tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101613902024-03-06T22:34:45.642-08:00Terrakron's Time DomainWhere time and time again we talk about .."time"DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-28998575587616542952020-09-13T12:22:00.000-07:002020-09-13T12:22:28.619-07:00Predicting The Future<p> Nobody knew that ... is the favorite excuse for the ignorant.</p><p>As science developed better and better tools for prediction have been developed. we can only see how weather predictions have improved over the last years. There are of course many events that until now have avoided predictability, one, of course, is earthquakes. Let us be clear if someone says that there is going to be an earthquake next week, s/he will be right because there are always earthquakes around the world so in this case predictability requires more information. In order to predict an earthquake we must say where, when, and how strong. </p><p>Thus we see a dichotomy with short term, narrow predictions, and long term complex phenomena. Engineering has been an excellent tool for "short term" analysis and predictions, so we can get in our car and drive worry less knowing how much gas we have and the information that our car is running without the check engine light. With other areas like accounting, we can do similar things. We can predict how long will it take for our bank account to be in the black taking by knowing how much money it has now and what the rate of expenses is. Predictability is possible when we know all the factors involved.</p><p>The development of the internet in the 90s brought many uncharted situations that have changed the way we live. Now at this moment, I am typing to a "cloud" that would be unthinkable a few years ago. Typing with type correcting assistant and spelling check making things easier in many ways. In the 70s a film featuring, at the time well-know actors Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson, tried to predict the future. The movie "Soilent Green" hit the screens in 1973 telling the "story" of New York in 2022. If you watch the movie, some predictions based on human nature, like greed and income inequality were accurate, but the technological predictions were completely out of the target. There are self-fulfilling prophecies and prophecies that produce the opposite outcome. In the movie, it was predicted that by 2022 New York City will have more than 40 million inhabitants, so what happened with this prediction? The well thought prediction was based on the statistical trend of growth of the city based on how many people were, in the 70s, moving to NYC. One pausable explanation is that as people saw the movie and more and more people were getting conscious about the environment and city population growth they decided not to move to NY. The 70s was a decade of environmental awakening, some would say started by authors like Rachel Carson and his book "Silent Spring" when many laws passed the US congress protecting the environment like the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed into law by a Republican president, Richard Nixon.</p><p>As we increase the number and the degree and uncertainty of factors in a process or phenomena the statical chance that we would be able to predict diminishes. That has been the case with predicting the weather. One important factor in our knowledge of a situation or phenomenon is its historical background. Weather predictions were in the past mainly based on historical information about the climate which is the average over years of the weather in a place. Climate seasons are statistical representations of historical data. </p><p>Today in 2020 we are witnessing forest fires on the west coast of the USA, fires that have no recent parallel. So people are saying nobody knew that this could happen. But, of course, environmentalists have been, for many years, warning about climate change and its effects on wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, tornados, floods, and other natural phenomena that transform into human-made disasters. </p><p>Many with knowledge started to warn us about the possibility of a worldwide pandemic several years ago. Bill Gates had a Ted Talk in 2015 <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_outbreak_we_re_not_ready?language=en" target="_blank">(click here for the talk)</a>, and Fareed Zakaria in his GPS program (June 25, 2017) on CNN dedicated a segment to criticize the reduction on the CDC budget by the Trump administration by pointing out that a pandemic likely and we needed to be prepared. Not believing in science has dire consequences, and having leaders with power in our society that are ignorant is dangerous and catastrophic. </p><p>The question remains about how can we predict the future and what does it mean to predict the future. There are, for sure, many events, like earthquakes, that can't be predicted but nevertheless, we can prepare just in case. We can have earthquake-resistant buildings, dams, bridges, and general infrastructure but we have to pay the price. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-50166274381495655162018-11-18T09:16:00.004-08:002018-11-18T09:16:42.199-08:00New rules<div class="K3JSBVB-Xb-c K3JSBVB-Xb-e" role="listitem" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(205, 212, 239); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">
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DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-25596813095336167952017-02-01T08:39:00.000-08:002017-02-01T08:39:01.442-08:00Dream A Little DreamPink Martini is my favorite contemporary music group. And one of their latestest albums is "Dream A Little Dream" (Pink Martini & The Von Trapps). What a coincidence that now<br />
