House passes bill to increase debt limit (2023): Time for Collaboration and Focus

It looks like the bill passed. CNN outlines some of the solid arguments 'House votes to pass debt ceiling bill in win for McCarthy' There are different views between both parties. While both sides want the nation to succeed and manage its debts appropriately the methods in which they do that is different. At some point they will both need to make some compromises to achieve our national goals. 

Here are my thoughts. We need to ensure the financial system is solid and not jackhammered by any abrupt moves that exceed the capacity to consume the change. That helps us avoid overtaxing the financial system at once that leads inappropriate adaptations and capacities to overcome. They might call this a financial crisis.

To me in a sustainable system we will want to have a strong sense of direction as to how to use our resources to achieve our goals. In many ways we have goal confusion. Once we know our goals, we can then align the rest of the system to those needs. 

A type of metric of program alignment that gives full scope to hard services and soft services of government. i.e. they call this a truly honest conversation about all programs and what might still serve our purpose and what probably doesn't. No room for political slants here because we must be clear in our thinking and be capable of critical examination. These are serious choices with serious outcomes.

We should look at each component as providing a net positive or net expense. Some things we think of as expenses are actually net positives but need some change to function at their full capacity and be wise stewards of tax payer dollars. Other programs might need to be removed because we cannot reasonably justify their contribution to our long term objectives (i.e. over the horizon thinking). 

Some social programs might be enhanced (i.e. education and children's enrichment for human capital development. There could also be nutrition needs and additional new methods of teaching and enrichment) and other things might need to be reduced (subsidize that don't lead to a net positive contribution). Each program should have a full review to ensure it can be adjusted, improved, reused, adapted, etc.. to maximize those resources and ensure program focus (i.e. how renaissance starts to hit other areas of society through the adaptive need)

The problem isn't necessarily the ability to improve the system but the ability to work together to do so in a reasonable way. We are at a point in our nation's history where any political dissonance is likely to be a detractor to our long term health and reasonableness and thoughtful compromise will likely be a contributor to short-and long term success. 

There are other market issues such as foreign movement away from the U.S. dollar we should consider when thinking about the long term implications of instability in thinking. We need solutions. That comes from people being focused on the right things and trying to really make a meaningful contribution to the collective of society (In some ways I think if we thought of our whole nation as 100 people whom we knew well, how would we use our resources to ensure the health of our village? In this case a national village. Keeping this on an intimate basis might help us think about the importance of maximizing resources for everyone as though each American is valuable. We sometimes are removed from our choices and the consequences on others. We must be wise. Too many programs you have a problem and too few and you have a problem. We also need a positive cushion to reduce debt. It looks like lots of debate ahead.)

Water Distribution Relay Pumping Fire Trucks (Chula Vista, CA and Delta County, MI Examples)

NFPA provides a strong analysis of water and relay pumping. While the whole publication appears beneficial you can read 'Step 4 Water Distrubution Options' (looks like a spelling error). However, the information is excellent. You can learn more about the NFPA.

Here is also an awesome training video by Chula Vista Fire Department. Go Chula Vista! They go into solid depth on the topic and discuss how pumpers can maximize pressure and reach. Lots of charts on friction loss and hose sizes.

In MI. we did some practice the other day relaying pumpers together in a way that increased their outputs. It is important to keep training new recruits through redundancy and hands on practice. Perhaps we should consider having some of the other departments in the area join us in our training. Fabulous! 

In our training we followed some simple points:

1. Cleaning and dressing the hydrant

2. Making sure fittings, adaptors and hoses are found and connected properly.

3. Worked with turning on and off the pumps so as to not water hammer the pump, the hydrant or worse the local residence.

4. Controls and dials on some of the trucks. 

It makes no difference if you are new or seasoned because going over it can help in memorizing and becoming familiar with the systems.

The volunteer departments in the area that are really doing local heavy lifting are below so if you want to connect, volunteer or donate.

Bark River Fire Department

Ford River Fire Department 

Escanaba Twp. Fire Department (A central sort of hub for training and training space)

Ensign Twp Fire Department

Nahma Twp Fire Department

There are fulltime departments in Escanaba and Gladstone that I'm sure wouldn't turn down contributions and connecting with other departments for resource and knowledge sharing.

