Memory Limits Memory Limits May Create Forgetfulness Posted on July 21, 2013 Just how big is our memory? I am only addressing a healthy normal brain status. There has got to be a limit to how much we can cram into our cranium. I ask this because it seems as the older I get, the foggier my memory gets, short term especially. There is the moment an older person walks into a room and has to think about why. Being naturally curious, I brought the subject up about memory size. Because of the passage of years, we accumulate a lot of visual and non visual information. Normally we can recall these memories with just a little coaxing or concentration. For instance I can still see my mother through the eyes of my younger years. I can conjure up images from the past at will with no problem, so that means that the information was stored. So again I ask, “How much storage is in a normal brain?” Could our learning curve level out as we get older because we have used up our available memory? If we insist upon adding information into our brain, does our brain have to ‘dump’ older memories to make room for the new information? If new information crowds out the old information, do we get any willful say-so about what gets jettisoned and what stays? I would just think that we do choose the memories that stay and what memories go by how frequently we use them. The so called short-term memories would have the fewest ‘hits’ simply because they haven’t been called upon as much as some of our older memories. I don’t want to confuse anybody about this piece because I certainly do not have answers, just questions. But if the brain selectively drops the least called upon memories to dump, then it follows that the most recent memories would have to go first. At my age, learning is a much more daunting task than just a few years ago. I have to read and re-read stuff to make sense of it. By repeating to myself what I am trying to learn, say HTML5, I eventually get the idea of what is expected. Does that mean that I have crowded out memories to make room for the new information? That is the question. Presumably, I will never know if certain memories are gone – I won’t remember! Support Modern Conservatism! "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Unknown, quoted by Jim Horning, Will Rogers and others" Top of Page

Memory Limits Information Overload Image from http://www.gfktechtalk.com/ Posted on November 24, 2013 This is the follow up part to the article I wrote about memory. I have questions that gnaw at me about the limits to our learning process. When a person dedicates his life to a special skill; would the accumulation of that knowledge use so much of a person’s memory and cognitive skills that additional skills become marginalized? Can a person become extremely competent at more than one skill? If not, why not? Is it a false assumption that our brains can get information overload? Skill sets are divided into different categories. There are literally thousands of specialties that a person can pursue. There are a lot of engineers specializing in specific disciplines, and it is probably safe to say that anybody who acquires the knowledge necessary for that discipline would be only mediocre at an additional skill set. Then there are the ‘jacks-of-all-trades’ that know a smattering about a lot of different skill sets but generally, not really an expert at any of them. The point is that there aren’t many experts in one skill set that is equally proficient in another. Why not? We have a lot of very smart people, some have a large mental capacity, but few can master more than one unrelated discipline. Humans can learn a lot about a specific subject, but only rarely do we find a person capable of expertise in more than one category. Progress creates additional information. The amount of information gained by the many disciplines is growing exponentially. Specialties are becoming more divided as discovery and research branches into even narrower, more focused specializations. In the not-too-distant future, as our knowledge base continues to expand, we will become more dependent upon our computers to make sense out of even simple abstracts. Our brains will also have to evolve if we are to solve evermore complex problems. As things progress, without more brain development, there will be no human that will be capable of absorbing enough information to fully understand the new working abstracts. Group think will pass for a while but soon even group think will be surpassed as the various mysteries of the different sciences reveal themselves. And, new discoveries will create a demand for a greater information base than even a group will be able to master. Our learning curve for understanding a particular subject still has to start with the basics. The learning curve for a particular subject is lengthening all the time because of the incremental advances made. We have to learn much more about a given subject than just a decade ago. Everything is much more complex than it once was. Understanding any technology requires the learning of its basics for an initial understanding of that technology, and also the conceptual understanding of the developments of that technology. As a technology gets more complex, the amount of material that must be absorbed to stay current pushes our ability. Our lifespan is increasing, and that is fine for giving us more time to hone our skills if only our brains were increasing their capacity to go along with our increasing lifespan. The future does not look bright for humans. Science fiction writers have been on to this problem for years. They have written many stories about mankind’s dependency on their machines and even suggested that we will turn to our machines to devise even smarter machines to solve ever increasing complex problems. It inevitably will become a world where the machines are smarter than humans – and that isn’t good. When that time comes, we will be relegated to the status of curiosities taking up space in a world that we don’t and can’t understand because it will have been designed by machines that are smarter than we. Go figure! Support Modern Conservatism! "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Unknown, quoted by Jim Horning, Will Rogers and others" Top of Page Unique Visitors