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I am thinking about dreams, my favorite group comes with an album titled like this! I need to spend a little time thinking about coincidences as they relate to the timing in which this events happen and try to see if there is something more than a mere statistical probability for these coincidences.</div>
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In our Quaker meeting our Pastor some time ago talked about Genesis 28:10-22 Jacob's Dream at Bethel. In verse 12 "He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it" (NIV.) In verses 18 &; 19: "Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel. Before in verse 17 the interpretation for the dream his dream was about the house of God and that this place in which Jacob was sleeping was the gate to heaven.</div>
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Jacob followed a dream to name a city, a place that became important in the lives of his people. Many other dreams have become realities that have transformed our society, from the idea of having a standardized oil to burn in our lamps (John D. Rockefeller's dream <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil">Standard Oil</a> or any of the huge and now transnational corporations started as a dream of one individual. Or the dream of a few that created the idea of a nation that would be free and democratic, a nation that wouldn't have a name but an ideal. The ideal of a United States of America.</div>
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There have been events over the last months that have many people thinking about their dreams as an uncertain future is developed. Brexit in the UK and the elections in the USA have proven that the future is always unexpected. So how can we plan to accomplish our dreams. What kind of foundation can we build so we have a solid ground to base our dreams. What ideals should we have to help us navigate an uncertain future that becomes present every single moment that we live. When I started writing this post a while ago, I had no idea of the chaos a #DelusionalPresident would bring, now we still don't know even though we have seen incredible corruption in the new administration.</div>
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What are the limits of our dreams? What effect can one have on our surroundings as we follow our dreams?</div>
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DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-55262233414737224232016-01-04T14:15:00.002-08:002016-01-04T14:15:49.448-08:00ListeningIt has taken more time than expected. Writing about time is weird. Times is unforgiving.<br />
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Winter 2015-2016 has been a time to listen. Listen to my inside and listening to the outside.<br />
No way for me to articulate how this two are connected or disconnected. Maybe they are connected and disconnected. Influenced my Tolle I think I am using this time of 'home-bound' due to a freezing inclemency to ponder about, and meditate on what is coming this 2016. Reading Matthew Hutson's "The Seven Laws of Magical Thinking" induces me to think about perceptions based on superstitions. If we had a great year then we must change luck and have a bad year. Or not! (touch wood!)<br />
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Listening to what people say through prejudice, superstition, 'common sense', or true wisdom is part of who we are, not only the activity of listen but the fact that we incorporate such ideas into our own. We make them part of who we are. Listening intentionally to those who we respect and trust becomes the leading activity of a good life, conducing us to share with those around us about what we learned and lived.<br />
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This year I will listen more carefully to what life has to say!DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-29661805366976651192014-05-20T09:51:00.000-07:002014-05-20T09:51:19.274-07:00Dream Planning<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> A few days ago I mentioned the steps one must take in order to be a good teacher, I mentioned them without giving any explanation or details about them. The steps are: </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">1. Planning</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">2. Listening</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">3. Communicating</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">4. Actualizing</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">5. Opening</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So in this post I will try to expand on the first step: Planning.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> It would sound redundant to say that one must plan if one is to achieve anything, but looking closely it is clear that there are many questions related to the planning process and the actions needed for an efficient plan. Not only the things we are supposed to do have to be included but the timing on which they occur and this is the most difficult aspect to plan. Timing. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> In the book Breakthrough, </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Roger Seip tell us how it is important to have time for ourselves, time that has to be taken out of the business of our lives so we can focus on what is really important and not what appears to be urgent distracting us from achieving our dreams. Seip recommends at least 15 minutes every day to meditate on our goals, a weekly encounter with ourselves, and a quarterly day when we should spend the whole day thinking about what happened in the las three months and what we would like to happen in the next three months. