main point and you created sources out of thin air. good times…

Most of those papers needed a minimum of quotes per page or some other similar requirement--bad idea for kids who only do the minimum.

The problem this creates goes something like this: toss together a collage of words, shoehorn a quote from Abe Lincoln somewhere in the middle and presto! Clean up the bibliography page but don’t worry too much about the format, like the teacher is actually going to check the sources. Turn in the painstakingly edited final draft (don’t laugh).

I don’t have a much better idea for research, but how about this? Give them something random to read and force them to take notes for doing an essay later. Ensure that they can’t find a Sparknotes copy by selecting a narrowly focused topic. Something like ‘crop rotation techniques of Filipino farmers’ or ‘federal regulations of home water softeners’.

This is something colleges get that high schools don’t. Want to really find out if kids can  summarize an idea? Make them write about it.

ACT, SAT and most standardized tests have some form of read and quiz portion because it goes straight to retention. Term papers are more about formatting and researching. Go ahead and argue for space time travel as a legitimate source of federal funding, we really only care that you know how to look up the details and notate them.

I wonder how important it will be in 10 years, researching in the way people do now. In a my lifetime, which isn’t that long, library research for students has come from physical card catalogs to internal databases to external databases like Wilson select plus and LexisNexis. Google has a massive academic search engine for scholarly articles eliminating (almost) the need for separate systems.

The library in just a few short years has become a museum for how we used to do research--also a place for homeless patrons to wash up and change clothes. So you know…not for nothing.

I am little sad about the loss. Insight gained through trial and error shouldn’t disappear so quickly. It took years to get comfortable finding books, scanning chapters, making note cards, changing topics and starting over. It was meaningful work, not exactly digging wells in the Sahara but it set me apart. There aren’t too many ways to stand out in college and be recognized as being better than others at regular academic pursuits.

It wasn’t genius it was skill, the kind you earn.

I’m an optimist on education and the democratizing it has undergone. The internet has leveled the field by removing a lot of the barriers to education, money, time and licensing requirements. I really mean education as the ‘practice of learning stuff’ and not the institutions we spent years in as kids. Even with the massive academic data available at a click, compiling an original paper is fundamentally the same.

So what does the term paper for high school kids look like in 30 years? Since research has changed so much I can’t see teachers asking for a bibliography page with multiple book sources. They should probably need to insert quotes correctly and know how to hyperlink, but the essence of research is in finding the thing, searching for the holy grail of supporting material. I suppose this is still feasible in the same way. The time it takes to put together a good essay with a coherent point is probably about the same as always.

As long as it takes the teacher to remind you that it’s due tomorrow.

Solomon's Temple: what might have been

I tried to imagine a scenario where King Solomon would conclude “The end of thing is better than its beginning…”. he said that in Ecclesiastes 7:8. He does that a lot in Proverbs too, he leaves us wondering, what made him say that?

 I can’t prove it but I’ll bet he was remembering projects that start with such hope and promise and flitter away. He built the famous temple in Jerusalem after all, the one that the Babylonians destroyed about 400 years later. He was a builder. A builder understands the deadline changes and bureaucratic messiness of seeing a project all the way through.  But bureaucracy, like flesh eating bacteria has evolved.

Imagine the wise king navigating through modern bureaucratic hurdles before actually designing. A council of elders would insist union contractors laid the stones and that all  masons be certified, same with the iron workers. Anyone with a skilled craft (carvers, chiselers) might hold up work and demand higher wages. Where would he find another stone engraver? Investors might pull out of the project if the Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) weren’t complete or up to date.

Imagine if an endangered beetle were spotted during the digging phase and work needed to stop, proper areas roped off undisturbed. The project grinding to a halt until an expert from the wildlife preservation fund (WPF) could write a report, verify migration patterns and sign off.

How might he react if the law firm representing displaced Canaanites had threatened to sue him? Not to win money for the tribe but to share in all revenue traders would make from traveling pilgrims. The temple might have cut Baal worshipers off from a convenient place to sacrifice infants. Other groups (Philistines, Edomites) might join the lawsuit in an ‘undue hardship for religious accommodation’ brief.

Could he have gotten the permits to build from the local authorities without hiring one of their relatives to "supervise" the project? 

He would certainly have wished for the ‘end of the thing.’

With a project of such scale and time, a large number of mathematicians would be needed. Could they get the proper work visas?

What about insurance? Laborers would have needed it from falling stones not laid securely in the wall or a plank of cedar threatening to crush an unsuspecting victim. Permits would not be issued until everyone associated with the temple was licensed. 

I am sure he’d of prayed “Dear Lord bring the end of this thing!” every night before slept exhausted, head pounding.

