https://www.theonion.com/nation-down-to-last-hundred-grown-ups-1819572641

“... The endangered demographic, which is projected to die out completely by 2060, is reportedly distinguished from other groups by numerous unique traits, including foresight, rationality, understanding of how to obtain and pay for a mortgage, personal responsibility, and the ability to enter a store without immediately purchasing whatever items they see and desire. …"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/29/donald-trump-americans-us-culture-republican

“… People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world. … People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. …” — and the author posits that a “Values Ratchet” exists, a feedback loop that can cause individual or societal move toward extremes (LOOPY?!)

https://www.monbiot.com/2014/06/10/the-values-ratchet/

Just three things:

• Mindfulness
• Nonattachment
• Oneness

... with initials M N O , the letters on a telephone keypad for "6", the first perfect number in mathematics. (Pure coincidence!) Mindfulness, Nonattachment, Oneness are three dimensions of awareness, distinct yet overlapping, three steps of a journey. The rest is commentary. Take what is helpful, ignore what is not. And be patient – the irrelevant now may be crucial later, and vice versa.

The Matrix

Patterns are practical. They help organize knowledge, they make meaning memorable – ... and they're fun! "The Matrix" has three rows, one each for Mindfulness, Nonattachment, and Oneness. Its columns carry letter patterns ...

Causal Loop Modeling ideas

look into CARDS THAT HAVE EDGE MATCHES to build Causal Loop Diagrams?! (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_tile and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentiles and http://www.gamepuzzles.com/moredge.htm and http://www.gamepuzzles.com/edgemtch.htm perhaps)

simulate a LOOPY model by sliding pennies along edges? – see https://perl.plover.com/Regex/article.html for doing that to simulate Regular Expression parsing and pattern recognition!

'Systems Thinking: The Cards'
DDI cube-mnemonics (3D printed) badge lanyard toys - 'Define - Develop - Implement'
DIY make your own paper cubes to explore dimensions via "box" facets

• fantasies:
  • jewelry - bangles (circular slide-rules?), earrings, rings, ...
  • new deck of cards (what theme(s)?)
  • 3-D printed thingies
  • flexagons with LOOPY-style diagrams
  • fluidic devices (pennywhistles?) that could 'Play a CFD'
  • pachinko-style simulator toys
  • gear sets (spirograph-like? planetarium/orrery-like?)
  • tiny diorama matchboxes with lenses to peek through and see what's inside
  • unfolding linkage-devices that could show System phenomena

... hmmmm, maybe HEXAGONAL brick-like grid, with HOLES? ..

Running

"Real Endurance" site - ^z results http://realendurance.com/search.php?all=0&q=Mark%20Zimmermann

59 results found since 2004. 53 UltraRunnings.

• Distance PR Age Year PR at Event
  2 100m 27:53:08 64 2017 C&O Canal 100
  1 100k 19:27:45 65 2017 Devil Dog Ultras
  18 50m 10:04:19 62 2014 Stone Mill 50
  28 50k 06:50:12 56 2009 Seneca Creek Trail
  

– z 2020-10-07 10:56 UTC

https://statistik.d-u-v.org/getresultperson.php?runner=909533

14 search results (14 Events, 1099.961 km).

2019 3 Events, 148.28 km
19.-20.10.2019 Ghost Train Rail Trail Race 30 Mile (USA) 30mi
8:05:06 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 74 M: 35 Cat M65: 1
01.06.2019 Run it with Janet 50k Race (USA) 50km
7:37:25 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 29 M: 15 Cat M65: 1
13.04.2019 Runamuck 50K (USA) 50km
7:25:32 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 74 M: 47 Cat M65: 1
2018 3 Events, 196.56 km
20.-21.10.2018 Ghost Train Rail Trail Race 60 Mile (USA) 60mi
17:15:18 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 35 M: 20 Cat M65: 1
02.06.2018 Run it with Janet 50k Race (USA) 50km
8:04:35 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 22 M: 13 Cat M65: 1
24.02.2018 Hashawha Hills 50 km Trail Run (USA) 50km
8:29:25 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 98 M: 69 Cat M65: 2
2017 6 Events, 652.335 km
02.-03.12.2017 Devil Dog Ultra 100 Km Race (USA) 100km
19:27:45 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 79 M: 51 Cat M60: 6
29.-30.09.2017 The Yeti 100 Mile Endurance Run (USA) 100mi
29:00:59 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 126 M: 72 Cat M60: 3
03.06.2017 Run it with Janet 50k Race (USA) 50km
7:16:30 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 25 M: 14 Cat M60: 1
29.-30.04.2017 C&O Canal 100 Mile (USA) 100mi
27:53:08 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 41 M: 33 Cat M60: 2
08.04.2017 Bull Run Run 50 Miler (USA) 50mi
12:38:28 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 264 M: 197 Cat M60: 12
11.03.2017 Crazy Desert Trail Race 100k (USA) 100km
17:06:58 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 27 M: 23 Cat M60: 2
2016 1 Event, 50 km
04.06.2016 Run it with Janet 50k Race (USA) 50km
7:28:00 h Zimmermann, Mark Overall: 16 M: 7 Cat M60: 2
2013 1 Event, 52.786 km
27.10.2013 Fire on the Mountain 50k Ultra Marathon (USA) 32.8mi
8:13:33 h Zimmermann, Mark *Kensington, MD Overall: 91 M: 71 Cat M60: 2