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Summarizing, we need time for ourselves:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">a. Daily (15 - 30 minutes)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">b. Weekly (1 - 2 hours)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">c. Quarterly (1 day)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> In preparation for our teaching for each lesson plan we must have time open for discussion and time to ponder about the concepts in class, as we review those ideas that have been just introduced we have to remember those that have been introduced and used before. Repetition is time consuming and has to be part of the teaching plan. Therefore the teacher has to make the students aware that as there is a teaching time there is a learning time. For the learning process there must be a plan too, this plan of course should include repetition as part of the learning time.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> On a future blog I will continue talking about Listening but for now it is clear that listening need some space too, some space-t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">ime. How can we create this space-time?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-33519878510501610572014-05-16T11:11:00.000-07:002014-05-16T11:11:12.881-07:00One Never Stop DreamingEven though I haven't written about my dreams, I have been dreaming. Dreaming about what is coming next, immediately and on the long run. At 66 I am confronted with situations that make me wonder about the long run. A few days ago we went to visit our daughter so we could spend "Mother's Day" with her. On Sunday we went to a nursery near Everett where my daughter lives called "Flower World" it is a very nice place! It is huge and have lots of plants for sale, one in particular we were happy to find: A fig tree. A black fig tree. My wife goes crazy for black figs, see loves them and when ever we can find them at the grocery store we buy plenty of them. I think she can eat a pound by herself in a single time. Well I am exaggerating here because I think she will take it slow so her figs will last longer. But I think she can eat a full pound in one day.<br />
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Anyways, as we were buying the fig tree I was wondering how long would it take to start having fruit? Would I get to eat some of it? Started thinking about all the fruit that I eat now from trees my grandfather planted more than 50 years ago, like the plum tree that just died last year and that I replacing it with a new tree. Did my grandfather dreamed about these trees?<br />
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These last day at work we have been celebrating colleagues that are retiring. One has been at WPC for 35 years, other for 25 and so on. I have been there for 14 so it is not long that I myself will have to retire. So what are my dreams until I retire? and what are my dreams for when I retire? and afterwards? One underlying issue of course is good health, physical and mental good health. So my first task is to keep healthy and improve my health with a good diet and exercise. Mental health as physical health depends on exercise, so for my mental health I have to keep learning. Keep using my brain and my intellect so it keeps working in good shape. One thing I am doing is learning something new all the time, from learning how to improve the things I normally do, like using Moodle for my classes, learning more about things I like, or learning something new, like new languages in computer programming.<br />
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I have no idea if these new things like planting a new tree will be part of my future. Or if I will be part of their future. But I feel that dreaming is about dreaming and not about the dreams. As someone said: Happiness is the road and not the finish line.DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-74704571823208162362014-05-04T09:02:00.000-07:002014-05-04T09:02:21.170-07:00Thank You For Letting Us DreamThank you for letting us dream. Is how Andrew Hunt and David Thomas end their acknowledgements in their book <a href="http://pragprog.com/the-pragmatic-programmer">The Pragmatic Programmer</a>.<br />
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I have enjoyed reading this book so much even though I am not a programmer, but the underlying framework in this book is not specific to programming but related to the general philosophy of life. How do we prioritize, organize, and accomplish writing great computing code is in a way a metaphor for how do we live our lives.<br />
It was a nice surprise when I read the end of their acknowledgment as I am writing about dreams!<br />
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As I have been aware, mindful of how, when, and what I am dreaming I have been dreaming a lot too, but it has been a bit difficult for me to keep up with my writing. Hope that as my regular semester classes are winding down and the summer break is coming in, I will have more time to reflect and write.<br />
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DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-58414400564739287182014-05-02T08:45:00.000-07:002014-05-02T08:45:58.206-07:00Forgotten DreamsThere is some volatility in dreaming as ideas come and go. Yesterday I had very nice day, again the weather was gorgeous, but my classes went well. One particular I'm very happy to report is the fact that a student whom I had supervised in writing a paper about paradox a human condition won the award of best HUM 410 paper for this year. When I summited her name for the award I was aware of the quality of the paper but I knew that there were other very good papers presented so I didn't have high expectations about winning.<br />
