Working Up

Dwayne Phillips

We can tell when we have affected another person by observing their energy.

One of the better questions to ask when trying to convince or teach or somehow affect another person is, “When do they gain energy?”

Consider:

At what point does the other person change their posture? That is the energy. That is the topic that is important to them.

When do they:

• raise their voice
• sit up straight
• bolt up
• stand up
• stop breathing
• look over their glasses
• widen their eyes
• change the expression on their face
• this list goes on and one.

All these actions require energy. If the action occurs, the other person experienced a jolt of energy. I have affected them in some way. I now know what they want to discuss, what they want, what they will work towards.

How do I notice that energy? By noticing. By observing. By putting some of my energy into the effort.

Some folks are much better at this noticing that me. I have to try harder, but I can do it. I find that most persons can as well.

by Dwayne Phillips

If I cannot think of three things wrong with my latest great idea, I am not thinking enough.

Great ideas. I get lots of ’em. Great successes? Not so many.

And why not? Because most of my “great ideas” have problems, many problems. If I spent a little time trying to find those problems, well, life would be easier.

Patience. Sit and consider the great idea. What are at least three things wrong with this? Nothing? Really? Consider:

1 People: Who are the people involved in this great idea? The producers? The consumers? The investors? Why would any of these people not like this great idea? How might it hurt them? How might it reduce their standing in the community? Enough questions. Surely I can find a problem or three in here.

2 Process: How are we going to make this idea into reality? Do I need to invent a method? Why doesn’t a method already exist?

3 Product: What is the final product of this great idea? Can it exist? Do we need to invent several technologies to make it?

Well, enough questions about the abstract. Apply some of them to my latest greatest idea. Take at least five minutes or five days to think. Sometimes the thinking reveals a few more latest great ideas. Sometimes it shows that, well, it wasn’t such a great idea after all.

by Dwayne Phillips

Reduced complexity optimizes for simplicity. Increased complexity optimizes for simplicity in another form. Which simplicity is “best” is a matter of situation.

Apple has recently moved to their own “Apple Silicon” processors. In general terms, Apple switched from Intel’s processors to ARM’s processors. ARM processors are a form of RISC. Intel processors are a form of CISC.

RISC: Reduced Instruction Set Computer.

CISC: Complex Instruction Set Computer.

RISC means there are fewer instructions that the computer must be able to execute. Hence, the computer is simpler and performs tasks faster. The computer programmer, however, must “figure out” how to accomplish any given task.

CISC means there are more instructions that the computer must be able to execute. Hence, the computer is more complex and performs tasks slower. The computer programmer, however, doesn’t have to “figure out” as much to accomplish any given task.

In one case, the machine itself is simpler. In the other case, the programmer’s task is simpler. We have more simplicity in both cases.

Which of the two “simplicities” is better? That is a matter of the situation at hand. This means someone chooses. Do we choose after thought or simply fall into the choice (another simpler, yikes!)?

by Dwayne Phillips

Every generation has a default question that hearkens backwards. These can be quite irritating, but return the evolutionary thinker to earth. And that is needed.

Way back in the 1990s, the world was crawling out of one generation of computing into another. No matter what great new thing there was, there was one question asked, “Is it DOS compatible?”

(For those too young to have been there, DOS is Disk Operating System. It is what turned Bill Gates into Bill Gate$ and turned Microsoft into Micro$soft. People wanted to be back in the 1980s when it was the 1990s.)

Nowadays, the question is, “Does it have a USB port?” This means, “Can I connect my thumb drive to it? Can I plug my smartphone in it to recharge? Can I do what I have been doing the last few years?”

Those backwards-looking questions are quite irritating for the forward-leaning thinkers of the world. Those questions, however, are necessary. Those questions are this week’s version of, “Hey, earth calling. Your idea has to work here—where we are now. Will it?”

Aargh. Yes, the idea has to work with those folks who accomplish work. Well, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe the idea can make life a little easier for a few folks I select. I can make a solution that works for my mother and no one else or for my grandson and no one else. Those things are nice and valuable to a few.

And those things mean nothing to 98.6% of everyone. Does it have a USB port? If it doesn’t, 98.6% of folks don’t care about it.

By Dwayne Phillips

Restoring trust in something called a shared reality won’t be easy. Or will it be so simple that it won’t be easy? Here is a suggestion.

“We’ve lost a shared reality.”

I heard this in a recent presentation. I’m afraid I lost the reference, so I cannot give due credit to the researcher who said this. Some searching shows that several persons over the past several years have stated this in one form or another. I suppose it falls under common knowledge, common sense, or urban myth.

I take this to mean that we have lost trust in the things we read. “The Washington Post reports…” “The New York Times has broken a story that…” “Apple News has a story that…” So? Who cares? Those sources are suspect. So is the Centers for Disease Control, the World Bank, the BBC, and anyone or anything else we mention.

Why? Because they have made their famous mistakes. They have published things that were wrong. They have blatantly lied and been exposed at times. They have lost the trust of the public.

The Weather Channel says it is sunny and hot outside. I walk outside and confirm it. Facts. Easy to confirm. “Hottest July ever.” Well, huh, I can neither confirm nor deny that. Trusted source? There are none of those.