Other

[1] and [2]

– 2021-01-25

https://xkcd.com/793/ = "Physicists"

https://aperiodical.com/2017/06/the-curious-mathmo-talks-to-david-roberts/

interview with David Roberts (Category theorist)

see also https://aperiodical.com/ and many good things there!

– z 2021-06-03 14:54 UTC

"Tiny Love Stories" - NYT series, 100 words or less, reader-submitted - like poems, cropped images, walk/run reports ... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/style/tiny-modern-love-stories-i-was-right-love-can-never-be-compared.html and https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/style/tiny-modern-love-stories-every-morning-we-got-up-and-did-it-again.html etc

– z 2021-06-18 11:23 UTC

to do: look at the qualities of solutions to the simplest system-dynamic archetypes – pairs of loops {"++", "+-", "–"} – and investigate their qualitative properties ... e.g, "++" archetype is an exponential growth race between the two loops, "+-" is ...

– z 2021-06-22 00:05 UTC

Trails of Thought

Some paths lead to beautiful overviews, lush valleys, awesome mountain peaks, or peaceful forest glades. Other paths head into thickets of thorn bushes, mucky bogs, or other dead ends. The difference often isn't obvious at the start. But there are often signs, and sometimes maps that can help.

Thinking is a lot like that. Some patterns of reasoning tend toward good results that "click" – conclusions that fit together and make sense. Other modes of thought bring contradictions and muddles. The difference isn't obvious at the start.

...

– z 2021-07-27 11:10 UTC

Maurine Stuart ("Subtle Sound" collection of short talks - Subtle Sound)

Charlotte Joko Beck ("Everyday Zen" collection of talks)

Stephen Batchelor ("Buddhism without Beliefs")

Shunryu Suzuki ("Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" and "Not Always So" collections of talks)

Guy Claxton ("The Heart of Buddhism" - On Good Form)

Jon Kabat-Zinn (almost anything he wrote!)

– z 2021-07-29 15:55 UTC

and [5] for:

• Ikigai, your reason for being
• Kintsukuroi, repairing our wounds with gold
• Aware, or the sorrow of transience
• Majime, the person who knows how to be responsible
• Nankurunaisa, trust in the future
• Gaman, endure the difficulties with dignity
• Wabi-sabi, the beauty of imperfections

and "kokoro" for heart-mind-spirit ...

LOOPY diagram for the forces (flatness, frictionlessness, efficiency, ...) in https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/everything-is-broken

"... seek out friction and thorniness, hunt for complexity and delight in unpredictability ... and improvisation and adventure and lots and lots of creative waste. ..."

– z 2021-12-31 13:54 UTC

from Happiness Is (2015)

Happiness is not a product of something,
but just a state of being.
It just is.
So it is always there.

from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/nyregion/ruth-willig-oldest-new-yorkers.html

Notes From the End of a Very Long Life

With the death of Ruth Willig at 98, a Times series on a set of the oldest New Yorkers — chronicled over seven years in 21 articles — offers their lessons on living with loss.

For those who make it to old old age, there remains the challenge: How do you make a full and meaningful life when you can’t do so many of the things you once did? At the end of life, what turns out to really matter, and what is just noise?

For as long as I knew Ruth, she valued time with her children above all, leveraging the anticipation of the next visit to sustain her through the gaps in between. At the end, this time together was all there was.

In a 24-hour span in December, she had visits from her four children and three of her four grandchildren. They looked through old photo albums together, remembering happy moments, with Ruth identifying faces in the pictures for her children.

