Upper Hand Brewery and Art Show

 A little bit of art in the U.P. at the Upper Hand Brewery.  Art apparently it contributes about a trillion dollar to GDP in 2019. See 'New Report Released on the Economic Impact of the Arts and Cultural Sector'

Black Iris Studios was one of the main contributors. Good stuff. 

 

What is the Shadow System and How that Can be a Detriment to National Development

The "shadow" system exists as secondary but slightly weaker system within our official justice system. Where one is in the light the other works in the dark. They compete in many ways for influence and depending on who you talk to you will get different answers and support for each. The official laws are still more supported than the shadow laws and that is a good thing. However, the other system base in poorer assumptions still rears its head at various times and places. Having a better understanding of how the shadow application functions is important (Remember that all systems have a shadow but the strength of a nation is dependent on reducing these shadow systems to maintain effective management around core American values and goals. Also why I don't support corruption because of its short sighted focus but long term consequences. . i.e. shadow/black market for the economy.)

They are inherently two different systems. One is more universal with laws agreed upon by lawmakers to apply fairly to everyone (This is why we debate them and why over politicization of our justice system is dangerous as it can empower the shadow.). The shadow system is designed to circumvent and adjust those laws to either benefit self or to benefit those within a perceived group or clan. Clan as often defined in third world perceptions of race, religious, political, social affiliations or other issues that seeks to truth with some type of falsehood.

In today's world most people do believe that mistakes are sometimes made but an inability to correct mistakes and/or encourage intentional misapplication could create a coordinated shadow (One may say rarely happens and the other say often happens but that is a matter of frequency and not of existence). We have the written laws and we have the applied laws. The applied laws require a decision and those decision makers make choices. If they struggle with perceptual issues they will make choices that are inappropriate or destructive as they sometimes dip into the power of the shadow system (Its like a black market for the official system that seeks to misapply the laws for gain. Someone would have to study it to create greater clarity but I believe big data will show macro outcomes and some of the causes of this misapplication).

I'm a believer that the best way to develop our nation is with integrity and ensuring that what we set out as a collective people to create in our law passing and in our courts positive pro social and most rational values to be displayed and enacted (Its a general concept that applies across the board. I'm 100% for police and 110% for civil rights because one must work for the other or otherwise we have other issues that pop up from time to time.). There is no political agenda with this, it is only the awareness that when we are negligent in one area it continues to grow and morph like a parasite on our values and our shared sense of community. Every nation goes through transitions and this is a positive change that will lead to higher long term national performance (We are going to make an assumption that recent awareness of room for improvement will win out intellectually over other arguments. Generally, as a society truth wins out over falsehood but sometimes that is a fallacy of the just world view which seeks to find order in those things that appear initially to have no order.).

Without change, the targets will continue to be the targets, the law violators will continue to violate, society will lag, human capital will suffer and the nation will feel the sluggishness and it will continue until we make a commitment to that which draws us together and lets us be the best we can be. To me, when we are aware that such things are occurring the best way to maintain integrity is to stop it quickly and if necessary to hold to account (Often or rarely is a matter of debate and data availability.). Account should also be done with a level of wisdom but not be a further excuse to allow for further misapplication.

There is growing awareness that some of our justice systems are struggling and need support to become more effective in catching bad guys, doing so in alignment with our national values, and actualized justice. Our society either steps forward into the light or steps back into the shadows. It looks like we are coming to agreement that trust in our institutions is dependent on us doing the right thing regardless of race, religion, politics, or position. We are rebuilding integrity each time law makers, law enforces and the general will of the people are in alignment (That is any nation or people.)

Raising awareness of needed improvements is a form of patriotism as long as it has a beneficial goal ( As well as not just for one group, party, or other entity. This is why I believe in universalism of American values). Silence, indifference and or participation in the shadow system is the opposite. This article is really more about discussion that helps us think about and reflect on the need to ensure that our laws seek to fulfill our social contracts through concepts of truth and moral conscious (What is true and what is most just. As they say The whole truth and nothing but the truth. What is true to one may not be true to another. However, they all must share essential good will to society and themselves. The shadow system creates divisiveness in society. It is up to the wiser, more experienced, more just, and thoughtful people to correct lower order values and decisions.).

The National Institute of Justice is the research arm of the Department of Justice. They use science such as listen, learn and reform model to understand the greater functioning of justice in society. You may read  'Race, Trust and Police Legitimacy'

Can Dance Improve Your Physical and Brain Function Health (A Scientific Perspective)

To me, its important to live a varied and interesting life. Some might see it differently but I think in hindsight I may have been right about a few things. First, I have a fitness and yoga trainer license, which I would like to consider using for hobby more, and engage in lots of different sports and activities. That includes things like surfing, kick boxing, rowing, bicycling, hiking, climbing and much more.

(I think I might consider fitness training others for fun. It helps me and helps them. Not sure of the venue.)  

One of my most favorite activities is dance. A varied dance routine can improve coordination, cardiovascular health, reach, motion, endurance and much more. Matching that with kickboxing and yoga you find you have greater range and accuracy than most others. Different types of dancing have unique attributes but they all contribute in some way to overall health.

For example, I dance well enough to be on a stage sometimes but not so great to be professional (Depending on how you use the term. I'm part of a dance company so I guess that is lower level professional/upper amateur. I think a little lower and in need of work. Consider I had a crooked leg at birth and it was fixed that isn't bad. I have had few to no issues with it throughout my life.). I guess if I would have started young enough and was in the right environment there would have been multiple opportunities. Yet, I also get bored easily so I go to the point of lower level mastery of mechanics and I either keep with it or find something else more interesting.

When time permits I keep up with it. Believe it or not dance is a good thing. Consider some of the benefits. 

GDP Q1 2023: Increases in Exports, Consumer Spending but Degrease in Inventories and Lower GDP 1.1% (A Little Spice on Plain Mashed Spuds)

Source: BEA
Notice 2023 looks like 2019 
Its sort of a benchmark with a Covid market interruption
The question is, "Can a platform shift into a digital era
improve the benchmark"?

The advanced numbers came out and its a mixed bag. It indicates some economic slowing but that should be expected I guess. The question remains how much and how long?  Its a jumble because inventories have declined but spending increased so they will influence each other. Improvements in exports, structures and intellectual property are good signs. 

It should be kept in mind that the goal is to increase investments and build a better system so that less government spending is needed (Its the info and policy guidance approach to govt.).  Its a concept of hedging government spending with private industry to reduce costs as well as find ways to increase government revenue (Broadly as a system and not specific to any one company's abilities.). 

Vincent van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters 

(April-May 1885)

The Art Newspaper provides a description in

'Van Gogh's Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece?

Never Forget the Value of the Common Spud.

There have also been some increase in income, savings rates, disposable income and other things. One must wonder what happens to money when its in the bank? Likely it gets reinvested somewhere as banks only need so much money in actual holdings. Do we have ways of encouraging investing in our country so that money isn't just sent somewhere else?

Kind of interesting questions to ponder. You can read 'Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2023 (Advance Estimate)' to gain important insight. I just posted a few of the key concepts. 

-Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023 and fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent.

-increase state and local spending.

-non defense government spending increased.

-increases in structures and intellectual property products

-decrease in private inventory investment wholesale trade and manufacturing

-Increase in consumer spending and exports.

The video of Sonia Meskin, head of U.S. macro at BNY Mellon Investment Management, provides some key insights.

 

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.