If the gold melted and laid down over the floor didn’t meet specifications what could Solomon have done? If the Bureau of Precious Metals (BPM) found the gold to be of a lower quality they would have shut down work until a replacement could be found, same for the wood. Cedar and Cyprus were both used for different parts of the structure. A non-fire retardant plank could have finished off the project until the carpenters could find an approved glaze for the wood.

A project this big and expensive would need security to keep raiders out. The guards better meet National Council on Security and Protection Professionals (NCSPP) regulations. If they don’t, well you know…

I started to realize that this morass of official channels and red tape was a real thing about the time One World Trade Center in New York opened its doors. The project was approved in the spring of 2006; they opened to the public in 2014. No modern building takes that long to assemble. My guess is rent-seeking groups hobbled the effort and slowed down a straightforward A to B job with roadblocks. Solomon was fortunate here. 

The end of a thing is better than the beginning, Indeed.

David Childs (his firm designed the Burj Khalifa) is the architect who designed the angular structure for the changing New York skyline. I hope he learned how to navigate the jumble of regulations and unnecessary delays.

Wonder if he reads Ecclesiastes?   

New Year New Content

As First Principles I've tried to cover an array of topics or whatever seemed interesting to me at the time. Occasionally though I run out of content and struggle to fill the pages. 

 A few problems I’ve noticed about what I write, or rather don’t write. Experienced bloggers can dive into anything and throw up some random thoughts or emotions about an event in news. Something that makes its way around Twitter and Facebook wall posts, celebrity deaths, political shenanigans or major weather alerts. I have trouble with this mostly because I can’t imagine contributing to the conversation or bringing some new aspect to light. 

No, I don't have anything brilliant to say that hasn't been thought, or written.

This is something I need to overcome because what is blogging if not constant updating and typing minutia. Or maybe what I do is fine.

Good enough…just enough.

I hope that isn’t laziness being passed off as wit. I am big believer that you write out of trouble and no amount of writing is ever too much. Maybe just don’t publish or paste everything. We have delete and backspace buttons to clean up the run on sentences and poorly worded phrases. Write all day. Write all night. Write until your fingers cramp and the pain makes you howl like retriever with a smashed tail. Just, you know, edit. I am trying to encourage myself here and not throw blame to writers. Working for ____  makes me a paid writer so technically the ‘community’ includes me. 

Yeah! Paid writer fist bump! pushes away from computer, punches the air

Ok so I only earn a couple bucks for digging into technical articles and spinning out sales-y content.

So where do I go from here in my search for blog material that works for me? Maybe that’s the problem, I try to fit content into such a tiny box instead of just banging on about newsworthy items. When you devote more time and energy to something it improves. Surely blogs work the same way.

I do wonder about process. How do others do it? Do they scan the major wire services and entertainment gossip for material? With journalists it is easy. They cover news so their content is pretty secure…because well, news is always happening. What about the mommy blogs and special interest stuff? It would seem difficult to come up with constant interesting posts to engage readers. This is surely the greatest misconception about writing/blogging I’ve had to get over.

 “Don’t write to an audience, just write and let the audience come to you.” At least that’s the story I am sticking to. I don’t like 100% of any one writer’s stuff, even the ones with sharp analysis and amazing turns of phrases. Take the good, take the bad. Share what is interesting and keep grinding away like an elderly couple scratching off lottery tickets.

Encourage, uplift and motivate when no one else will and be happy with the result.

To a great New Year full of promise and improvement, Cheers!!

What is Your Hobby?

What are hobbies and do they actually help us relieve stress from everyday work and relationships?

In thinking about hobbies I started where most might, Wikipedia. Usually Wikipedia has a history page and column that breaks down by various subheadings like ‘word origin’ or ‘controversy’. With ‘hobbies’ it merely gives a dictionary definition followed by an outline of things considered hobbies under types like ‘outdoor’ or ‘collecting’. Everyone has an idea of what is a hobby and what isn’t. I never considered sports or fitness to be a hobby but the list includes volleyball, weightlifting, cycling and many other competitive sports. Ok, so I can say anything outside of work that contributes to joy, relaxation, mental acuity or skill is a hobby.

Everyone needs a release that takes them outside the day to day existence and allows the mind to change direction by focusing on something other than work or relationships. We hear phrases like “the need to recharge” to explain why everyone needs an activity or skill outside of their career madness. Nothing is worse than losing sleep over a difficult day at work or thinking hard about a problem related solely to a career move. Stress from work and family is part of life but having an avenue for release is important for managing it.  This is supported by research but most of us don’t need to understand the research to understand what is obvious to most, hobbies renew our minds.