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I mention this because as I was going about the chores of the day I was dreaming, and thinking about my dreams. One thing I was thinking is: I should write this as I may forget later on, and I did. I did forget!<br />
So now that I am trying to remember what in heaven I was dreaming about, I thought about writing about forgetting your dreams. How often it is that we do things in a way that are not connected to our dreams. We normally do things that are "urgent", things that somehow are imposed on us and we must do. But these things are not really "important" if we consider them in the light of the dreams we have.<br />
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Why do we do this? Is it because we have forgotten our dreams?DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-68243231302765331412014-05-01T08:42:00.001-07:002014-05-01T08:42:34.238-07:00Going Back (Just a Little)Last night I didn't have time to write, so this morning I will be taking a few minutes to reflect on what happened yesterday related to my dreams of tomorrow. Yesterday was a busy day full of interesting encounters with colleagues and students. One student in particular that has been a joy to see him grow and mature gave me the opportunity of having lunch together. It was a true pleasure chatting with him and getting to know him a bit more, a confirmation of my dreams of a great future.<br />
When I dream about the future I think I put a lot of responsibility (and pressure) on my students. My motto is: "I teach so I touch the future". Teaching is a way to change things now so they will become the future. The heaviness of this statement then relies in the fact that teaching is important in the molding of those who will determine the kind of future we'll have.<br />
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So what are the skills, and most important, the philosophy of a good teacher? what are the tools that a good coach that will transport the students from where they are to where they will be, must have?<br />
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Without getting in detail I can answer with a short list that I will analyze later on.<br />
1. Planning<br />
2. Listening<br />
3. Communicating<br />
4. Actualizing<br />
5. Opening<br />
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Is there another one that I am missing?<br />
DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-27543145836544235272014-04-29T21:47:00.000-07:002014-04-29T21:47:53.714-07:00Moving ForwardAs I write about my dreams I am continuously reminded of bad dreams. I'm not talking about nightmares where one dreams about monsters, death, violence and other extremely unpleasant situations that as is explained in Wikipedia will cause strong emotional/mental response. No I am talking about those in which one finds oneself in a situation that is unpleasant but not extreme, in a situation that one may feel stuck or awkward like when I dream that I am still working where I used to work. For sure that can't be defined as nightmare as I used to like my place of work and still have friends there that I remember with warm feelings.<br />
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Why is that I have this dream that is recurrent? What unfinished business I have that makes me go back there in my dreams? Is it related to some kind of failure? Is there something that I would like to fix from my past?<br />
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Now, trying to fix something in the past is, I say by definition, a lack of forgiveness. In this case it might symbolize judgement by me on my performance then. Did I reach to my full potential? On the surface it looks like I did very well, as I reached a high level in the academic and structural environment of that time. As a scientist I was named "National Researcher" and received the stipends corresponding to that title. Participating in professional associations I was named "President" of the Mexican Geophysical Union which is a national organization; and other things as well.<br />
So where is the motivation to revisit those times? It looks like deep inside me there was a limitation, a sense of emptiness, and a lack of accomplishment. As I think about it now, and looking back into the past I am discovering that superficial accomplishments are not what we really desire or that really gives us satisfaction.<br />
It is about time that I pause and take time to assess what is that in the deepest corners of my heart gives me satisfaction. It is about time that I find what is the marrow that nurtures my life and my existence.<br />
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Questions that come to mind are based on what is my idea of purpose. This moment, this day, this time as the connection between past and future is what it is, so I have to think about what I am doing as this is the only time I have. And ... these questions are what make me dream!DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-35439136021512151972014-04-28T21:11:00.002-07:002014-04-28T21:11:50.959-07:00Nightmares are not dreamsIt is usual that one's dreams (when asleep) are a reflection of what is going on in our minds and hearts. Many times our dreams are relief valves for our anxiety and will subjectively have a meaning related to our subconscious world. Of course the interpretation of these dreams has been a source for millennia of speculation and more recently of hundreds of books. But I want to focus on the dreams we have when we are awake. Even though I could share some interesting dreams I have when I am asleep, like when I dream of flying, or the nightmare of seeing myself working where I used to work and having the feeling of being stuck; but that will have to wait for a future blog.<br />