War with the West

How would you go about subduing much more powerful countries than any of those aligned with your own? Think about that for a moment. There aren’t any Muslim countries that could alone or collectively stand up to the Western nations. That is a problem that Islam has solved. Islam seeks to purify the world and eliminate all infidels leaving Islam as the last religion standing. Numerical numbers do not translate into strong armies when arrayed against technological superior armies. So to accomplish their goal, Islam needed a strategy that would give Islam an edge over the West.

What Islam came up with was plausible deniability by the various Muslim countries. This was accomplished by forming an army called Al Qaeda. With Al Qaeda, the Muslim world had a front group that they could support, yet be able to deny their culpability.

All Muslim countries support Al Qaeda in some form or another. That support may come in supplies, money, a place to train the recruits, or a network of Madras’s to indoctrinate young Muslims scattered throughout the Muslim world. The plan itself is masterful. Saudi Arabia may be supplying the manpower but not allowing training bases. In fact, they may militarily clamp down on Al Qaeda activities within their border, but you will notice that they still support the Wahhabi Muslim sect. In other words, they can openly oppose and support at the same time.

Whether we look at Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Djibouti, Indonesia or any of the other Muslim countries, the same pattern exists. Each one will oppose any Al Qaeda activity except the part that they are contributing. Al Qaeda becomes nebulous and not related to any particular country. There is not one entity that we can strike at because the threat is woven into the whole of the Muslim fabric.

Any Muslim nation that openly declares war on the West would be defeated. Iraq is testament to that fact. Saddam Hussein allowed his ego into thinking that he could openly oppose and get away with his activities. His invasion of Kuwait became his undoing. He made a bad miscalculation on whether the West would allow him to seize so much of the world’s oil production. Realizing that open military junkets against the West were futile, the Muslim world figured out a strategy that would keep them safe and still carry out a war at the same time.

Have you ever heard of ‘death by a thousand cuts’? The terror campaign carried out by Al Qaeda does the cutting, bleeding the Western cultures monetarily and spiritually. An embassy bombing here and a plane crash there, with suicide bombers and roadside bombs sprinkled all over the map has been a very successful campaign. Make no mistake; this Muslim effort to root out the infidels is a unified effort. At its core we don’t find politicians, we find holy men. Holy men are not political which is why the politicians will not succeed with political solutions.

In the weaker countries the Muslims carry out their genocide of non Muslims. It is the motivation for the killings in Darfur and other countries such as the Philippines and Kosovo. Any country showing weaknesses becomes a target. Politically, Muslims have been able to distort the public perceptions about the indigenous peoples of their target countries as being bigoted and anti Muslim. They maintain the charade of being the religion of peace but their history tells a different story. Since the genesis of that religion, they have been at war with the rest of the world. Most of the territory under Muslim authority has come by way of the forced conversion. In other words, you become a Muslim or die. The children are put through their religious schools and know of nothing other than what they are taught at these schools.

The Muslim world will have to be defeated in such a manner that it will extinguish the idea Muslims have about other religions. It is the true test of our times to defeat those who mean non-Muslims harm.

In that regard, President Obama is showing no sign that he understands the scope of the problems that we are facing, or it could be construed that he does understand and privately supports the efforts of the Muslim world to destroy the non-Muslim beliefs and cultures.

In the meantime we as free Americans, under Obama, award those dedicated killers of the non-Muslim faith, full protection as if they were American citizens instead of vigorously pursuing those who want to harm us.

