[AccessD] Burn-out

 > The abyss looms. Suddenly I feel the Freedom!

Holy cow Arthur, let's get morbid.  I do remember several communications from you indicating your 
imminent demise and yet here you are.

I for one am 57 years old and plan on living at least another 50 years.With luck and continuing 
advancements in medicine, perhaps even another 100 years.

Barring lightning, car accidents and the likes of course.

OTOH I quit drugs, smoking (a drug) drinking (a drug).  I am also losing weight (slowly) and am 
beginning to exercise, the latter brought on by the onset of type 2 diabetes.

The second 1/2 of my life could be more fulfilling (if not more fun) than the first 1/2.  Actually I 
had to do a lot of drugs to convince myself that the first 1/2 was fun so probably the second 1/2 
will actually be more fun.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting

Reality is what refuses to go away
when you do not believe in it

On 2/1/2012 4:46 PM, Arthur Fuller wrote:
> Thanks for your visits to my (our) blog. I finally figured out how to
> include my best friend and collaborator Peter Brawley as an active creator,
> and we have adopted the convention of signing each missive, so that it's
> clear which of age, disease and bad habits contributed which missives.
>
> Please continue to visit. And to comment upon our missives.
>
> P.S.
> Steps toward the see-through burqa have been taken. I should be able to
> release virgin 1.0 within a month. Even lined up a couple of models for the
> photo-shoot. (Q: Is there anything hotter than a smart South Asian woman?
> A: Not lately!)
>
> I think this burqa concept is going through the roof. I have received
> several hundred requests to purchase. I have not bothered to divide the
> buyers yet. But apparently, I am onto something, and this pleases me
> immensely.
>
> I want a world in which all humans are equal. A nice principle,
> conveniently ignoring class in some nations, wealth in others, genetic
> inheritance in others.
>
> So what does "All Humans Are Equal" actually mean? I'm not even vaguely
> sure. Obviously one can draw any number of
> dimensions/behaviours/propensities etc. --
>
> 1. We differ in height. average weight, pigmentation, intelligence, musical
> skill and so on..
> 2. There are gigantic differences in wages, housing costs, medicinal
> coverage, golden parachutes, etc., all of which contribute to our radical
> inequality.
> 3. There are huge swings in the measures of intelligence. No matter which
> test you use, the results are widely varied but almost always tend toward
> the Bell Curve. Despite all the new-education prognoses, any five-year-old
> can scout her classmates and pinpoint the dunces and the geniuses (or if
> you're PC, the challenged and the gifted).
>
> Darwin's maxim "Survival of the Fittest" has often been misinterpreted to
> mean "Survival of the Most Predatory". Even a cursory glance at what is
> happening in the oceans ought to be enough to refute this idiotic
> interpretation, but let us press on. In previous centuries, physically
> strong men were valuable: plowmen, blacksmiths, etc. In the latter half of
> the 20th Century and thus far in the 21st, physical strength is worth less
> and less, while computational strength is worth more and more. This does
> not refute Darwin, but rather reinforce his conclusion; "the fittest"
> implies the current environment -- the Fittest in the contemporary
> situation. In one century it might be A, in another B, in another C. Way
> back when, sheer height might have implied superior hunting skills; now it
> implies an NBA contract and not much else. Conversely, where would a gift
> for algebra have got a peasant just a few centuries back?
>
>
>
> . Sad to say, so might I, depending upon the sense of humour of certain
> people who might visit this, or merely Google and end up with a hit to my
> blog.
>
> So be it! I'm 64yo and my murder would rob me of what, 10 years at best? So
> what!
>
> The abyss looms. SuddenlyI I feel the Freedom!
>
> 1. To say what I've always stifled, lest I offend friends, colleagues and
> strangers.Glimpsing now the Knight of Death on the horizon (c.f. Bergman's
> "The Seventh Seal").