Words

On June 12, 2016 a radical Islamic terrorist shot 102 people inside the Pulse nightclub located in Orlando Florida. On June 12, 2016 a home-grown terrorist shot 102 people inside the Pulse nightclub located in Orland Florida. Which of the previous two sentences do you believe best describes what happened on June 12, 2016 inside the Pulse nightclub located in Orlando Florida?

As you mull over your answer, consider what you must do in order to answer. You must identify that the only difference between the two sentences are the words “radical Islamic terrorist” and “home-grown terrorist.” You must determine the difference(s) in meaning between “radical Islamic terrorist” and “home-grown terrorist.” And you must determine which best describes what happened on June 12, 2016 inside of the Pulse nightclub.

Continue reading “On Words Part One: Words”

Imagine a bomb exploded in your hometown today. It was in a messenger bag that belonged to a person sitting in a popular restaurant in the heart of “restaurant row.” The bomber reached into the bag and detonated the device shortly after 12:00 noon, lunch time – the busiest time of day. Many people, including the bomber, died. Many others were wounded. Some seriously.

What likely conclusions can you draw about the bomber in this imagined event? Was the bomber tall or short? What was the bomber’s favorite color? Did the bomber like music, own a pet, have a favorite food? How about the bomber’s religion? Is it not easy, ridiculously easy, mind-numbingly easy, to identify—with almost complete confidence—that the bomber envisioned above was a follower of Islam?

Continue reading “Severe Restriction”

It’s observed by both the devout and the mindless attendants of good taste. It suggests day-to-day life in America dulls appreciation. It prescribes a yearly twenty-four hour period of thankfulness as a restorative. Its name is Thanksgiving, and it would be a terrible thing if it were true.

Day-to-day life in America is neither dulling or dull. It’s brilliant, made so mindfully and continuously by the very day-to-day experience the fourth Thursday in November misrepresents.

Day-to-day life is the result of a process started 3.75 billion years ago when energy from a small yellow star joined forces with pre-biotic chemicals located on one of eight nearby planets. The crowning achievement of this process (so far) is the human brain, a unique biological structure, in which, somewhere, is found the human mind.

Continue reading “Thanksgiving”

Every drummer’s “ten best” list contains the name Buddy Rich. From seasoned pro to beginner, Buddy is universally recognized as the master. Why? What made Buddy so good? The answer is talent.

Talent is natural ability. It is separate from, and paramount to, knowledge, character, and discipline. A popular and enduring principle concerning talent is summarized by the claim: “Anything is achievable so long as one works at it enough.” This woo-woo gobbledygook philosophy is utter nonsense.

The result of “working at it” is experience and experience cannot generate talent. It’s true that experience can develop talent. But it’s equally true that talent must exist before development can occur. Any philosophy or guiding principle that treats talent as a product, instead of a prerequisite, will lead to an infinity of headaches. Speaking of which…

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Folks occasionally ask, “Where do your ideas come from?” I usually answer, “I don’t really know.” That’s true. I don’t really know. But I have an impression. It’s an impression rooted, as ideas are rooted, in convictions.

Convictions are the primary and invisible tendencies, drives, and impressions that fuel ideas and actions. Convictions are tricky because they work silently, on their own, secreted from (and paradoxically by) the mind. The process works like this.

Continue reading “Idea Fuel”