Gen. Eric Smith Discusses Priorities Such As Talent Development

General Eric Smith discusses changes he would like to implement in the Marine Corps. Matching advanced technology to individual Marine ethos will likely develop capacity. Supply lines and the way in which we innovate industries is also likely to encourage new breakthroughs in capabilities. The nature of warfare has changed and adaptation is likely going to be highly important. Priorities the Next 4 Years

Society has a responsibility to support our military and military vets to encourage recruitment, retention and excellence.

Inflation Increases .4% in September 2023: Consumer Price Index

September's Consumer Price Index came out. You can read more in September Consumer Price Index. Yahoo finance also has a discussion in Yahoo Inflation Consumer Prices. Paying attention to see what happens to inflation and its impact on the economy. The goal right now is to bring it down and I'm still wondering if there are alternative methods to drop it. 

-The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.4 percent in September

-Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.7 percent before seasonal adjustment.

-The all items index increased 3.7 percent for the 12 months ending September.

-The all items less food and energy index rose 4.1 percent over the last 12 months.

John Rawls' A Theory of Justice: Is it Important to Encourage Justice in Society?

 Philosophy is an important part of our lives and impacts much in our world. Justice and injustice is something that we discuss regularly and has many different viewpoints in arguments. John Rawls discusses what is fairness and uses the thought experiment of veil of ignorance where one doesn't know what race, religion, wealth, or role one is in society and how they would make decisions. If one did not know how one was born they would in essence want more equality in liberty, fair opportunity, and fair treatment because they don't want to gamble with their lifetimes.

Thinking along those lines we know that society grows best when there are reasonable differences but those differences are based on individual merit and not on extraneous factors that one cannot control (the veil of ignorance). For example, one earns more because they learned new skills or invented something new would not be injustice. This is also one reason why we have Bill of Rights, Constitution and other artifacts that try and encourage a sense of justice that increases the most motivation for people to strive and gain so society can benefit from their efforts. 

Sometimes they don't work out as it should on a granular level and that is where corrections could be found so as to improve the systems society relies on to maintain a sense of justice. I believe that it is a moral responsibility of society to encourage what is good and discourage what is dishonest or destructive (i.e. rewarding poor or dishonest behaviors that becomes normalized and drags down the performance of the whole.). Supporting justice fosters greater economic engagement and outcomes that helps all of society in a way that creates widespread benefits.

Outside of Rawl's theory we have cultural symbolism that are designed to deal with intentional injustices (It has some form of it tens of thousands of years ago and carries through to today. There are deep psychological and sociological reasons why these beliefs persist.). When such injustices occur and there are no ways to correct, most societies symbolize a great judgement in the hereafter. Almost every society, religion, and philosophical system has some form of it and its part of our collective unconscious because it is embedded into our human experience.

Encouraging justice and correcting injustice should be part of every justice system and is central to its purpose in society and in alignment with our cultural assumptions. It would be neglectful of one's duty to not make improvements where deficiencies are found or injustices have occurred. Even where we may feel we are doing well, we can often find room for improvement. When we feel we don't have room for improvement, that is when the intent of injustice creeps in and begins to erode the whole. The simple act of striving is what makes society a better place from generation to generation.

Steve Scalise Nominated as Nominee for GOP

Steve Scalise is nominated for GOP candidate for the Speaker of the House. This is an interesting situation because there seems to be a movement toward more a more traditional Republican review. I'm a big believer in bi/tri partisan leadership solutions and having leaders who can do that is very important for national stability. Not only stability for the GOP but also for governance in general. We have a lot of challenges right now and having two functioning parties (as a single GOP party and a functioning Democratic party) helps to create some of that stability that when functioning well solves problems. Ethical Leadership.