I’ve always tried to have some activity or pursuit removing me from my daily routines. There was an 18-hole golf course at my Army barracks in Louisiana where soldiers and visitors played almost year round. The weather was warm (humid) most of year so a course that stayed open for 12 months was normal. I didn’t play the course too many times but I loved going to the driving range and smacking balls down the long yard toward the parking lot. Gripping a club and bashing a tiny white ball was strangely therapeutic even though I never spent more than 30 minutes at it. I am sure if I looked into the how’s and why’s of golf it would make sense scientifically—something about endorphins maybe. It wouldn’t matter.  I like knowing that it worked for me and nothing else could at that time.

I looked at a couple of blog posts to get a sense of how others (non-academics) think about hobbies. Typically, almost everyone agrees that some form of hobby or learned skill is therapeutic. My favorite entry was one that explained  how through hobby individuals discover quirks and preferences about themselves. Most introspection helps us understand how our mind processes events and works through problems. Writing helps me untangle philosophical knots and complex problems by examining them closer. By taking apart the separate bits that make up problems and spreading them out like puzzle pieces (metaphorically), I get answers to what seemed impossible hours ago. I am not really sure how it happens but for me, writing just works.

Some find peace in solitude while others get joy from interaction. 

Finding a creative outlet through a hobby brings self-awareness and creativity to anyone willing to engage. Who knows, it may even lead to a different career or a new way to earn money. I have a few friends who have transitioned into rewarding jobs because of their skill with music, or their detail with photography. The internet has opened up countless possibilities for craft workers to sell handmade goods all over the world.  

Find a skill or an activity that brings out talents and use it to pursue joy and a refreshing break from normal stressors of life. I know I will.

A life cut short

Depression is a hell of a thing.

It isn’t a subject anyone likes to talk about or even think about but every once in a while someone we know (knew) does the unthinkable. I’ve known a few people who have taken their lives and although I don’t pretend to know the reasons or the situations surrounding the decision, it makes me heart-sick. The most recent example is of a kid who grew up across the street from me in my community college years. He was junior high aged (13-14) when I first met him and although we didn’t have a lot in common we played basketball together and talked about sports, girls and movies.

Our relationship was difficult to explain given our age differences. I did a post high school stint in community college that ultimately forced me to join the Army. I wasn’t ready for college. I had zero discipline for school work and the will to get better just wasn’t there. In the year and a half I lived with my dad right across the street from him. I could look out my window most days and find him shooting hoops in his driveway, committed to improving his game. He was a solid athlete. I like to think I showed him a few things on the court but really he was better than me at the same age. I was a decent competitor and allowed him to sharpen his quickness by playing someone bigger and stronger.

 I needed someone to look up to me as much as he needed a coach.

I joined the Army shortly after he started high school and at most would wave to him on a visit back home. I don’t remember talking to him much after I moved out. My dad eventually sold that house and moved north of there, different part of town. When I finally did get out I moved in with my dad at his new house while applying for school and working odd jobs. I never saw the kid with the quick dribble again but would occasionally bump into a classmate of his or someone else from the neighborhood. He seemed to be popular with the girls by all accounts. This never surprised me. He was a good looking kid and very athletic.

What emotions lead a person to do such a terrible thing and force the rest of us with an empty longing? I haven’t seen the kid in 20 years and I’m sadder than I imagined. Such promise, such a waste. How awful must those close to him be feeling? Obviously the happy kid with the big hoop dreams turned into someone darker than I ever knew somewhere in that 20 year time frame. It happens every day. People let their minds convince them of the futility of getting help or that hope is not a real thing, something for other more deserving people. I am not sure how depression works per se. Is all depression clinical or is it only clinical in suicidal people? Are suicidal people always losing a war on depression or do they have good weeks, days?

I recently heard suicide described as jumping out of a burning high rise building.  Hitting the ground, apparently, is much better than suffering the smoke and flames of the moment. Depressed people see suicide as an escape from the disease slowly eating their mind. Jumping from a high rise building may ensure a violent end but staying is torturous. This was the situation during the attack of 9/11 from the workers in the World Trade Center. Deciding to leave the flames and smoke certain to suffocate them, they leapt out the window and fell to their death. It is a grisly consideration but one that at least goes a little way toward describing suicidal tendencies.

As a Christian I am doubly saddened by any news that a person has lost an ongoing battle with the enemy. Evil is always looking for an entry point to deceive and betray. The entry point for too many of us is our thoughts. I don’t mean to insinuate depression is something that can be overcome through positive thinking only. In the same way that many of us struggle to lose weight or quit smoking, others battle horrible thoughts and torturous emotional darkness. Some aren’t prepared for the onslaught. Medicine can go a long way toward helping an individual cope and maintain normality. Only God can move the clouds away and cause light to drive away the darkness, and the pain that comes with losing a precious life.  

