The Irrefutable Truths December 19, 2008
Posted by wisdomaddict in Personal stuff, Religion, Uncategorized.add a comment
I am going to compile a list of irrefutable truths which are my guiding principles for life. This will be ongoing until such time as I deem it complete. My first irrefutable truth is this-
There is a God and God is responsible for creation.
This is simple enough not to cause to much argument. This statement does not try to say there is a God of one of the myriads of Religions that exist or have existed. Simply that God exists and created the universe. The only people that could argue with this are atheists. They are stubbornly delusional and suffer from inflated egos. An atheist does not believe in God because he cannot admit that there is something bigger than himself which may be in control.
I back up this truth with the following two anectdotes.
A man was walking through the desert and saw nothing but sand and rocks. The desert was completely devoid of any evidence of anything intelligent having visited in the past. In fact the man believed himself to be the first person to ever set foot in this desert. He walked for miles and miles and miles. Still nothing . He grew weary and frustrated with the monotony of his journey. Then in the distance he saw something. A slight twinkle… a reflection. So the man began to walk toward the light. Closer and closer he went. When finally he discovered the source of the light. It was a small round gold colored piece of material on one side. It was pure smooth metal. On the other side was a white disk covered with clear glass. Within the glass , on top of the white disc were two black and one silver lines . The lines emanated from the center of the disc and had synchronized movements. The silver line moved continuously round and round. The large black line moved a bit slower and the small black line moved even slower. He found the disc could be separated to reveal what was inside of this machine which would alow him to see what made the lines move. He opened it up and to his amazement an intricate series of gears and springs were responsible for it’s steady, perfectly stable rhythmic movement. The man pondered . How is this possible? How could the sand and rocks come together randomly and form this machine? He was certain however that it must have been a random collusion of wind, rain, sand and rocks which produced this machine. This had to be so because no one had ever been there before. Then he came to his senses and realized he was in error. This machine requires intelligence to create. The chances of random combining of elements to form this machine is infinitesimally small as to be absurd. Obviously someone highly skilled made the machine- And he could not have been the first to visit this place.
My second anecdote is this. Looking back even prior to the 1870’s -not long ago- if i had told you that there are invisible waves that fly through the air but you cant see, hear, taste, smell or feel them but truthfully – they are there. In addition, they are capable of transmitting my voice over many miles. Using these waves I could be in one city and talk to people in far away places. Any rational person would have thought I was crazy. But in fact electromagnetic wave do exist. There are things of this world which we cannot hear, see, taste , smell, touch or sense in any way with our bodies- but they do exist. To deny that in the future we may discover more things that are insensible (such as electromagnetic waves) or that there are things of this world which we may never discover because they are not seen, heard felt, smelled or tasted is sophistry
Why am I doing this December 19, 2008
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I am doing this purely for selfish reasons. I find it cathartic to write my beliefs. I addition, I get practice at writing, which is a valuable communication skill. Lastly, as I write what I have learned I am impressing it into my deep long term memory which will allow me to recall it easier and more precisely in the future. If no one reads this that is fine. I have still achieved my primary goal. If someone does read it and gets some information from it or just enjoys it all the better.
Texas Hold’em Lessons December 18, 2008
Posted by wisdomaddict in Gambling.Tags: www.tradethepicture.com/about
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Last night I had the pleasure of my first Texas Hold’em lesson from Mr. Volatility’s card caddy, Big Mike. Watch for Mr. Volatility and Big Mike to compete at this summers World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The wisdom gained from this lesson is this -and it can be applied to other areas of life as well as Poker. Don’t be afraid to bet large when dealt a good hand in the beginning of the game. You always want people to fold. People make a huge mistake by trying to keep people in the game to build the pot. When you are dealt 2 aces on the first down go big because the more people stay in the game the better your chances of losing to someone else’s hand. Who cares if you all you get are the antes YOU STILL WON MONEY! All those little wins add up. Don’t Try to build the pot under these circumstances. Many people try to fool people into betting up the pot. In reality this strategy is likely to fail as each card dealt lowers the value of your hand.
Lesson #2 – The worst hand is 7- 2 off suit. toss it- unless your Big Mike who sometimes makes sport of the other players by playing it to a win. But that’s why he’s Mr Volatility’s Card caddy.
Current Read Outliers December 17, 2008
Posted by wisdomaddict in Books.add a comment
I am currently reading Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. This book is fascinating. He uses some information about some extrordiarily successful people to explain their success. The beginning of the book discusses canadian Professional hockey. Gladwell noticed that a huge statistical aberration occurred in that many of the best players were born in Jan., Feb. and March- fully 40%. He delves in to show that the junior leagues have an age cutofff on Jan. 1 which means a player that has a bday on Jan 2 is virtually a full year older than the kid that was born in dec. In the pros this is not a big deal but at the age of 7, 8 or 9 years -this one year of physical and mental maturity will make or break a kid. This is the progression. older kids outscore younger kids in junior levels and they move into club with better coaches against stronger competition and more practice time. This just escalates all the way to the pros. If you were born in Dec. your chances are strongly diminished in this game. This holds true for other sports including Baseball and has drastic consequences for our educational system. In Denmark children below age 10 are grouped into classes in 3 month intervals January February March are in 1 class , April may June 2nd class etc. This is awesome and should be done here. It would eliminate problems in the classroom due to varying maturity levels within 1 year of development. Statistics show that the treatment received by the younger group in a class can determine future education level and overall life achievement even mental health later in life.More to come