All of Obama’s measures such as the closing of Guantanamo, bowing to the Arabian King, awarding combatants the same rights as citizens, giving phony deadlines to Iran, trying to force Israel to accept unacceptable terms, and not recognizing that the Fort Hood killer was a terrorist, all combine to give the image of a either weak President, or at least the consideration that he supports the Jihad efforts.

This President’s aggressive takeover of our private sector and reckless spending of public money and obsequious behavior to the Muslim world worries me. He is either really stupid or anti-American.

Cheers,

-Robert-

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The Chest of Gold

I wrote this for my pretty granddaughter. She is 13, boy-crazy, full of confidence, and enthusiasm for life. She lives with her mother, brother, and the mother’s boyfriend. She has already witnessed much of life’s seedier side but still remains buoyant and effervesces with enthusiasm about life. I had reservations about her reading it because she might get the feeling that it is accusatory. But that is far from my motive for writing this piece. It was written out of love and with the hope she might glean something useful.

A young girl budding into womanhood should take to heart the following. –

Her body is like a chest of gold. She is rich in desirability and can attract males effortless. Life favors the young and adventurous and young girls epitomize this verve and enthusiasm. But there is another side to this story. It has been written in different ways but to the same end in countless civilizations.

In all matters of a girl sharing her body, only rape is not under her control. All encounters except rape have at the very least, her implied permission, if not complete advocacy. A budding young girl must be aware of the dangers of spending her treasure.

Remember, her treasure chest is full at puberty. With every coin of that treasure she spends on chance or planned encounters, she becomes a little less valuable. The female was given the mission to find and mate with a partner who will share the responsibilities of raising the next generation. It is sad but true, if a girl’s treasury is dwindling, finding a suitable mate becomes harder. In fact, it becomes almost impossible if she has spent all of her treasure seeking physical pleasures.

Many women who have spent their treasure foolishly live out the longest part of their lives lonely because they wasted their treasure on selfish frivolity. But the girl who does not waste her treasure remains desirable and has a better chance of finding an enduring mate. That road is not an easy one but the payoff is far greater than all other roads.

If a young girl is patient and thrifty with her treasure, she will reap the rewards of respect, love, family, and companionship in her golden years. Do not neglect those future years, they swoop down faster than an eagle can fly. The older years make up the longest part of our adult lives. And when age does become a factor in what you do and how you live, the dumb decisions made as a young girl could bear the bitter fruit of tumult and misery. But the girl who valued her treasure found it much easier to find a suitable and dedicated father for her children. And it is her family that will become the mainstay of her life in those later years.

I would add in closing, if you are a budding young woman, do not waste your treasure on someone without commitment. Every coin spent from your treasure chest without a dedicated mate only makes you worth less. It is like removing coins from a piggy bank only this bank doesn’t accept deposits. A young man with the promise of greatness will not willingly want to share his life with a woman who is worldlier and more experienced than he. Men find those types of women in brothels. In a brothel, men use the women and pay for selfish pleasures but do not marry them. The only difference between the professional prostitute and the young girl who gives away her treasure for free is that the young girl will not receive payment for her services.

Keep in mind, there is only so much treasure, and once it’s gone, it can never be replaced.

-Robert-

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The Terrorists are Winning

The terrorists are winning the battle and cowering this society. We have a President that projects weakness. Weakness is provocative to the Jihadists. With every policy action by this President, the signal of weakness shouts out loud and clear to everybody including our enemies.

It is we the American people who must now sit in airplane seats like criminals with hands visible on knees, and no bathroom trips during airport approaches, etc. We have a government that will not take a stand against the Muslim Jihadists who want to kill us. We have a President who is naïve enough to think that by being obsequious to those who want to kill us will somehow make good guys out of them. This President is a loser and has surrounded himself with a bunch of radicals with a disdain for this country. Obama does not have a grasp of the greatness of this country or the reasons for its greatness.

The radical left is too stupid to understand that the only reason we do not have to carry prayer rugs and bow to Mecca 5 times a day is the strength and fortitude of our government and military. Even in the light of such a truth, we have to suffer the fools who attack our recruitment centers, drive the ROTC away from our colleges and jeer our servicemen and women. The Jihadists prey upon our folly and gain strength from it.