The Difference Between the Just and Unjust World View and its Long Term Implications (Business, Government and Society)

We are in an interesting time within our country and we are experiencing shifts across the board in values and perceptions. Not only are we changing in terms of demographics but we also must compete as a single people toward shared goals. We likewise are very divisive at this time and polarized politically and socially. The lone voices of those who are trying to pull us together are muted by the obnoxious voices of those trying to exploit differences. 

Let us also add the ideas that technology and the economy are changing quicky creating platform shifts into the Digital Era (its probably more scientifically true then not true. There are economic and historical studies on how things like the wheel, iron, printing press, Internet cause transitions in the way in which we conduct our business affairs and our daily lives. These root changes are called paradigm shifts/platform shifts/renaissance). 

Anway we are going to go through some changes as a people I think and that will require us to anchor some of our values to something we can agree upon. Whether true or not I believe a positive just world view based in our shared principles helps keep society together, keep us focused on the right societal values, and provides the greatest opportunities for success. Justice is central to that positive just world view.

Just World View

Culture and personality impact one's perception of a just world view (JWV). The belief that good should bring positive and bad should bring punishment is an interesting one based deeply in meaning making. In other words "people get what they deserve". You may read Differential Associations of Personal and General Just-World Beliefs with the FiveFactor and the HEXACO Models of Personality JWV is seen as more fallacy than reality by scientists and scholars. People who believe in JWV are often seen as somewhat delusion in the sense that the world is a safe place and people will do what is right and just. It is a type of making order from that which doesn't appear orderly (I believe this is a wrong assumption.) 

Despite this perception of bleak disparity many scientists and pure rationalists take, there may be a grain of truth that the world has order and full of systems that are complex and interrelated (Making them hard to understand with a narrow lens of supported by limited scientific measurements of minute focus). While a divine order may be hard to prove scientifically it is possible to show that nature functions like a large complex system of mutually dependent co-dependence in life. Thus the more one engages in poor behaviors, typically defined as harmful or risky to society (i.e. rudeness, reckless, lying, stealing, aggression, etc..) the more there should be individual and societal consequences (In universal justice systems the outside variables like race, religion, education, wealth, etc. would not be factors in influencing outcomes because truth and moral conscious are embedded into the symbolism, culture, processes, and outcomes.

Source: Oudeyer, Pierre-Yves & Kaplan, Frederic. (2007).
What is Intrinsic Motivation?
 A Typology of Computational Approaches.
Frontiers in neurorobotics. 1. 6. 10.3389/neuro.12.006.2007. 

That can often comes from big data feedback, science, moral/ethical development of society, belief in democracy, and open-mindedness to the inherent value of difference.). 

 While we are not always rational on an individual basis based we are as a species more rational as a collective. Unless one is internally motivated to work toward a better world/justice world, the majority of us need the right environment to encourage prosocial goals. There are similarities, reason, and logic within cultural underpinnings which help maintain a sense of collective order that includes reward and punishment. While individuals and groups (i.e. extremism) might play havoc in the short run, the longer run sense of order returns to be disrupted again as the slow grinding process of development occurs. 

Individual and Criminal Behavior

There are differences in personality between those who are contributors of the world and those who engage in criminal behaviors. To understand better you may want to read The Link between Individual Personality Traits and Criminality: A Systematic Review that discusses criminality and personality. What the authors found was the criminal mind shares some traits (i) psychopathy; (ii) low self-control; and (iii) difficult temperament.

What we find is that those who are willing to engage in criminal behavior have traits that make it difficult for others around them. They lack a sense of fairness and therefore a sense of justice because they cannot treat others fairly. As a society we want to discourage those behaviors when they occur as an individual, clan, group, etc.

Why is a justice oriented environment with positive cultural underpinnings helpful? Criminals don't often follow rules and/or misuse rules for self gain. They are essentially self centered in their orientation and that impacts choices throughout their lives. Externally motivated people follow rules, roles, and customs to understand to make sense out of the world. Our cultural underpinnings should rest on some very fundamental rules as defined in our social contracts.  

The Conception of Justice

The concepts of justice is a solution to our societal problems. We have all types of issues we are facing in business, government and society. For example, we have high concentrations of wealth in fewer hands, we have a rise in organized extremism, we have concerns about policing, issues with institutional integrity and even political gamesmanship that costs the country greatly in trust and performance (i.e. the Santos Method of gaining prominence). These are just some of the concerns. 

