The Advantages and Disadvantages of Sports Culture-When to Rethink the Approach

Sports is a great thing and it can teach our children everything from pro-social values to fitness and proper recreational outlets. While most sports programs teach us odd concepts likes sportsmanship and confidence there are others that teach improper values. How we develop our sports programs, the coaches we pick, and culture we create help determine its value to society. 

Let me say first. I'm a sports fan lover and think that sports are excellent, and in most cases a benefit to our youth and society. There are some times when it makes more sense to give kids a new pair of running shoes and set them down the track than millions (...but that debate between fitness, education, and gladiator arenas has been going on for a long time.)

A long time ago sports trained us for war. We played foot ball to learn teamwork and coordination, polo for mounted cavalry, and joisting for well....jousting. Running fast was helpful and so was the relay of important battle communications. Communities came out to support their warriors because they knew the games value.

Sports has become part of our daily lives and the culture of sports has changed. It is now an end in and of itself versus a method of societal preparation. Colleges use it to raise their PR and people play it for the social benefits. Nothing wrong with that! That's all dandy!

There are some sports cultures that begin to look more clannish and take on flavors that are destructive. Sports should teach us how to act and interact with each other, build confidence in our physical abilities, encourage community support, and develop a sense of togetherness. At least that should be what they are doing!

When sports take on exclusivity and poor values what was sweet now turns sour. Instead of inclusivity we teach exclusivity (sometimes includes bigotry), instead of building confidence in our bodies we instead build overconfidence in our physical abilities (i.e. bullying), where community support is helpful the acceptance of blind support is not (lack of critical thinking within one's social networks), and where a sense of togetherness should be come about we opt for entitlement.

The difference is beneficial and unbeneficial sports programs is based in their ability to hire the right people to teach both proper values as well as proper mechanics in the sport. Just like we internalize through muscle memory how to throw a ball, hit a golf club, or catch a football we also learn certain values within our sport's groups. Having the right people in place to teach our kids prosocial sports values is half of the reason for its existence (....if not could we give each kid a 3+X a weekly exercise routine, a nutrition, and a copy of the Art of War. Might be cheaper? 🤷)

Most of the people who I met who play sports are excellent people. I've seen ex amateur sports players from high school 30 + years who grew up to be adults their kids would be proud of (FYI most of the professional sports players I met are humble people). There are others within that same crowd who did not grow up to be healthy adults and seem to relish in ignorance. They turned into followers who lacked critical insight (...by the way talking about how "great" they once were in sports and  how "everyone" wants to be like them". Yuck!😕 Small stale fish.)

If you asked me what the advantages of sports is to students I will give you a laundry list as a self-proclaimed sports lover and enthusiast. With that list I will write a few things you might keep in mind when pondering the future of local sports..... 

1. Make sure your coaches have pro-social values and teaching the kids proper societal behaviors. 

2. Make sure the costs of the program have an actual benefit and enhance kids life in some way or another. 

3. Teach kids how to think independently and also within a group (both skills are important.)

4. Remove parents who engage in racism, bigotry and bullying (and who teach their kids the same.)

5. Listen to what the public wants (not just your friends) and not just those within your community. 

Sports is a pathway to learning and what we teach our young sports players is highly dependent on the coaches and the parents. When our parents fail....it leaves our children unprepared to really compete when the **it hits the fan in their/our lives!  Remember...its about the kids and the needs of society and not the few "loud mouths" in the room who demand your ever divided admiration and attention (i.e. narcissism as a mental health issue). 

Here are a few options/suggestions (I might be missing a few) to those who blindly followed others into pseudo community ethnic cleansing behavior....

1.) Don't let a group of "super cools" who are barely qualified to manager their own lives tell you how to live yours. 

2.) Think beyond your social networks to find values that help define yourself. 

3.) When you see wrong stand up against it because people who are willing to do wrong use your silence as a prompt for approval. 

4.) Find meaning in your life beyond what you once were (whatever highschool sports greatness that was!). 

5.) If your still involved in sports clubs then make it about the kids and ensure the sports program is reflective of our pro-social American values. 

As with all groups of people there will be some informal internal debate (See Social Opinion Making 😲 ...and we thought we were original!) I hope my resilience should give you a hint that not all things are as they initial appear (There is always more to people so don't judge too quickly. Use evidence and not your pre-embedded false heuristic anchors). Here are some possible options for those who engaged in this pseudo-cleansing behaviors. 1.) Learn from the situation and be a better person; 2.) If you don't like minorities in your community you are free to move (Siberia might be a good place. I hear Russia welcomes people who have turned their backs on essential American values 🤷; or, 3. You can stare us down, huff and puff when were around, maybe put some swastikas' in my yard, an upside-down cross, or noose as symbols of your superiority (P.S. for the dim witted...that is not permission to do this.). 