I want a President who stands for something. We don’t need a President who will not be proud of his country. We do not need a President who runs around apologizing for America and bowing to other world leaders. Obama is a liar, vacillates on important issues, and is constantly blaming others for his problems. Hopefully, help is just 3 short years away, but in the meantime, we can help nullify his stupidity in November of 2010.

I want a President who understands that Roosevelt’s policies did not get us out of the depression. What you hear about WWII getting us out of the depression is only partly true. The war in the economical sense was a giant government spending spree. It did put people to work but also ran up a huge national debt. What saved our bacon was after the war and the fact that we were the only industrialized country that was not damaged by the war. It was kind of like having the only store in town. England was devastated, Japan was devastated, Europe and Russia were practically destroyed, so if the world needed manufactured goods, we were it. It was Roosevelt’s policies after the war that enabled us to make a financial comeback. Roosevelt ended wage and price controls and unleashed our private sector.

From the private sector flows prosperity. Prosperity is not generated by government. Every dollar that the government spends has to come from the private sector. When the government spends ten dollars, it has to take ten dollars out of the economy. The more that government spends, the more that has to come out of the economy. At best, the only thing that the government can do is redistribute money from one group to another.

Redistribution may sound pretty good, but it has one major flaw. The source for the money that gets redistributed goes away. The efforts of the entrepreneurs that make the money, get taxed out of existence or they relocate somewhere that allows them to operate without the high taxes to fund redistribution. And, with a declining income, if the government wants to continue spending, it has to monetize the debt – meaning just print the money. When that happens, the value of the money goes down. It is a lose – lose proposition for everybody.

The problem is very visible today in New York and California. These two states are broke and can’t find enough money to pay their bills. They have managed to tax the money makers and wealth creators out of their states. California, New York, New Jersey, and Michigan exemplify this problem. They have lost a large percentage of their wealth creators to states and countries with a better business climate. Compounding their problems is that these states don’t lose those people with their hands out, those hands get multiplied because when the wealth creators are driven out, jobs leave with them. The lose of wealth creators result in increases of the unemployed as jobs become scarcer.

That is why you need elected officials who understand how business operates. Obama has wasted the good will and hopes of the people who elected him with political patronage and payoffs to his buddies. He is dirty (politically) and the press continues to cover for him. For Shame!

I feel betrayed by this President. America is being led off the cliff by a left wing radical with the press rooting him on. I disagreed with Bush on a lot of issues, but I never thought that he was out to destroy us. He certainly would not have bowed to an Arabian King or criticized America.

Come on November. Hopefully we will survive this idiot President until we can change the makeup of the congress.

Cheers,

-Robert-

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Master of Double Speak

I have never been a fan of President Obama, but never virulently against him either. I may be getting to that point however if he continues to mislead the people about his policies.

First, let us have a definition of taxes. Taxes are the revenues lost by the private sector because of actions (or Laws) mandated by the Government. All tax collections will find their roots in the private sector. Yes, even those import taxes applied to the foreign goods we import. The taxpaying public pays those taxes through the higher prices that the taxes impose upon those goods. They are unavoidable since we don’t manufacture most products that we use.

So now we have a President who tells the American public that his new healthcare plan will not add to the deficit, but will actually help bring down and save money for the deficit. He says it so smoothly that you can almost believe and hope that what he is saying is the way it will be.

Medical costs have been going up and certainly we need to do a better job containing those costs. How we do it is the big elephant in the room. Under the Obama plan, the costs are paid for from a variety of sources other than the Government. This legislation mandates coverage for almost everybody with a heavy fine imposed upon those without coverage.

Case #1 – Help for Small Business?

