The Road Not Taken

Rick Thues November 18, 2022 Uncategorized 3 Comments

Episode #720 November 19, 2022 In Frank Herbert’s Dune, the Guild Navigators were prescient. They could see all the possible routes through space. They guided their space ships on a route that did not end in disaster, such as crashing into a star. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D37POA11KY Choice is a skill that we all exercise every moment of our lives. Each action we take is based on a variety of choices. The course we choose is the one which most mitigates our risks while still achieving our goal. When walking on an uneven path our foot placements are those which are likely not...

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Skydivers Know Why Birds Sing

Rick Thues November 6, 2022 Uncategorized 2 Comments

Episode #719 November 12, 2022 35 years in the making and 3 years in the writing,  “Skydivers Know Why Birds Sing” is available in paperback and Kindle e-book.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJGN-T4kaM Many of you know that my wife and are lifelong skydivers. People are always asking about the why and how of jumping out of an airplane. Those stories are in this book. Rick and Paula have been on a skydiving adventure for 35 years. They each have made more than 5000 jumps.  They entered the sport during its transition from a thing done by risk taking dare devils to...

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Form Follows Function

Rick Thues November 2, 2022 Uncategorized 2 Comments

Episode #718 November 5, 2022   The American architect Louis Henry Sullivan coined the phrase “form ever follows function.”    “It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human, and all things super-human, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law. “ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrSmvjGV-ls This law has been a guiding tenet of modern architects. Yet designers are human. My observations have revealed many designs which put art,...

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Good Luck, Bad Luck & Dumb Luck

Rick Thues October 28, 2022 Uncategorized 9 Comments

Episode #717 October 29, 2022 I bumped into George at the University of Notre Dame. We were moving into Grace Hall residence dorm. George needed a hand moving his gear up to his room, which was down the hall from mine.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTmgxT1wUU “Need some help?” I asked. “Great. I’ve got some heavy duffels down in the car,” said George. Down at the car were four military duffel bags. “What are these?” “I’m ROTC Army. This is my military gear.” Back at George’s room I wondered aloud, “Have you been ROTC long?” “This is my fourth year. I came...

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A Good Story

Rick Thues October 16, 2022 Uncategorized 1 Comment

Episode #716 October 22, 2022 I have had an interesting life. It is fodder for interesting stories. In my experience, life is at once the most gripping and unbelievable thing we tell.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfCLt0kTd5E In college I was thrown together with people whom I did not know. They also did not know me. An effective tool for building friendship is to understand another’s story. I would tell my stories to my housemates. One housemate in particular, John, was skeptical of what I said. “I was driving my motorcycle in the rain,” I told. “The street was slippery. I took a...

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Max Car

Rick Thues October 10, 2022 Uncategorized 3 Comments

Episode #715 October 15, 2022 The Focus was getting older. 170,000 miles in seven years served us well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFg13rHCF44 Seven years ago we were seeing the demise of our Prius. It had exceeded 200,000 miles, burned through a battery pack and electrical problems were presenting. We looked for a new car. At the Enterprise used rental car lot we were looking for low cost, low milage sedans. I was chatting with the salesman next to a white Chevy Cruze when I realized that Paula was missing. I looked around and over there I saw her sitting in a red Ford...

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