What do we do? Here is a suggestion. I find it simple, but since I am not in the journalism business where salaries are paid by advertising dollars, so I have my doubts about it. Here it is:

Report the news on the news; put editorial on the editorials.

People would know what are facts. People would turn to editorials for interpretations and speculations.

Grab any “news” story from almost any source. It is full of editorial and opinion. What were the facts? Who did what, when, where, and how. The “why” is on the editorial, not in the news.

I find this simple. There must be something else happening for something so simple to restore something so important to be stopped. I don’t know what that something else is.

by Dwayne Phillips

We decide that, “We will stop this and never do it again.” That holds until we discover “this” and “it” are necessary.

I flew to California recently. On the flight, instead of giving us a bag of pretzels, they gave us a clear plastic bad that had a small clear plastic bottle of water with a cookie wrapped in plastic and pretzels wrapped in plastic.

Before the year of the virus, such packaging and distribution would have been vilified as a horrible use of petroleum (fossil fuels) and landfill. Now, however, these sanitary wrappings are wonderful life savers—a necessity.

Go back two years. “Times have changed. This world has changed. Attitudes have changed.” Landfills are full of petroleum-based plastics. Stop it. No more. We have refillable water bottles that are not made of fossil fuels (we use lots of fossil fuels to make them, but never mind).

The past year we have nothing but plastic bottles and bags holding water and cookies and face masks and hand sanitizer. Goodness, did you ever think you would see so much hand sanitizer everywhere? And then there was all that plastic wrap around all those mountains of toilet paper.

Funny how we’ve changed what we consider good and evil and necessary. We are an odd lot.

by Dwayne Phillips

If you want something in return for something, state that contract first.

Person A: Guess what? blah blah blah.

Person B: Oh my goodness.

Person A: You can’t tell anyone what I just told you.

Person B: Why not?

Person A: Because.

Person B: You should have stated the non-disclosure agreement before telling me blah blah blah.

Person A: Well, you can’t tell anyone what I just told you.

Person B: I didn’t give you permission to tell me something that put me in a predicament.

Person A: Well, you can’t betray my trust.

Person B: What trust? You just told me something that you shouldn’t have told me.

Person A: Well, I need you to help me here.

Person B: You should have asked for help first.

Person A: Silence.

Person B: I will do what I think is best with this blah blah blah. That may not be what you think is best.

by Dwayne Phillips

As much as we might not want to admit it, when one change occurs, everything in that system changes.

Tech workers, who can work from anywhere, are moving to places with a lower cost of living and hence increasing their quality of life. This raises the average salary in those lower-cost-of-living places. This raises the cost of housing in those places. The cost of living rises when we wanted it to stay the same.

There was a change in the system. In the above example, the change was the arrival of “just a few” folks who had higher salaries. Change changed things. Consider:

• A 19-year-old player comes into the NBA. The league changes.
• The NFL changes a rule. The league changes.
• Someone moves into the house down the street. The neighborhood changes.

We could go on with this. Alas, change changes things. It has always been that way, it will always be that way.

“But I just want to change one small thing. It won’t bother anyone. They won’t even notice.” Sorry. It will. They will.

For those who want things to “return to normal” after this virus passes, sorry.

by Dwayne Phillips

After a few more years, I think I understand the essence of Data Science. It isn’t that complicated.

I wrote a post in November of 2020 attempting to describe the essence of data science. A few thoughts came to me recently. So here goes another attempt.

A person has a large amount of information (spreadsheets, databases, data lakes, a copy of Wikipedia). The person’s goal is to reduce this large amount of information to a few statements of some value to some other person.

There is too much information for the person to reach the goal in a time period that satisfies some other person.

and

The person does not have enough human assistance to reach the goal

so

The person uses computing to reach the goal.

Perhaps that is the essence of data science.

by Dwayne Phillips

What we saw with gas stations is known as a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. Flood a business with customers and the business fails. The scary part is that someone learned from the situation.

Back in May of 2021 (boy, that seems like a long time ago), a pipeline was closed due to hackers. For a couple of days, there was a shortage of gasoline on the east coast of the US. Gas stations had long lines and then they ran out of gas.

Was there a shortage? Maybe, maybe not. What we definitely saw at the gas stations is known as a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. Flood a business with customers, and the business fails.

Regular customers are denied service.

Consider a McDonald’s (I use them as an example as everyone knows them). Have 1,000 persons arrive between 11:45 a.m. and 12:00 noon. The lines will be out the door and down the street. The customers will be blocking traffic. Chaos.

Before the customers are served, they will be out of meat and potatoes and bread. They will make a lot of money , but half the workers will quit and leave. They will not open the next day as they won’t have any meat, potatoes, and bread. Everyone paid full price, profits were large, and the workers hated it.

Consider a gasoline station. Send 500 cars to it all at once. Yikes. Chaos. Same results. They run out of gas. Customers snarl. Workers quit. Supplies go to zero. The are not open the next day.

Who organized these Denial of Service attacks on gas stations? Perhaps no one.

Some persons, however, are learning from this. That is the scary part.