Going back to day dreaming, to think about having aspirations. I have to differentiate between aspirations that are possible, accessible, and desirable to those that even though they may be highly desirable they are -at least for the time being- out of reach.<br />
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Focusing on things that are possible and that I would like to see I happening during my lifetime I would have to rely on things that I have been doing lately. One thing that I have been doing is teaching. Currently I teach at a small college; a Christ-centered, liberal arts, urban college serving a diverse community. Like many liberal-arts college, our college is facing many challenges. Some of these challenges are related to the role of higher education in our society, the value of education as is evaluated based on the applicability of the degree to society. In some cases the applicability is related to the dollar amount that the graduate receives as yearly salary.<br />
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Thinking about my teaching I dream about an environment that is trusting and supportive. An environment that supports creativity at all levels and protects all academic activities of professorship. I dream of a society that has education as a high priority, a society that thinks of education as a great investment, that knows that the only way to have a healthy-democratic society is by having an educated citizenry. The society in my dream will reflect these values in the way in which we spend our tax dollars.<br />
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Is this dream truly possible? Is this dream possible by the action of one individual? What kind of steps do I have to take in order to make this dream a reality?DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-23995946043818633232014-04-27T21:58:00.002-07:002014-04-27T21:58:43.703-07:00I dream of ...... finding trust.<br />
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Yesterday I wrote about dreaming of having grandkids. The argument is that through my grandkids I would find legacy. Besides the fact that I would love to take my grandchildren for a ride on my motorcycle, grandkids for me are a continuation. The legacy of making a better world and contributing to society in a way that we would live in peace. I remembered Lenon and Garcia Marquez but forgot to mention others that have been strong guides not only like wind vanes showing me the direction of life at the time but coaching me in deep matters of the soul. One hero is Mahatma Gandhi who taught me the value of self confidence and to certain extent the meaning of basic humanity, where we all are connected and in the pursue of the same dreams. So here we go again, what do we mean by "same dreams"? Do we (humans) pursue the same dreams? <br />
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This is what I am finding out. It looks like no! If we define "dreams" in specific terms then: no, we don't have the same dreams. Even the fact that we all have dreams defined as expectations may be questioned. If one defines "having dreams" as aspirations I would be able to first enumerate which aspirations I have and then to explain why these aspirations are so important to me that I would call them dreams.<br />
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Trust is critical in one's life, we have to trust the people that surround us as well as the system on which our lives are sustained, but this is almost impossible as trust break-up by one will induce a mistrust of everything and everybody. There is a saying in Spanish that goes like this: "El que se quema con atole hasta al jokoque le sopla" (Who burns himself drinking hot milk, will blow to yogurt) Sorry for translation but as with jokes translating sayings is almost impossible due to the cultural nature of the phrase.<br />
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Here again I am bonding the present with the future as trust is needed now and becomes a dream for living tomorrow. The question then becomes how can I built it? how can I nurture and grow trust? trust on me, and for me?DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-87217101059392429552014-04-26T12:29:00.000-07:002014-04-26T12:34:14.219-07:00Dreams Are About The Present This time is about connecting one's dreams with the present. But first I have to ask what is a dream? Why do we dream? Are there different kinds of dreams? Are there dreams when you are awake? What is the purpose of night dreaming when you are asleep?<br />
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Ok, to many questions for the time being! Maybe more will come up later so I will start today with not answering these questions but writing about a dream. It is not one that I have had during my sleep it is one that I have developed as I think about my future.<br />
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I dream about having grandchildren.<br />
When I was growing up and thinking (should say dreaming) about the future, I would see myself as an adventurous scientist someone like my hero of the time <a href="http://www.cousteau.org/">Jacques Ives Cousteau</a>. Never imagining that I would marry and have children. Until it happened. In 1971 I got married to Maria Eugenia a wonderful girl from my home town; and after a few years we had our first child Jorge. Jorge came after a few years of marriage not because we didn't want to have kids it just happened that Jorge took his own time to arrive. Almost fourteen years later Bernice our second child was born. This was in 1989, so it's been quite a while and I feel is time for more kids in our family, that is why I dream of grandkids.
