Geoff's Miscellany

I went to my first concert in a long time tonight.

It was for an 80s coverband named the Spazmatics. They were pretty good.

Observations:

1. The BMI of the concert demographic has changed tremendously.
2. The energy levels of audience members has had an inverse relationship with the BMI.
3. When I was younger, I loved concerts, but I hated loud sounds. It was a love/hate relationship because I have abnormally good hearing. Now that I'm older, I kid you not, concerts are even louder. I used to go to metal shows. This was much louder.
4. The song "Safety Dance" is still awesome.
5. I also enjoyed "Walk Like an Egyptian."

This is a pretty great song.

It’s essentially about how the lead singer found wholeness with his wife. She’s the “tear in my heart” sounds bad, but what he means is “my heart is my armor, she’s the tear in my heart, she’s a carver, she’s a butcher with a smile.” I think he means this in sense that whatever reservations he has about personal growth or the kind of vulnerability it takes to do courageous things are are aspects of his life that his wife helped him find. Good marriages are like this. You have a helper.

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Mat 7:12)

If, on the basis of this command, you decide that every day at work you will make people excited to work with you because of your efficiency, kindness, humor, and knowledge, then in general your work experience will improve.

Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations? When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered, the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field. There will be enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls. (Pro 27:23-27)

Anyway, the Bible teaches that it’s simple wisdom to have a backup plan for money and food. Ignore it at your peril. Or luck out and never need it.

Pro 3:1-5 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, (2) for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. (3) Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. (4) So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. (5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Another question to ask is this: is the author saying that the young man, “my son,” should never lean on his own understanding?

This week I managed to deadlift 325 and 335. That’s good pos operative progress. The 335 lift was at the end of grueling back workout so my forearms and all my back muscles were exhausted. This tells me that I have significant progress to come on dead lift.

Also, this week I starting thinking about how economic principles could easily be used to make predictions about ecology. Biologists have already known this. So have mathematicians. For all I know, somebody told me about it and it just popped into my head.

Pro 22:9 Whoever has a good eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Pro 28:22 He who hastens after wealth has an evil eye and does not know that poverty will come upon him.

In the ancient world, particularly in the culture that influences the writers of the Bible, the eye was in a metaphorical and literal sense thought ot be connected to the inner life of man. By inner life, I mean the world of thought, emotions, and intentions: the heart and soul.

Evagrios of Pontus wrote these instructions for Christian meditation. I think it’s important to utilize the imagination and the feelings in meditation just as much as thoughts and concepts. As humans we are deeply susceptible to hypnotism and rhetoric. This is important because we often can find ourselves convinced of truths upon which we do not act because they do not affect our feelings enough to goad our will into action. And other times we might act without reference to the truth because we’ve been emotionally persuaded into a habit or action. When we meditation upon truths received in the way Evagrios instructs us, those truths can make it further into our lives.

Gen 12:1-3  Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  (2)  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  (3)  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Gen 24:1  Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

In a recent experiment, psychologists “designed a procedure to intentionally induce a placebo effect” in order to test the claims of intelligence increasing software.[1]

The study has a small sample size, but bear with me. 

In the control group (people who simply thought they were participating in an experiment) there was no difference in pre and post training intelligence. In the experimental group (who were told they were training to increase their intelligence) an increase in intelligence was measured (5-10 IQ points) after only one hour of training.