Either way...the choice is yours and so are the outcomes. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Why I Write? Responsibility to Support a Free Society!

There may be people from time to time that wonder why I write and spend the time doing some of those things versus all the other fun things of life (I do fun things in life too). I think its important to write about issues that others find difficult to understand; i.e.. injustice, economy, education, science, geo-political issues and corruption. If we don't think about these we can't expect them to change. Not everything I say will have importance but likely there will be a few people who sort of "get it" and it offers something beneficial. 

Sometimes I write about politics and the economy. Politics is a necessary process in our democracy but there are people who exploit politics for their own gain and for their own "people's" gain. Universalizing our actions means we seek to create maximum gain and trust among as many people as possible. We may be elected by certain groups but owe responsibility to the "whole" society.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
Lao Tzu

Other times I might write about things like fitness, health, art and local activities. While these don't seem very important they are still part of the process of living. There are people who find benefit in some of this writing and there are people who find it kind of useless. For example, maybe I learned something about fitness or a new way of doing something.

Still and other times I write about things like injustice. I understand injustice has become a type of dirty word in some circles (probably part of the reason why we have political polarity). Will my writing change anything? Probably not...there are a lot of people writing about a lot of things. When your name is "Murad" you learn that what you have to say is often less worthy than say "Tom" or "Joe". More about this in the future..... 

Mostly I write to understand. To understand the world around us and how we live in it. I guess I shouldn't really care much but higher awareness also comes with higher responsibility. That doesn't mean I'm right and it doesn't mean that anyone will actually listen to what I say. It only means there are some who are simply more aware of their environment and can see the long term implications of certain paths (many of our leaders and officials struggle with thinking beyond themselves and their rigid ideologies).

We know we have problems in society and we know we should deal with them. Its probably much easier and less frustrating to just be like others and worry about what is in my benefit only. I'm no martyr but likely inherited the "tragic gift" high moral and IQ based intelligence (Perhaps a couple more.) in an environment that doesn't have much use for it and probably doesn't seem to encourage it (Some of our cues are to reinforce conformity and that has always been the root of injustice; especially if some classes, races, religion and people can't conform to someone else's distorted image.)

Do I expect my writing to have any impact? Not really. I think there will be a few people who read it who believe yes he makes sense (dependent on cognitive engagement).  Most others are unlikely to find much interest beyond gossip sake. Those who should be listening are unlikely to listen because it would require them to break their mold (part of the reason why I write). Mostly its just fodder for those who hate and want to support that hate (our society seems to support them).

What I have learned is that there are definite differences in how we treat people each other in this society and without change we are going to have a very bumpy future. Our options will be limited by a the same people who propose the same worn out solutions and then punish those who have alternative explanations (forced political persuasion). Long-term preference in decisions not based on evidence leads to corruption, indecisiveness, lack of global competitive ability that risks eventual collapse (Its a line of choices.)

Do I think our politicians, judges, and people will change? We are creatures of habit and when disruption occurs such as pandemics, economic shifts, and social instability we will make some adjustments (often after events occur and not often in "real time"). Before this, trends are not a concern because they don't impact the lives of those who make the decisions (Yes...they can be selfish as well. We seem to like to deal with issues in crisis mode versus getting out in front of problems.)

If you every wonder what the truth is...just wait a minute and let all the people make the choices they want and see where the dust settles. The proof is in the outcome. What we say is important but how we decide and the outcome of those decisions is what is essential. The "truth" is what "we" decide it is. We either land on the side of virtue, wisdom and universal law (will likely bring us good things) or we land on distortion, dishonesty and subjectivity (will likely bring us more instability and further diminish our ability compete globally through the American brand). 

We all have choices to make and we as a collective society make those choices together. The truth is what we as a society make it out to be. Yet sometimes we become smarter and history changes to be more reflective of a universal truth (i.e. the moral failures of slavery, treatment of native Americans, viewing all Muslims as the "enemy", etc...) 

Should I continue to write? I'm not sure...I guess I will for now. There are risks to writing and saying the truth as you see it (subjective and objective). Not everyone will agree and often the system supports and enforces ignorance. We can look back through history at anyone who has something important to say (i.e. philosophers, religious figures, civil leaders and visionaries) and we find that the vast majority have had a tragic end but all have been right in history at a different time and space.

