the iMentor

Hints & rants

This weB-LOG is about the musing of a technical consultant. It is the iMentor's thoughts on technology and the human condition.

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Author: Rick Thues

A Book?

February 17, 2021 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #629 February 20.2021   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOuxVDgV6CY i was pleased when an old high school classmate contacted me about forming a writer’s support group. We are a diverse group of human beings. Among us is a fiction writer, philosopher, documentarian, historian, poet, playwright and technical writer. The format of the meetings is Zoom, a video conferencing platform. Since the COVID-19 pandemic Zoom has become a social meeting place pulling together people from distant locations. This pandemic's silver lining is Zoom (in the Cloud) bringing disparate people together... a cloud with a silver lining. The timing of the support group is good...
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Circular

February 9, 2021 Uncategorized 5 Comments
Episode #628 February 13, 2021 A circle is a line which begins nowhere and never ends.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxGEVIvSFeY Before quantum physics i was taught that an atom was a particle with electrons circling around it. A moons orbit around a planet. A sun has planets in its orbit. Solar systems circle black holes in the center of galaxies. Galaxies rotate around something in the center of the universe. So much of what we are is circular. Our routines are circular. They repeat in an unending loop. In a good argument we circle around to the premise with which we started. In...
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Ombudsman

February 2, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #627 February 6, 2021 Many years ago, when i had a question that needed answering, i called the Ombudsman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJcZqGpE5yc The Orange County Register newspaper made an ombudsman available to anyone who called in. The OC Register ombudsman was typically a newsroom reporter. i could ask any question that i could imagine and the ombudsman probably knew the answer. If he did not know the answer, there was someone else in the newsroom that did.  The Ombudsman was better than my Encyclopedia Brittanica because he was well informed with current events. i would have liked calling the ombudsman even...
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Routine

January 25, 2021 Uncategorized 11 Comments
Episode #626 January 30, 2021 We all have routines. Some are natural, some voluntary, some necessary and others imposed.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmdiKePVUy8 Whichever type of routine you have, it is helpful to be reminded. Natural routines, such as heart beating, breathing, hunger and sensing, are automatic. Systems in our bodies remind and compel us to stay on routine. Daily routines are easy to perform because of repetition memory. i choose to do my daily grooming in the same order so i don’t forget something. Exercise, shower, brush hair, take vitamins, floss, brush teeth, mouth wash, lotion and dress. Repeat daily. A...
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Sparrowhawk

January 17, 2021 Uncategorized 5 Comments
Episode #625 January 23, 2021 “The danger in trying to do good is that the mind comes to confuse the intent of goodness with the act of doing things well.” — Ursula Le Guin “The Finder.”     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL7XdoS5Je4 In Ursula Le Guin’s second book of the Earthsea Trilogy (“The Tombs of Atuan”) the wizard Sparrowhawk liberates the Princess from the labyrinth under the castle. Throughout the escape Sparrowhawk uses magic spells and incantations to counter the destruction being caused by evil forces. He bridged the path where earth had fallen away. He repelled falling rocks that would strike them....
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Legacy

January 13, 2021 Uncategorized 4 Comments
Episode #624 January 16, 2021 A legacy is not just a fortune left for relatives and friends to squabble over. It is a reputation and a wisdom that lives on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz1wUmmDHSc An old friend of mine, Ron Coogan, left a legacy that has taught me patience and cunning. He had a pool table in his garage where i would play with him often. Ron wasn’t the best shot, but he had a light touch. He would hit the ball in the general direction of the pocket. He did not aim to sink the ball, but to get the ball close...
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