If you are a small business owner, the extra money for mandated insurance substantially affects your bottom line. Healthcare’s average cost is around $5,000 - $6,000/year. If you have four employees, that is the added cost of $20,000 – $24,000/year that you will have to pay – if you have four employees. At minimum wage, an employee costs the employer with no benefits from the following formula –

- 6.2% of that for FICA/Social Security

- 1.45% for Medicare

- .3% (minimum for clerical) for Worker's Compensation

- 6.2% on $7,000 salary for Unemployment Compensation/FUTA


In Texas, the current minimum wage is $7.25/hour – that calculates to roughly $13,000/year. Add to that $806.00 for the FICA/Social Security, $188.50 for Medicare, $39.00 for Workman’s Compensation, and finally $434.00 for Unemployment Compensation/FUTA. It totals to $14,467/year for the cost of a minimum wage employee. (In Texas)

With good management, your small business eeks out a gross of $500,000/year with a net of $75,000 that you keep as your reward. (That’s a 15% profit) Adding an additional 20 – 24 thousand dollar healthcare to your cost side comes straight out of your pocket.

As a small business owner, you might tighten up your expenses in other ways, but the main focus will have to be on the number of employees that you have. One of these workers will get the axe to help make up the difference.

Case #2 – Help the Economy

Obama bragged that his plan would decrease our insurance premium costs. That is, provided you make less than $200,000/year and do not have one of those so-called Cadillac plans. Oh, really! Think about it! I know several people making $200,000 and more. Most of those do not have a lot of left over money for the additional taxes that Obama wants to impose. This is the group of people who buy the better homes, pay the lion’s share of collected taxes, buy the better cars, and tip the waitress better. In short, it is their money that drives the majority of our economy. Their demands for goods and services is what keeps a large segment of our population working, and now Obama wants to tap into that money to pay for his healthcare program.

It is like he doesn’t understand the basic way that the economy works. When you mandate that a segment of the population do without a portion of their disposable income, then the ripple effects are felt by everybody. Under Obamacare, there will be more job losses as the upper middleclass of our society have to adjust their spending habits downward to accommodate for having less disposable income.

This income redistribution plan will impoverish more people than it helps.

Case #3 – Evil Insurance Companies

Medical insurance plans pay for part or all of an insured’s medical bills. But these groups of businesses are cast as the evil-doers by Obama. The man has no shame! Insurance companies have a small margin of profit. They are in business for profit. But insurance is not their only function as Obama would have you believe.

Insurance companies invest the premiums paid to them by their customers. They fund a lot of projects ranging from new startup companies, Federal treasury certificates, and industry needs. Their investment activities hold down insurance premium costs. Insurance companies have to augment what they collect in premiums with their investments to hold premiums low enough for their customers to afford. The loss of the investments by our insurance industry would cripple our economy – leading to additional job loss.

Obama’s shallowness is out front for all to see! His populist policies can only hurt this country. He is aware that his class-envy message is aimed at a population with a large number of ignorant people. This large group of ignorance is the product of the Liberal establishment. But that is a topic for another article.

Case #4 – A Prostituted Congress

Obama has literally prostituted our Congress in order to pass his healthcare plan. Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid to the recalcitrant Senate members who objected to this abomination of a healthcare plan. Then, like a thief of the night, passed the plan in the wee small hours of the night. Believe me; our Government was not set up to operate this way. Abuse of power, obfuscation and trickery, lies and non-caring, partisan news organizations have succeeded in stealing a large chunk of your freedoms.

Mr. Obama, I hope you are happy with destroying this representative republic. Your presidency will be remembered for the destruction of Liberty. In the future, people will have only fond memories of a society that once had the freedom of choice. We are in a headlong race to mediocrity with Obama leading the way.

Cheers, I think,

-Robert-

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Trickle Down Jobs

The discussions about jobs rage in the public square. The President has held meetings with the industrial leaders, bankers, his advisors, and members of Congress searching for a solution to the jobs dilemma. But the answers still elude this President.

The President and those around him hold on to the hope that the redistribution of wealth holds the key to putting America back to work, but is it? Why doesn’t it work? It has a populous attraction to those caught up on the bottom income levels. If we can just take money from the rich and distribute it to the poor, then the spending of that money by the poor will rekindle the economy. It is a bottom up theory that has been sold to this President. But will it create those jobs that are so precious to the whole country?

I will discuss disincentive a little later. But first I want you to look at what happens when the wealthy are stripped of their disposable income. Then, think about which method creates jobs and which method perpetuates social mediocrity.