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts in your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (ESV)

Wacky Wall Walkers!!!

Remember Wacky Wall Walkers? 

No… didn’t think so. They were gummy-like sticky toys that came with the purchase of certain General Mills cereals in the eighties. It was a spider I think, or maybe an octopus. I couldn’t wait for another box of cereal to get the next toy because by the time the original box was empty the spider had lost its stickiness. The idea was to throw the gummy spider with the sticky legs at the window and watch it slowly ‘walk’ its way down. It only worked a little bit right out of the package on the first throw. After, it dropped to the floor and picked up lint and hair which meant the next throw would stay on the glass for half the time. You might get in a third toss in before having to take it to the sink and wash the gunk off the spider’s legs.

I never got tired of hoping the new toy would be better than the old. “Maybe next time was the mantra.” It might even ‘walk’ from window to floor like a spider should. Despite all the evidence of the failure that was this toy, I tore through the plastic every time and fell for the scam anew. Ok…so it wasn’t a scam really, just a silly toy with hardly any value outside the cereal box. I don’t remember being super frustrated or annoyed with the lack of progress. I am sure at least once I chucked it across the room in a dramatic fit of 7 year old angst, cheated by adults again!

What I most remember is the eagerness to try again, use a different strategy. Hot water only this time, a counterclockwise method of scrubbing the carpet fibers off the tentacles or maybe cleaning the window to a streak free shine, all were options. I never quit thinking of new methods for getting the toy to perform, or to look like the one on the freaking cereal box! What was my drive then? Did I really not understand that the toy was junk and never intended to do a full walk down the bay window like the advertising promised? of course not. Every new package represented the chance to start over, to get it right, to make the toy walk.

The great thing about kids is they are rarely discouraged out of an activity despite how upset they get at the time. Their limited life experience doesn’t promise anything, hope is eternal and the future is still in front of them. Adults are different. Most of us have let someone down or been let down at some point. Ask most of us and we can tell you what we are good, bad or indifferent at. We’ve tried getting a degree in one skill or discipline but dropped out when it got expensive and difficult. We work at relationships for a while but quit win they get tough or don’t deliver some level of happiness.  

I can’t remember all the resumes I’ve held off sending to employers because of previous rejections. What happened to that determination to wash off the gunk and try again or beg Dad for a new box of Golden Grahams and hope for a better spider? I forgot how to climb uphill and got content to sit and have lunch. 

I imagine we push forward with resolve as kids because our memory pool is shallow and we don’t know that failure could be right around the corner. We haven’t built up a tolerance for it, thank God.

Adults need to get back to the resilience toward life that kids employ naturally. We give up on bettering ourselves too easy and slide into mediocrity by not moving forward and not ignoring the times we fall. It probably starts in adolescence, the sorting of talents or lack of talent into groups. Some is unintentional, no one wants to pick Eric for basketball so he ‘learns’ not to pursue it. Much is intentional though and based on aptitude or intelligence. Kara gets put in low level reading groups and struggles with other subjects. Tests tell us what we are good at and instead of working on the bad, low skill/low aptitude, we pursue the good.

Failure leads to more failure and a general turning away from activities that caused pain and embarrassment sets in. The first casualty in the mind war is determination. Once that dies we start to see other challenges the same way. Never get picked for basketball? Don’t bother with football.” “Can’t play the piano? don’t even try guitar.” “Struggle with math? don’t take physics.”

The only way to reverse the pattern is to keep trying that thing that looks so impossible. Celebrate the small victories. Keep buying the cereal box with additional crappy toys and refuse to be frustrated. Interview for the job even when it seems daunting and re-apply if they reject you. When someone says “You’re acting like a child” say “thank you!” and then give them a wedge.

Most importantly get back to a place where effort wins and hope springs eternal. A place where sticky toys are all the rage.

  

Castro's Death

Fidel Castro died. I get these news updates from the BBC on my phone and I glanced at it quickly the other day. My first thought was “It’s about time; no one has gotten more mileage out of a legacy than that old warhorse.”

Remember the character Scar from the Lion King (yes the cartoon)? Anyone who wants to understand Cuba since Castro need only watch the Lion King after Scar steals the throne. Animals starve and turn on each other to fight over scraps and barren patches of earth. Scar only cares about control and ignores the well-being of the kingdom as oppression and infighting overtake the land. He schemes new ways of getting power and uses crooked associates as poverty and starvation overtake a formally prosperous land.