On a phone call during one family visit, she told me, “I’m blessed,” as she always did about her children’s attentions. Then she added something new: “I deserve it.”

and from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/nyregion/new-yorks-85-and-up-update.html which the above led to, an earlier article in the series:

New York’s ‘85 and Up’: Update

Fred was a complicated man. He wanted to live to 110, but he continued to eat a diet rich in ice cream and Pringles, even as he lost two toes to diabetes. He was outgoing and loved to tell stories, but he was also protective of his privacy and rarely let people into his apartment, which had gone to seed as his health weakened. His conversation, often ribald, was equal parts God and sex. He could sing like Billy Eckstine. He wanted to get back to church, to go to Red Lobster, to hang out on the street and make conversation with the women who passed by. He was never again able to do any of these things. His favorite part of every day, he said, was waking up and thanking God for another day.

I once asked him about the happiest time of his life. It was after a long conversation about his mother and his grandmother (the true loves of his life); about earning small tips as a teenager, during the early days of World War II in Norfolk, Va., by helping servicemen find willing women; about being the first one in his family who went to college.

The happiest time of his life was “right now,” he said without hesitation. “I have health problems, but it’s been going on a long time, so it’s secondary.” he said. “But I think happiness really is what’s going on at a particular time. I used to think happiness was something that somebody brought to you. But happiness, as opposed to enjoyment, is when you are doing something and you are elated.”

– z 2022-01-06 12:44 UTC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Map_of_Tiny_Perfect_Things

best bits:

• from the main character Mark’s little sister Emma: "I think about other people besides myself. You should try it some time." Mantra - Think about Other People
• from the main character Margaret: "I think maybe we’re supposed to become, like, better people."

– z 2022-01-09 18:07 UTC

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2006/03/29/the_serenity_pr/

– z 2022-01-17 22:15 UTC

[6]
"My Power Wheelchair Makes Me a Better Mom: Because I can walk short distances, strangers judge me for using a wheelchair. But it allows me to be the parent my active toddler needs."

"... My disabilities — Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and a secondary neurological condition, dysautonomia — make sitting upright for more than a few minutes, or standing still for more than 30 seconds, impossible. ... In “Anne of Green Gables,” after Anne realizes that her options may be more limited than she had hoped, the narrator explains, “But if the path set before her feet was to be narrow, she knew that flowers of quiet happiness would bloom along it.” ..."

and

"... Bodies are more complex than I realized: some bodies can always walk, some bodies can sometimes walk and some bodies can never walk. If I see another person using a wheelchair, the only thing that I can know is that they need it at that moment. Maybe the chair enables them to show up for someone who needs them. ..."

– z 2022-01-24 11:16 UTC

Wikipedia:Brian_Andreas and https://iowaartisansgallery.com/pages/brian-andreas

– z 2022-02-11 12:30 UTC

draw LOOPY cartoons for Confirmation Bias, and for Premature-Need-for-Closure-Urge-to-Converge, and for Anchoring, and for other cognitive fallacies ...

– z 2022-03-04 11:29 UTC

from "The Mathematics of Doodling" by Ravi Vakil [7]:

Let me tell you about a doodle I did when I was very small, and the mathematics that flows inevitably from it. It looks like play, but in my mind this is what mathematics is really about: finding patterns in nature, explaining them, and extending them. Mathematics is about asking the right questions, and that's what we will do here, finding interesting questions, and then finding questions behind the questions. These ideas will lead to rather deep mathematics, in lots of fields. I am not an expert in these fields, and you needn't be an expert in a part of mathematics to let your curiosity pull you in. On a related note: in this article, I will ask a lot of questions, and give relatively few answers. And there are many questions that you will think should be asked, that I don't–I encourage you to follow up on them, because they may lead you somewhere interesting and unexpected. This article is intended for readers with widely different mathematical backgrounds, so if you come across a notion you have seen, or one you find trivial, please keep reading.

see [8]

– z 2022-03-16 10:04 UTC

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/smarter-living/how-to-maintain-friends.html

"How to Maintain Friendships" - Anna Goldfarb, Jan. 18, 2018

• "... go out of your way to attend any milestone events — fly in for the baby shower, attend the 40th birthday party, make an appearance at the retirement party. Just show up. There aren’t too many chances to make an impact in someone’s life, but if you move mountains and carve out time for your friend’s event, it’ll sustain a friendship for a long time. ..."
• "... three areas to measure and evaluate a functional friendship. The first area is positivity: laughter, affirmation, gratitude and any acts of service. The second is consistency, or having interactions on a continual basis, which makes people feel safe and close to each other. The third is vulnerability, which is the revealing and the sharing of our lives. ..."

– z 2022-03-20 18:20 UTC

notes on the book Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness by Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson ...

