Assumptions.

Small minds assume all the big things and focus on the trivial.

This is true because they cannot grasp the larger issues.

Do greater minds dwell on the big things? Often not. It is easy to be distracted by the mundane; quiet solitude is often required to regain focus. ( Or the company of other like minds. )

An observation from a little bus trip.

Well, for some it was little - for me it was not overly fun-ish. 10 hours of claustrophobia and bad company.
In BeEvil where I am at the moment, there is a surfeit of camo jackets, pajama bottoms, beards (mostly male) and adipose tissue (mostly female).
As is my wont, I watch people quite a lot (sort-of get paid to do just that, actually). And in the central bus depot in Toronto, between 11PM and 12:30AM, I caught sight of ... 1 camo jacket, 1 set of pj bottoms (on a male), and no obesity. Do thin people spend their money on travel instead?

Been a While...

So it's a bit of time since when - that's what procrastination and distraction (look there's a squirrel) will get you: time and not much to show for it.

Anyway, it's been interesting - ran for city council, and I'm rather happy that I did NOT get elected. I'm afraid my tolerance would be severely tested by thopse others who got on.

And my daughter lost a significant other. 37 yrs old, no warning, no symptoms, just gone. Very hard on her, very frustrating as a parent - I want to do something to make it better, to make it go away, but ...

So that entailed a road trip to just be there. And since I choose not to drive, that meant the bus.
Yay! Not.
For a change, I got sit in the "red Seats" at the terminal. Whethere that's for "specials" or for international, or express - whatever. The seats are more comfortable. From Toronto to Detroit - this is at midnight, mind you - the bus was packed with people apparently on the way to Chicago. (Why go to Chicago is a different question.)
At 3:18 AM in London Ontario, no layover, no potty break, just a change of drivers and go. Ah well, Timmy's wasn't open anyway.

And going to an empty house at 5:30 in the morning was somewhat ... emptying emotionally.

The funeral was on my Birthday. An unfortunate coincidence. And my daughter, well, somethings you don't get over, you just live with forever. The good will eventually overpower the bad. But the bad will always remain as a scar. It's almost three months, and I wish I had the power to make it go away. No.

I went into McD's a couple of days ago - yeah, yeah, but I happen to think their coffee is passable (and cheap, relatively).
30 patrons, not counting 4 children.
ALL at least 50 lbs overweight. And I mean ALL. And a distinct emphasis on "at least". I  would qualify them all as "obese".
And the children were also greatly overweight.
In addition, of the 6 servers, 3 were also overwieght.
That left me and 3 people behind the counter as moderately close to a reasonable BFI.
So: Excluding the observer, Correlation of obesity to customer sample: r+1.00.
Correlation or causation?
Just askin'.

Those Nobel Prizes mean something.

Lately, I have been wading through Phil Kahneman's book (see sidebar). Lots there, in terms of analyzing my own thinking patterns. Good stuff.
Interesting how Nobel laureates actually make a lot of sense when they are in their own field of expertise.

For Everything

For everything you love, there is a price.
Be prepared to pay, or be prepared to let go.

Overheard on the bus...egocentrism.

"Can you imagine me and Jarrett? We would be such a good couple, don't you think?"
Interesting how the "ME" comes before the intended other. It states unwittingly the relative importance of the self as opposed to her target. Most unfortunate in that the younger "me first" generation place themselves above all other things. (Except maybe their cellphone.)
(No, she was not blond. But she was under 25.)