From The Noise

There is an awful lot of junk, stuff or noise out there. When watching TV, we are bombarded by ads; when driving we get the signs and billboards; when dealing with people, we deal with fakes and lies; and when reading an article or book, we read biases and opinion... when all we want to do is find content.

In dieting, we have junk food where we really should be taking in protein and high-grade carbs. In exercise, we have throw-away miles where we should be getting effective use of our time. Where's the beef?



In engineering, we call this finding the signal amidst the noise, and it's a rather difficult task. Noise makes up most of our world, by far. So much, that sometimes we can't find the signal... we have too many choices.

The real solution is an iterative one. You have to know what the signal looks like before you can recognize it, and thus many "looks" are postulated, and extraction attempted, before success can happen. We need to know what the signal looks like. We need to know the form of the answer before we can get the answer. We need to know what we need before we need it. Yes, it seems like double-talk, but it's true.

Not only that, but it is human to see something false out of the noise if we lack control. People want to react to the situation we're out of control in. This explains why TV is so effective. People feel out of control and TV talking heads helps them make sense of it, even if it's a false understanding and thus... brainwashing.

In the health and fitness area, it's about what motivation works for diet and exercise. I have found that silly goals are much better than logical goals... because silly goals are emotional and logical goals are not. We respond to emotional goals much better than common-sense goals. My current goal to trim down fat is to enter a bodybuilding contest (for which I have to show my abs). Amidst numerous logical reasons (noise) like heart attacks, blood pressure and diabetes, the possibility of embarrassment in a bodybuilding contest (signal) is working well for me.

Change your thoughts and you change your world.

- © 2013 by Willy

Correlations

A good engineer analyzes and correlates... that's what we do. And when we do, funny things come up.

When engineers discuss correlation, we ask how alike are two things or variables. In a plot of two variables like age and wisdom, we expect positive correlation. For other variables, like beauty and niceness, we expect no or negative correlation (as example, look at movie actors and actresses and their behavior).

Somewhat unfortunately (1) every thing or variable is related to every other thing or variable... not just one or two, and (2) emotions and biases mess up our analysis.

It is truly wonderful to find kind and nice people. I know a few of them... just ran into one of them. They are exceptional. They make the world right for me. What is even better is that they are also athletes... for whatever reason, athletes seem to be correlated to beauty and niceness. Or maybe it's me... I do not tolerate fools, I do not really like fat people, and I think sweat is the best makeup.

- text © 2013 by Willy

Why I Hike In The Rain

My daughter and I have a yearly ritual. We get together every summer for a backpacking trip. It's a week or two, sometimes the A.T., sometimes others, but usually remote and usually by ourselves. I enjoy these bonding times. A few years ago, we hiked the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We bought plane tickets and secured reservations ahead of time... we paid for it. When the time came, it was rain, rain and more rain... but we executed the plan. In other occasions, we've hiked in extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme fatigue.

What this pointed out to me is that I must train accordingly, in all conditions. Especially if I'm to be a tough old man... one of my goals in life.

So, when bad storms come locally, and it's either on my after-work hike day or on the weekend... I hike. I hike by myself (I do not want to risk others). I hike in parka... wet, cold and all. I just do it. No excuses. The storms add excitement to my little adventure. My kind of excitement.

And at the end, I have a terrific feeling of accomplishment and increased self-esteem... I feel smug all over.


- text © 2013 by Willy

What's Missing?

Cardio afternoons at the gym begin on the elliptic, with load and ramp at medium. The mp3 plays on and breathing and pace match the audio, which increases in tempo. I warm up, struggling and fighting the machine until something magic happens... it all comes together... I relax, my shoulders drop, everything synchronizes and the struggle is no more. I then increase the load and ramp to up the heartbeat and maintain the effort. I smile. As long as I relax and maintain that magic meditative state, the effort is easy. I keep this up for a couple of hours.

The same is true in life. After the preparation but in the various struggles, there comes a time to meditate and expect that magic moment... the inspiration. I understand what the other wants and I accept it. Everything synchronizes and I smile. Life is good.

Try it... find that magic moment for yourself... find what's missing.



- text © 2013 by Willy