Introduction

three basic human needs: Safety, Satisfaction, and Connection
four major ways to meet those needs: "... by recognizing what’s true, resourcing ourselves, regulating thoughts, feelings, and actions, and relating skillfully to others and the wider world ..."

that makes a "matrix of twelve primary inner strengths":

– z 2022-04-29 01:08 UTC

from the New Yorker – "The Grothendieck Mystery" [9]

Mazur suggests that it’s possible to glimpse the essence of Grothendieck’s approach to mathematics by looking at two concepts—categories and functors. A category can be thought of almost as a grammar: take triangles, perhaps, and understand them in terms of their relationship to all other triangles. The category consists of objects, and relationships between objects. The objects are nouns and the relationships are verbs, and the category is all the ways in which they can interact. Grothendieck’s discoveries opened up mathematics in a way that was analogous to how Wittgenstein (and Saussure) changed our views of language.

A functor is a kind of translation machine that lets you go from one category to another, while bringing along all the relevant tools. This is more astonishing than it sounds. Imagine if math could be translated into poetry, and somehow it made sense to take the square root of a stanza.

The mathematician Angela Gibney describes Grothendieck’s vantage point in a way that I find particularly approachable: if you want to know about people, you don’t just look at them individually—you look at them at a family reunion. Ravi Vakil, a mathematician at Stanford, said, “He also named things, and there’s a lot of power in naming.” In the forbiddingly complex world of math, sometimes something as simple as new language leads you to discoveries. Vakil said, “It’s like when Newton defined weight and mass. They had not been distinguished before. And suddenly you could understand what was previously muddled.”

– z 2022-05-12 23:48 UTC

https://millyuns.com/quotes-bowerman/

– Anonymous 2022-05-24 15:40 UTC

Marvin Minsky Society of Mind full text http://aurellem.org/society-of-mind/index.html ... re-read!

– z 2022-06-06 10:40 UTC

runners can always train a little harder, race a little faster, push through pain a little farther – at the cost of increasing the odds of a game-changing injury, exhaustion, and later failure ...

likewise, one can always work a little harder ...

– z 2022-06-13 11:03 UTC

LOOPY_-_How-To

... LOOPY how-to-develop-a-model summary from yesterday's (!) MIT Sloan School article by Meredith Somers "This Sri Lankan jewelry enterprise is a study in systems thinking" at https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/sri-lankan-jewelry-enterprise-a-study-systems-thinking :

• State the problem
• Map how things are connected
• Understand multipliers, lags, limiters, and accumulations...

^z - 2022-01-27

think about LOOPYs for Strategic Deterrence (or "strategic detergents") such as:

• rock-paper-scissors and “nontransitivity” (no single dominant strategy)
• mappings from rock-paper-scissors to “first-strike” + “doomsday-device” + “hostage-taking” + “far-domain-sanctions” + “mutual-assured-destruction” + …
• game-theoretic ideas from Robert Axelrod et al. (“Evolution of Cooperation”), e.g., “prisoners dilemma” & “tit-for-tat” & …
• probabilistic issues of uncertainty & expectation-values & multidimensional-utility-maximization …
• systems-issues of feedback-loops (runaway-positive and stable-negative) and “systems archetypes” (e.g., “escalation” and “success-to-the-successful” and “fixes-that-fail”)
  

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/opinion/economy-education-women-men.html LOOPY diagram of male vs female demographic challenges in education & economy? - starter sketch ...

LOOPY projects & meta-projects?

• SPACE challenges
• Collaboration with Secrets
• Faith - God as creator, sustainer, definer, ...?
• logic gates
• Turing machine
• desktop toys
• soliton propagating around a circle
• LOOPY within LOOPY
• cognitive biases - confirmation, anchoring, vividness, ...

Graphical Languages for Thinking Better

... one method to rule them all? or separate languages? linkages? zoom in? zoom out?

types of nodes

• Actors
• Stockpiles
• Concepts
• Likelihoods
• Values
• Decisions
• Courses of action

types of links:

• Causes
• Evidence for/against
• Logical implication
• Bayesian probability
• Alliances & Conflicts

issues:

• time
• uncertainty

Methods to Depict:

• color
  • gradient? - shades to indicate positive or negative? (skew brightness, hue, chroma?)
• size or thickness or dashes
• ...

– 2021-03-16 14:14 UTC

speculate that the category theoretic approach – considering verbs not nouns – arrows not nodes – relationships not entities – may prove useful as one gets older – and perhaps it could be related to the Zen of considering not self but rather the constellation of all selves (like Indra's Net) ...

– z 2022-07-14 19:58 UTC