Most of these ills can be muted through examining our core values of what we expect and want out of our society. The measure of a person should be seen through their earned character and not by superficiality of scientifically useless markers.  Socrates believed that Athens was struggling because it was missing justice. Justice is seen as societal cure and I believe that applies to ourselves in many ways. 

What Socrates believed in was the character of a person. Justice was seen as a virtue that made one consistently good while social conscious encouraged society to be good (I adjusted this to be 'moral conscious' because I believe social conscious could be good or bad but moral conscious is a collective understanding of assumptions of virtue and is consistently good as a collective of individuals within society. It sort of splitting hairs but its a more accurate reflection I believe with the term Dikaisyne.)

Read this article to gain a better understanding. Pay attention to internal and external character of justice. 'Plato's Concept Of Justice: An Analysis'

The Supporters of the Just and Unjust World

In our lives we will come across different forms good and bad, justice and injustice, pro social and anti social behaviors. I am a supporter of a justice system where truth and moral conscious are part of how we function and exist as a people. Likewise, I'm also a supporter of integrity of individuals and integrity of institutions (as well as those within them). Our best path forward as a society is to encourage a shared sense of purpose as a people and live by the concept of justice as both individuals and as a collective. No matter what station or role one is, we should always lean toward our ideals and avoid relishing in the mud. I'm a believer of the justice/ethical world and encourage others to be believers of it as well because the more we believe in right over might the more functional, connected, and collaborative we will be as a people (That is a central way of overcoming future challenges where we need a full functioning society). That is also why I like the concept of universal democracy (more on that later) because it ties us to shared moral American ideals (race and religion has nothing to do with quality of character or one's value in a universal democracy).

These are just theoretical dribbles and mental thought splatter for discussion. Socrates was an important philosopher and much of his value are infused into the way we think today. When we read about his society we can sort of find some of the similarities. While technology has changed quickly the nature of people for both good and bad has stayed somewhat consistent I think. 

Motivational Rowing Video (Getting Down the Time)

Rowing season has started and I have spent some time conditioning at the gym to get my numbers down. Some of the Master's group members are going on teams and now that my numbers are solidly in the middle I could probably have joined them on some of the races. Not enough time but perhaps I will hit a couple this year.

My numbers started higher and slower than most within the group. Most of that was due to body mechanics versus fitness restraints. As I worked on my timing and body mechanics I probably dropped around 30 seconds  in 6 months.

Life is about doing new, fun, exciting and interesting things. Balance work, play, intellectual, fitness, spiritual and social aspects of our world. (Not this team, this is just a cool video I found).

Days River Trailhead Hike

 Days River Hiking and ATV Trail. Google Map. This is the ATV trail next to the hiking entrance.

Improving U.S. Military Capacity: Innovation, and Prototype Development

by Emanuel Leutze
Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851

The need for faster innovation and prototyping in industry and the military is becoming increasingly important. This is why we should explore innovative economic systems designed to raise the level military development as well as raise the emerging product offerings private industry stakeholders. Government is often slower at adapting then industry so its important to ensure there is a win-win incentive for both the military and industry codevelopers. 

You can read the following article to understand the "Valley of Death" problem. Keep in mind that putting stakeholders together in the right environment might shorten developmental time frames and in turn be more lucrative for participating businesses. I mean hypothetically if all of the components were put together in a way in which different economic contributors support the others within a cluster to create synergy once momentum is started. 

 'Expanding rapid prototyping is only a first step toward fixing the Defense acquisition system'

While the technology might be similar they can be developed at some point into two different lines of products. For example, a new propulsion system might move into military capacity but some aspects of it might move into industry development to ensure that the U.S. companies are staying on top  of the market (There should be some guarantee by participating industries that they don't share the tech with our rivals.)

That all starts with developing and testing the first proto-type that if successful moves to larger scale production. That is where economic innovative systems do their magic. They create an innovative environment where multiple industries can share, collaborate, and build. The Federal and private investment dollars help steer co-development of technology to the most practical ends that solve military and industry problems. 

Excellent depth and description of the process in 'The Importance of Early Prototyping in Defense Research, Engineering, Acquisition, and Sustainment'

Ford River Fire Dept. Hosts Fundraiser. Donations Welcome

Ford River Twp. Fire Department hosted their fundraiser at Highland Golf Club this AM. If you missed it you can check them out online and if you have the desire donate to FB Ford River.