A word of caution. Free societies with free people should be able to handle reasonable differences of opinions. We cannot achieve our long term goals if we only listen to a sliver of friends and supporters leading to group think and intellectual/scientific blindness. Corruption and disparate treatment will divide our country while universal justice will bring us together. If we are unable to think beyond our bio-psychological interests of today we will continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over. We are like fish in a fish bowl who don't understand the fish bowl is in a massive ocean. Everything we do ripples somewhere else. 

Voltaire uttered two phrases that seem to make sense in this case, "It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." and "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

Farm Land in the U.P.

 The other day I was out riding in a field next to Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This is what rural farmland looks like. Being born and raised in this country landscape gives you a glimpse of what it must have been like 100 years ago as life is fundamentally the same (plus electricity, water, Internet and other necessities of basic living😱. ). 

Stonington

Mo. He was a rescue horse and now is well trained.

Firms That Are Willing to Invest in Research and Development (Cluster and Calibrated Tax Systems Delta County Model)

Investment is the lifeblood of any economy. In the global arena its important to build an environment that attracts new investments and leads to greater research & development (R&D). At various times in history countries pushed R&D to innovate a developmental line to solve important problems. While government might research and launch a spot where investments likely will lead to increases in net positive wealth it is often industries that push that growth far beyond what government coffers could even attempt to pay for (assuming they find value in the investments).

Collaborated R&D and Shared Ideas/Development:

Old Infrastructure can Create New

I'm working a cluster theory that seeks to create an investment rich environment where industries can partner to create value in their particular supply lines far beyond what they could have done in developmental silos (See Delta County Venture Capitalism). As companies share information, people, and resources they will inevitably borrow from like minded industries their R&D returns grow substantially (See Transactional SubFactors).

Think of it like this....innovation rests on sharing ideas and creating new ways of doing things to solve problems. When companies place their R&D investments into certain aspects of the cluster they begin to develop off of each other in a way they couldn't before (See Economic Synergy, Clusters and Economic Value, Interaction Value.

For example, if I want to develop a new way of creating an advanced research tool to be used in the Great Lakes (or space industry) there will be interested parties that could benefit off of the research and development that goes into its development and design. Likely stakeholders might include Navy or Space (or other branches), research instrument suppliers, outdoor gear companies, engineers, metal experts, etc.... Collaboration on mutual shared goals expands the power of R&D money breadth and width. When we put R&D activities in the same place we can not only develop that tool but also other tools and marketable products for government and public use. See Delta County Multi Clusters and Delta County Start Ups.

Encouraging Companies to Invest in R&D:

We want companies to coordinate some of their R&D efforts in order to build into a cluster at the same time. See Pack Investing. The problem municipalities often face is they don't know how to attract R&D for maximizing these synergistic benefits. To answer question we would first need to know who will engages in R&D investment? According to a study in the Journal of Economics of Innovation and New Technology we find

1. Majority of R&D is conducted by export oriented large manufacturing firms

2. Some shifting to include small non-manufacturing firms (Foster, Grim & Zolas, 2020)

What this study helps us understand how larger manufacturing firms would be most likely interested in R&D investments and there is a growing trend of non-manufacturing firms that also have interest. See Pack Investing, Delta County Venture Capitalism and Rebuild Delta County Downtown. In my Delta County Cluster Model it would make sense to attract 1.) manufacturing R&D teams and 2.) non manufacturing engineering & design firms and pooled local small business R&D (Giving small business an opportunity to invest in cluster development and reap the rewards for their custom products. By the way, they are also receiving the benefit of the cluster environment and its infrastructure (See Delta County Export Shipping). There is a way to increase large and small business at the same time. See Attracting SME Delta County).

This post is part of a larger work on digital age calibrated tax systems, perpetual sustainable growth, and transactional cluster theory.  

See other tax development theoretical framework at Lower HQ Tax Calibrated System Attracting HQ (DC Model) G7 Minimum Tax Floor

Lucia Foster, Cheryl Grim & Nikolas Zolas (2020) A portrait of U.S. firms that invest in R&D, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 29:1, 89-111, DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2019.1595366

Bill Nelson NASA Administrator Discusses Habitable Planets and ET

 There has been an argument...that if space is infinite and the chance of Earth existing is 1 in $$gazillion then there would still be an infinite amount of earths out there (Kind of makes sense right?). We don't really know until will know! Chances the other earth's might come find us before we develop the solar and/or nuclear propulsion to get us out there (Makes you wonder if the UAP Intelligence Report indicates ET visitors or human rivals?). 😕👽

This is also the reason why we need technology driven innovation clusters to ensure we are putting the right resources in the right areas in a way that leads to faster growth of the space industry and other related industries (i.e. car, solar, outdoor, etc...).