Lion King is maybe an oversimplification, but only slightly. Art imitates life after all and the Disney story isn’t all that old, early nineties.  Cuba provides a striking real world example of what happens when evil leaders get control of the levers of power. Havana was never a model of decent governance even before Fidel Castro took over though. In fact, it was the rampant corruption of officials during the Batista regime that created the seeds for a Communist revolutionary like Fidel to rise. The government was basically open to the highest bidder; the mafia ran drugs and prostitution there. In the The Godfather: Part II Hyman Roth describes his involvement with the ‘friendly’ regime like this:

What I wouldn't give for twenty more years! Here we are, protected, free to make our profits without Kefauver, the goddamn Justice Department and the F.B.I. ninety miles away, in partnership with a friendly government. Ninety miles! It's nothing! Just one small step, looking for a man who wants to be President of the United States, and having the cash to make it possible. Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel. 

 So the government was awash in mafia money in the fifties and most of Havana’s hotels, restaurants and night clubs were tied in with American business. The Cuban people can be forgiven for wanting to be rid of the corrupt dealings of Fulgencio Batista and his military dictatorship. But once Castro proved a tyrant locking up opponents and killing political prisoners they should have tired of him too. Especially after witnessing the decay, the starvation and the rafts loaded with exiles desperate to leave the failed state. His long reign is an example of how far a country can regress economically and still refuse to blame the leader for the desolation.

We in the US always hear stories about how much the Cubans loved Castro. It always seemed unlikely to me. I understand the myth of the defiant leader thumbing his nose at the United States and going his own way. Being allied with the Soviet Union and encouraging ships loaded with missiles to cross the Atlantic wasn’t just a ballsy move, it nearly started a nuclear war. The so called ‘love’ for Castro had to be rooted in nationalistic pride because what else is there? Industry and agriculture suffered immensely with the trade embargo and only in the last 10 years could private citizens own their own restaurants and actually keep a portion of the income for themselves.

  After that near catastrophe the war against Communism became strictly ideological and mostly fought through proxies. The CIA tried to take out the Latin American dictator with a grab bag of silly tactics, exploding cigars and methods to make his beard hair fall out. Once the Soviet Union fell apart the real power behind Castro (if it was ever really there) ceased and he ceased to be a real threat.    

I’ve already read countless biographies of the Cuban strongman since his death so I won’t retell ancient history. What is important to me is winning the BIG war of ideas. The one that says American capitalism and the democratic process won this battle so admit it! Your poor country is a result of bad policies and anti-free ideas you’ve worked so hard to keep out of the public! This is the long war and I am not sure we can win it now. In some ways these ideological battles are never won, just advanced. The BIG ideas should serve as a signpost in history of how NOT to run a country, how NOT to stifle freedom and how NOT to oppress religion.

There are too many frustrating aspects of Cuban Communism to cover here but the biggest one for sure is the positive reception Castro receives by much of the American press. The press always mentions the universal education that all Cubans get and the ‘wonderful’ health care. The quality of the learning is never questioned, only the amazing achievement of universal schooling is lauded--as if no difference exists in the types of health care or education. Most public schools in the US have a second language requirement for Americans to graduate high school. How many people can honestly say they speak a second language? According to education statistics most American kids know at least one second language; the truth is quite different.

So making something 'universal' doesn’t fix what it is supposed to fix?

Fidel Castro actually lived to see a small victory in diplomatic relations. The president of the United States dismantled much of the embargo and took steps toward full relations in commerce. It is a hell of a thing to walk back when you think of the effort Americans have spent clothing and feeding Cubans who escaped the poverty stricken island. The hope is that Havana looks more like Miami instead of Mosul in 20 years. But Cuba needs a democratically elected government with a non-political police force and relatively free markets. Doing it the way Obama has is doing it on the dictator’s terms. It cements anti liberal dominance and even encourages further oppression from future leaders.

By killing the embargo and starting relations with Havana, the US acquiesces to a cruel government without any preconditions. The worst part is Cuba doesn’t offer the US anything but industries that are a shell of what they were 40 years ago. The sugar plantations are a tiny fraction of the nation’s wealth and the tobacco leaves have been mostly replanted in Costa Rica and Honduras.  Any questions about President Obama’s leftist ideologies were answered with this foolish détente. There is a shred of hope that the Cuban people will get a taste of capitalism and reject communism.

Just like in the Lion King though, nothing will change in the land until the evil and greedy ruler is deposed. Fidel Castro’s death is a positive development towards removing some of the darkness hovering over the once lush island country.