It is those people with the drive and determination to be wealthy that contribute to all of our well being. How you ask? Well when the Government is not confiscating their disposable income, they spend their money on goods and services. Let’s look at a few samples.

Large Screen Flat Panel HD Televisions: The reason the rest of us can go out and buy one of these marvels of engineering without killing our budgets come from the “bleeding edge” effect. Most of you probably forget that when these marvels first hit the market, they cost $10,000 and more. It was the wealthy that bought this new technology at those ridiculous prices. It was the demand by the wealthy that funded the manufacturers and enabled them to improve their production techniques. Slowly, we saw those prices come down as it became cheaper to produce those flat screen televisions. All of us benefitted because of the wealthy. Real jobs were created for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of this new technology. The ones really responsible for the evolution were those who could pony up that money for those early flat panel TV’s. They made it possible for the rest of us.

Apartments: A lot of us live in apartments. Take a good look at them. They cost in the millions to build. They are the products of somebody wanting to make money. Yep, it is the greedy wealthy who build the places where we live. Apartment construction and upkeep provide real jobs. Adding to the benefits we receive from having somebody wanting to make money from building apartments – we get roads, sewer systems, sales of all the building materials, and last but not least, we get commercial activity from the many businesses that spring up where ever there is a bulging population. All of this activity comes from that person who sees a plot of ground and decides to develop it.

Cities: Do you like your city skyline? It too is the product of the monumental egos that want to make a statement. But egos aside for a moment, is it so hard to look at these monumental edifices and not see and comprehend the number of jobs that were created just to build those large imposing buildings. Businesses supporting the workforces that use those buildings create still more jobs. Does your job depend upon the efforts of the rich investors who say, “We want to build a large building as a monument to celebrate our success?” Most of the large buildings you see include rental spaces for other businesses. Remember, commerce begets commerce.

Fancy Boats: Ever drive around by a harbor and look at all the yachts and large pleasure craft? Building those floating pleasure palaces is a major source of employment. The wealthy among us want and buy these expensive trinkets and by doing so create good jobs for the rest of us. There are literally thousands of craftsmen involved in the building of those large pleasure craft. Then of course are the follow on businesses like building harbors for those boats which have the effect of concentrating people of wealth. That concentration of wealthy individuals in turn leads to hotels, service businesses for the boats, boat charters, and restaurants. All of which would not be there without the wealthy wanting to spend their money for pleasure boats.

In the interest of keeping this article short, I will close with the following. The people who earn the most money pay the most taxes. The top 25% income earners pay 86% of all taxes. The top 1% income bracket pays 39% of all taxes.

So the next time you enter your house or apartment, think about the entrepreneur who decided that he was going to invest money into housing. Or maybe you are a trucker who hauls goods from and to the businesses that need those deliveries for the purpose of making money. Or maybe you are the electrician wiring up one of those tall buildings or new housing additions. You might be that fast food employee serving the builders, office workers, or employees of the other businesses that have sprung up around the economical activity in your area.

Remember, it is the wealthy and those seeking wealth that make it possible for our livelihoods. When the government seeks to take from the rich and distribute their wealth to the poor, there is less money for them to operate with. They buy fewer products from that bleeding edge, build fewer buildings, buy fewer boats, and pay fewer taxes. If this is where your heart is then by all means support Barack Obama and his redistribution of wealth. But, if you value your freedom and the good things that result from those who want to make a profit, then say no to Obama’s dim vision of what makes this country great.

All of us depend upon the commerce that trickles down from the visionary few among us. The profit motive is the spur to the flanks that makes the whole economy work. What is really sad is that everybody can participate in the wealth creation of this country. Making money is not restricted to just certain people. In America, anybody with the dream and desire to achieve can accomplish their goals. But somehow that message is being lost by those who seek to kill that desire by controlling the reward side of the equation. Obama’s vision is to reap the reward while you put out the effort. But when the reward is drastically reduced (through taxation), so is that incentive for an individual to expend that necessary effort for achievement.

Cheers,

-Robert-

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