The biggest thing for me is that good solutions come forward and they can draw in as many people as possible for both parties so as to encourage long-term resolution of looming challenges. The name of the game for America is solving problems. Our Biggest Threats. We will have to see how this turns out. (If your wonder what my political perspective is I'm a light R Rino-Dino who has a lot of respect for leadership based on the ability to create solutions. Any party, any person.) You can learn more about Steve Scalise HERE. Let us wait to see what happens.  Have we entered a new collective mindset? America is watching...we got this! The New Conservative

2000 Year Old Tomb of Cerberus Was Discovered (Mythology and the Collective Unconscious)

An ancient 'Tomb of Cerberus' was discovered in Italy. Its an interesting find because it is well preserved and the art is for the most part insightful into beliefs. What we learn about these things is that people back then, and today, created a conception of life and death based on mythology. One might make the argument that all mythology is unconscious collective projections. Jung and Mythology.

Archeology teaches us that myths have a purpose in helping us understand the world around us. Cultures are based in deep myths and those myths come not only from our understanding of the world but also from the world in which they experienced it. It is one of those things that we rarely think about on a conscious level but is deeply embedded into our symbolism.

For example, the same phenomenon might be seen or understood differently depending on one's culture and the underlining mythologies that help create that culture. Culture as seen as a programing of the brain and impacts how we understand events. Most of us are fish in a fishbowl who often fail to recognize the perspective of others but also how other cultures might have a different but valid perception. It is difficult to step outside of one's fishbowl of cultural/symbolic anchorage.

As with most things in the world, understanding different cultures and where they are similar often helps us to further understand the central shared universal beliefs of people that are cross-cultural in every society. At our root we are the very same and want very similar things out of life. We have not found in the Cerberus tomb an artifact of the way in which they constructed their world and in turn its influence culturally on the way in which we understand the world. 

You can read an article about the discovery in Sealed 'Tomb of Cerberus' Discovered in Giugliano Italy as well as the history of mythology in Cerberus (I have a one headed Shitsu that guards his spot on the couch probably as much as the Hell Hounds of yesteryear protected the gates of Hades! Most people can sneak past with a treat. He is not an attacker but a muller of slobber.)

Personality Tests and What they Tell You: Can They Help You in Goals?

For young people starting out having goals is very important to keep one moving in the right direction. Goals are easiest to achieve when you understand your strengths and weaknesses. Personality impacts everything in our lives from the way we understand information to how we set upon achieving those goals. Gaining a sense of self understanding also helps you to work using your strengths and using others to hedge your weaknesses.

For example, I have had many goals and for the most part I accomplished most of them. Now I have bigger goals about giving back and doing some good things. Often when we start out we have very little insight into ourselves but as we age we gain more insight through necessity, feedback and reflection (Or at least we should). Sometimes the environment reflects accurately and many times it doesn't.

A few words of caution. Never assume that all personality and psychological tests are 100% accurate and are the definitive assessment of you. They are based on constructs and in turn reliability happens over time. Any test you find anywhere could be a good one or a bad one and that is based in validity and repeatability. Few tests can sum up a person from a few questions. Multiple tests from different vantage points might be more useful. (Keep that in mind while hiring employees that personality-psychological tests should be seen as secondary and supportive.)

Almost all tests have some errors. More unique people may register differently simply by being out of the bell curve and not having the same underlining thought processes that went into the test validation process. In today's world, creative unique people have benefits for innovation and alternative solutions. i.e. cognitive diversity. There is no such thing as good or bad in one's personality, only variance of life.  Popular Personality Tests — How to Gain Self-Understanding and Set Your Goals

I took this test and got the answer below. You can try it yourself, and take it as one single perspective of reflection. It is not the whole story as even something like mood might influence the outcomes but you can get a quick snap shot. Personality Test-How do Others See You? (I make no claim to its accuracy or non accuracy.)

I'm a Loyal Friend..... 

"Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful & practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expects the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over if that trust is ever broken."

Janet Yellen Discussions on Multilateral Development Bank Evolution

Dr. Janet Yellen discussed some reforms in international monetary policy and operational changes to help raise nations that suffer from poverty and sustainable development goals. Janet Yellen Comments World Bank. There is also a good discussion on the global financial architecture.