Its nice to see society (NASA being an institution in society) found use for very wealthy people beyond making us salivate with envy at high end purses/wallets, luxury cars, modest mansions, and exotic vacations!

July 1st Escanaba City Hall Meeting-Community Preservation Officer

Another exciting meeting discussing things that range from discouraging blight (Its actually a very clean town. A little older looking but all the neighborhoods are relatively safe. A couple blocks might need a little more code enforcement than others but all-in-all still ok. We might not yet have the interest to ask the bohemian artistic-creative types to come in and reinvent the area. In some cities they cleaned up neighborhoods and put a positive "vibe" in them.) all the way over to societal recognition. 

Meetings like this occur all across the U.S. but in Escanaba there is a special interest in keeping the community moving forward in a thoughtful way. You can tell the city council members take special interest in how their decisions impact the community (Its not agree or disagree on issues and/or choices but it is an observation based on the interaction, behaviors and decision making choices of the members.)

An approval on a moving a Community Preservation Officer from part-time to a full time position. What is a Community Preservation Officer? .....

It is someone who helps enforce codes (See couple of blocks above comment). Towns that keep their areas clean and up to date (i.e. maybe downtown) are more appealing than ones that do not follow certain standards. I found a description of what a community preservation officer is HERE. 

Cool PPT. Makes everything easier to understand (Especially if you can't hear it!) 

There is some updating of the treatment plant and fiber cable....more to come in our digital transformation. You can sort of see how data technology and a government infrastructure push make their way into towns (Side note. We need infrastructure that has multiple ways of functioning to make them resilient against anything that ranges from hacking to natural disasters.)

There were a couple of certificates of meritorious performance to Mr. Hunter and Mr. Moore. The purpose of awards in  society is to create not only recognition but also to increase employee motivation. While we might not think of it right away, of it there are also secondary benefits related to culture and prompting others on what behaviors are encouraged in society (Why rewards help define societal values.) See Reward, Recognition, and Job Satisfaction.

There was something about National Historic and grants. Totally didn't hear it! 👂🌽 Sounded interesting. ....grants? 🤷 I can barely hear the audio (I'm wondering if I should call them and let them know....📱). 

The video starts around 22 minutes after the start. I've seen the White House videos do this as well. I think maybe its unedited "live" time. See Escanaba Agenda July 1st, 2021

Knowing How to Fix Your Car is Still a Beneficial Skill!

Most of us drive our cars and don't know what is under the hood. We have become complex and the simple cars of the past have given away to something a little different (Just wait for electric!). Knowing some mechanical skills can save you a ton of money!

A few months ago I paid $350 for new brake pads and a caliper for my Chevy Equinox. Worked great for a  month or so until I slammed on my brakes to avoid UP deer (Upper Peninsula of MI).  

According to an article on  MLive approximately 48% of car accidents in the U.P. involve deer. Dee UP Accident

You could see this deer bouncing out of the field and running up the embankment giving me just enough time to guess his jump. A narrow miss!  A day later the sticky caliper and a little crunchy odd sound while applying the brake. 

I took off the brakes (...by the way the wheel hub lock nut doesn't help up in the UP of Michigan. I'm more worried about not being able to change my tire on a lonely blizzard road than protecting my tires from theft.) and greased the caliper. 

What I did found was...

1. One shoe out of bracket (The bracket was put in wrong). 

2. A sticky caliper (Not enough grease and/or wrong grease on pins). 

3. A track groove in the rotor (Likely from slamming brakes). 

4. Dirty brake brackets that I cleaned and greased. 

5. The rotor placement nut stripped (likely why there was no recommendation to change the rotor. I drilled the center of it and pulled it out.)

The total cost me about $60. $50 of that cost was from having to remove the special lug nut (It was more expensive to buy the tool than to have someone take them off.)

The rest was for grease and a the right size socket. The rotor was $70 and it is maintenance to change them from time to time and this seemed like a great time to do it so I could eliminate possibilities. 

The biggest culprit was the brackets that weren't greased causing the pad to stick sometimes but not at other times leading to all types of cause confusion. It also may be part of the crunch noise when stopping and occasionally a small vibration when first releasing the caliper. 

Once they were greased it all went away! (The simplest and easiest step!)