I dream of having grandkids thinking about the joy of helping in the rising of young minds with a bright future, descendants that will serve and work to enhance the conditions of the planet, as we need more and better educated citizens to participate in this great human project. The education of citizens of the world that will continue our legacy and the legacy of other great thinkers. I am thinking of two of my contemporary heroes <a href="http://www.johnlennon.com/">John Lennon</a> and <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/gabriel-garc%C3%ADa-m%C3%A1rquez-189132#synopsis&awesm=~oCzg7eiIdLpOEA">Gabriel Garcia Marquez (GGM)</a>. In one of his last songs "Imagine" John Lennon said: "You might think I am a dreamer...But I am not the only one...I hope some day you will join us... And the World will be as one". In this strophe Lennon sums up what I dream, one world where we all get along, and that is what I want my children and grandchildren to dream too!<br />
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Before I finish let me say a few words about why dreaming is connected to the present with the understanding that I will expand these ideas in coming posts. In the book "The Power of Now" <a href="http://www.eckharttolle.com/">Eckhart Tolle</a> writes about how the present is what we have, the past is gone and the future will never be, as the brazilians say: Brazil is the country of the future and will always be!<br />
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Finally a quote from Gabo (GGM) that is self explanatory about why I dream. "You don't stop dreaming when you get old; you get old when you stop dreaming."DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-44839653223379426892013-12-24T22:13:00.002-08:002013-12-24T22:13:36.761-08:00This time of yearThe idea of time and its word is not the same in different cultures. And will not translate literarily from one language to another. For instance in English we can ask: What time is it? what hour is it in Spanish. One can start a story by saying: once upon a time.."Habia una vez" in Spanish. Or one can say: I have done this many times. Lo he hecho muchas veces in Spanish. In Spanish what time is it? refers to the weather and one could answer by saying: is doing a good time. Meaning the weather is fine. So the question about how real time is or how much time is an illusion of cultural origin remains current. In his book "Time Reborn" Lee Smolin writes extensively about it and is a highly recommended read. For more information visit <a href="http://leesmolin.com/writings/time-reborn/">http://leesmolin.com/writings/time-reborn/ </a>DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-50313232126939092402010-04-11T22:11:00.000-07:002010-04-11T22:14:45.237-07:00Post on the other blogSpace time is here to stay but then why was that I posted in the other blog: Tlaltecuhtli <br />Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like bananas!<br />"It is been so long since my last post! Which doesn't mean that nothing at all has happened. Not at all, on the contrary, so many thing have happened that is why I haven't posted, so what now? Why is it that now I am posting? Is it because I don't have anything to do? I do! I have tons of things to do but somehow I feel this urge to write.<br />This is a very special moment, a moment that will stay for ever a moment that will be frozen in time as long as this site prevails, as long as I remember that this post is here so that means that it will be here as long as my conscience makes it to be.<br />The past is gone, the future will never arrive thus the only thing real is this precious moment in our lives.<br />So be it!"DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-86810585367405905282009-11-14T20:24:00.001-08:002009-11-14T20:33:03.835-08:00As Time goes byAlmost the end of 2009 and what is the paradigm that is ruling our lives? Things are changing as always but we feel that all is the same. Talking with son this afternoon and eating a Carl's Jr hamburger we philosophize about what does it mean to be contemporary, as his friend said the future is past now. Some think that we are in the post-modern time but that time is way gone now we are in the post-post-modern time what I call the meta-post-modern time.<br />The traditional schemes that define the paradigm of our lives have changed we now live in the information age. The age where the world became flat and the future became past. The age where relativism is now more relative that even as more and more connections are found. Everything is connected so everything is related. The infra-relativism or the post-moder times had to give way to the über-relativism of subatomic entanglement.DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-16601959858286785152009-04-12T18:51:00.000-07:002009-04-12T19:12:48.783-07:00EasterWhat has the evolution of our society brought? So many things we can use and so many ideas can help us to rejoice. Today we are celebrating the rise of life over death, the triumph of happiness over suffering, the power of good over bad, the reign of light over darkness. It has been thousands of years since men started to walk upright and to use tools to harvest the product of his own seeding. Human nature has not changed that much but our culture for sure has been changing to the point that the driving values and principles have changed radically. As Doug Brown in his book Insatiable Is Not Sustainable mentions we have moved from a culture of "security" to the culture of "Be All You Can Be". This of course is the reason for having today some kind of worship for "greed" and "individual success".