Knowing how your car works can help you in all types of situations. I like the outdoors and will likely be doing lots of more outdoor stuff. Knowing your car and having some technical skill makes sense in emergencies. It can also save you money! Now I'm looking for a $1000 old pick up for horse and/or boat stuff. If I'm lucking it will come with working brakes.

President 2021 July 4th 2021

President Biden conducted his July 4th, 2021 speech discussing the history of American and our (potential) future as a nation. He talks about ensuring that race, religion, and other factors don't stop people's ability to get ahead. Lots of discussion on Covid Vaccine and our essential ideas that tie us as a people together.

As with any video and person there will be things I agree with and things I don't. The essential message was an important one. We can achieve if we work together and we will fail and fall further behind if we continue the path of division (...and allow others to exploit those differences). 

Our brightest days could be ahead of us if the economic winds blow in one direction and our metaphorical sails are already prepared to snag the momentum. We can feel this wind now but as with all bumpy platform changes there is likely to be much more wealth generated in the future (Why its important to provide business and other opportunities to the widest groups of people through education/skills and entrepreneurship).

That will require strengthening small business, improving universality of our systems, updating into the digital economy, calibrating our tax system to bring companies back, creating innovative/investment rich environments, mastering human capital development and coordinating with our international friends to build free markets and unmolested markets. 

Anyway.....Happy 4th!

Celebrating the 4th! Firefighters and Parades in Gladstone Michigan

 The 4th of July is an awesome time to hang out with family, kids and neighbors. If there is one thing that unifies us is the dream of providing opportunities for our children and leaving the world a slightly better place than it was when we got here. Commitment to an ideal takes a whole community. 

Support your local firefighters through volunteering, donations, and saying "hi". 

11 Moorish Extremism Group Members Arrested-The Need to Enforce Extremism Laws

We are seeing a rise in extremism and coordinated groups. I really can't say much about them because I don't know the specifics of the group. The only thing I can say is that this rise is troublesome. Our states and law makers are struggling with how to handle this rise in separatism and hate/race based activities. 

In some cases, such groups were given free passes to function as they see fit with no consequences and in other cases we fanned their flames with "talk big" political conflict. As long as we continue to not understand the roots of hate, extremism and separatism we will continue to struggle with solutions.

We have to restore trust in our system and our institutions. That won't happen as long as we don't recognize the problem and we don't hold people accountable for their behaviors (mental health and/or criminal). It is fundamental to our way of life to ensure extremism groups don't dictate to our political leaders what their American values are.

We struggle with this accountability and seeing behavior for what it is. The same reason we were caught off guard during the Capital Riots is the same reason why we can't tackle local hate groups. We are blinded by our limited perception, awareness of multiple ways to look at the same root of the problem, and a general political-justice system that sort of didn't in the past view these things as serious (....highly dependent on the first image of what you envision when you think of the word "extremism". Test yourself...did you see a certain kind of person? a certain religion? a particular group? You don't have to tell anyone but just be honest with yourself. 💁💗 What do you think your friends imaged and/or your social networks? .....in this way we start seeing the social nature of  injustice. You may also come to notice that different groups think different things but they are all connected by the same core principles that revolve around the deeper psychological underpinnings of hate. In essence, we can't see them because we can't yet see ourselves or others in a truer light. More knowledge and familiarity lowers those false perceptions and defense mechanisms.. This isn't for or against any particular mindset but is an opportunity for us to sort of ponder its implications. 🤔 )

These groups pop up over race, religion and even clubs (i.e. sports groups, political groups, etc...) from time to time. We may be seeing an increasing trend and that would be more of a sign of lowering trust of institutions (..why we need our politicians to be more thoughtful than loud!)We haven't really studied these groups and in some cases don't have the desire to stand up for something bigger than our  personal social, political, and financial networks. 

Lack of legal framework mixed with a timid desire to investigate hate behaviors is partly responsible for fueling issues. We just can't afford to pretend we don't have a problem (....blinders only work for a short time and when a trends starts we might consider finding a solution.). That doesn't mean we know all the answers but it does mean we have to take the time to understand and collect the information to begin the process of understanding. There must be an attempt to do the right thing so we can open the door to future possibilities and solutions (Assuming patriotism still means actions that strengthen our republic). 

Do we have a solution? This is something I think is worth exploring. Michigan Coding and Thwarting of Hate Crimes. Will Michigan politicians act and/or propose a solution? 🤷....waiting.....waiting....waiting......etc......etc..... waiting.......that is also a choice.