<br />Today we are facing a new challenge where confronted with the realities of new paradigms we need to adapt again to a changing world. Of course this leads us to anxiety and desperation as many in our world want things to stay as they are. Where wealth is concentrating and in many western nations a bigger gap between the "haves" and the "have not" is being created.<br />Now, as time only goes forward, we have to change for the better. We always say that "progress" is a change for the better and that any change is progress, maybe so! That is my view, my optimist's view of change in our society.<br />But if we are to change, what kind of changes should we give impulse? and which we should slow down? How can we move together as a world wide community at the same time that we are improving our sense of change in our individual realm and its family setting?<br />The answer is not simple and will not come in a single idea. But many thoughts have emerged in recent times, one for me is significant. It involves the use of technology to educated ourselves. The use of blogs, internet groups, forums, listservs, etc so to communicate and revolutionize in a similar path as the newspapers and books did when the print-press was developed in the middle ages, bringing the modern world.DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-2650852017323777172008-08-05T16:49:00.000-07:002008-08-05T16:51:17.310-07:00Lobbying in politicsA major problem with the way that politics is runned is the influence of big money through lobbying. One good example of this is how McCain is controlled by big multinational corporations. Have a look at this video.<br /> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZQ4eeQzDlgM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZQ4eeQzDlgM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-14994131178116367622008-07-20T17:55:00.000-07:002008-07-20T17:57:32.589-07:00Friendship has no time limits.A friend gave me the link to this video <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/adYbFQFXG0U&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/adYbFQFXG0U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />Hope you find it enlightning and refreshing.DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-38545741176234441072008-07-12T12:16:00.000-07:002008-07-12T12:17:50.941-07:00What is going on?I found this video on youtube that show some of the horror of the Iraq occupation.<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jy3O-R8Nn2I&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jy3O-R8Nn2I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />It is the worst we can think of and make us so sad that human are able to such harm.DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-39844788344654753312008-06-23T20:46:00.000-07:002008-06-23T20:54:28.765-07:00Presidential ElectionsEverybody is counting days, hours, minutes and seconds for the presidential elections of November 4, 2008. <br />Here is a link that you might find interesting: <a href="http://election.amerpundit.com/index.html">http://election.amerpundit.com/index.html</a><a href="http://election.amerpundit.com/index.html"></a>DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-56720762099563679572008-02-26T10:21:00.000-08:002008-02-26T10:23:52.309-08:00Learning about teacher's tubeThis is a test to see how I can post a video in the teachertube iste and then copy it here!<br />I am looking forward to learning more about these technologies LOL<br /><!--TEACHERTUBE EMBED VIDEO START--><br /><embed src="http://www.teachertube.com/skin-p/flvplayer.swf" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="&file=http://www.teachertube.com/embedvideo.php?viewkey=44b600e247c814cc1273&location=http://www.teachertube.com/skin-p/flvplayer.swf&logo=http://www.teachertube.com/images/greylogo.swf&frontcolor=0xffffff&backcolor=0x000000&lightcolor=0xFF0000&autostart=false&volume=80&overstretch=fit&link=http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=44b600e247c814cc1273&linkfromdisplay=true"></embed><br /><!--TEACHERTUBE EMBED VIDEO END-->DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-12734336256443967122008-01-21T19:58:00.001-08:002008-01-21T19:58:26.103-08:00Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/D1R-jKKp3NA' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/D1R-jKKp3NA'/></object></p><p>When thinking about commencement one is inspired by kind and wise words like these from Jobs!</p></div>DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-45868558485389143062007-12-23T13:34:00.000-08:002007-12-23T13:42:11.359-08:00This time is for all to be usWinter solstice has been thought the ages a time for thinking and introspection. A time when the dark days bring the bright light of the stpirit shinning on communities and through our society. A time when families come together and friendships are strenghtened. For some of us followers of Christ His birth commemoration brings a deep sense of belonging and of peace.<br />But the peace that some of us feel is far away removed from those living in the middle of turmoil, near or far away. This is the time to come close together and make peace to be the central attraction force in and within our nations.<br />May this time of year bring happines and joy to all of you.<br />Merry Christmas and a very prosperous new year!DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161390.post-10243615496223523802007-09-29T19:02:00.001-07:002007-09-29T19:02:36.413-07:00WWW.WANGARIMAATHAI.ORG<p>This a good example, very good example of how working for peace goes hand in hand with working for the environment! </p> <p><a href="http://www.wangarimaathai.org/news.php">WWW.WANGARIMAATHAI.ORG</a></p> DrThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17364434842184008357noreply@blogger.com0