life – Page 2

“9 out of 10 cops are good”

“9 out of 10 cops are good”

Oh yeah, well if that is the case, why don’t the 9 good cops turn in the 1 bad cop, on day one, before he violates again?

On the contrary, they protect the “1” bully, by corroborating his testimony on the police report and by swearing on a bible, in a court of law.

Check your math.

Normally by the time the people find out about “the one bad cop”, the rights of multiple individuals have been violated or their lives taken.

And the “9 good cops”, let it happen.

It’s the same thing as in the church, with the pedophiles and their enablers. Instead of calling him out and throwing him out, they simply, transfer him to another congregation. Think about it. They are more concerned about their reputation than about the welfare of the children.

It’s the mentality of a gang.

Protect and Serve, each other.

I found my hands in my dream.

If someone told me, what I am about to tell, I am not sure if I would believe it.

So check this.

I read a book on how to control your dreams. I don’t remember the name of the book, or anything else in it. It was a long time a ago. The one thing that I do remember is an exercise in the book suggesting that if you could find your hands in your dreams, that you would have the ability to control the dream.

The exercise was to find your hands in your dream and raise them up in front of your face so you could look at your palms. The book claimed that if you looked at your palms, you would be unable to bring the image of your hands into focus. This fact would be your clue that you were dreaming and it is at this point that you relax and take over the dream.

I don’t know who came up with this exercise, but it is an extraordinary experience, a weird, living-virtual-reality.

So I decided ( told myself silently ) that I would try to find my hands. It was a time when dreams came a lot easier. Some nights I would have two or 3 separate dreams. On the first night nothing happened, my dreams were normal.

On the second night. I awoke in the middle of the night in realization that I had just raised my hands in front of my face. I could not contain the excitement and woke up in disbelief. My eyes and my mouth were wide open.

And then, I finally did it. I was in a small town, on an unpainted, wooden porch, in front of a small house, on the main street. It was gloomy. Shady looking characters were passing by and going about their way. A dark, tall figure was coming down the street on my left, and I was worried.

While sitting on the floor of the porch, I remembered to raise my hand, and looked into my palms. There were no lines, it was blurry, and I knew I was dreaming. At that moment I could have opened my eyes. I was semi-conscious of what was going on. I kept my eyes closed and held on to my dream. In my dream, I sat up and looked at the stranger as he approached me, letting him know that I was not afraid. He walked right pass me as if I was not there. I then got up and walked down the street behind him well aware that I was dreaming. I did not get very far and was awakened by my excitement.

I managed to find my hand a few times in my dreams. It was surreal. It was like I got to go backstage in my mind.

My favorite puzzles.

Of all the puzzles I have come across, two stand out. These puzzles stand out in my mind, because of their complexity and the mental gymnastics demanded to solve them. First, the one about the fox, the chicken and the corn.

The other, is about an island with two tribes, one tribe always lies, the other always tells the truth.

You are on an island. On this island there are two tribes. One tribe always tells the truth. The other tribe, always lies. You come to a fork in the road and meet a native. You don’t know if he is from the tribe that always tells the truth or if he is from the tribe that always lies. One of the roads leads to a safe destination, the other leads to your death.

Clue: You can ask only one question of this native, and the answer will take you to the safe place no matter what tribe the native is from.

If you want to attempt to figure out this puzzle don’t read below the diagram. To see how I used numbers to figured it out – keep going.

How can this puzzle relate to numbers? After some thinking, I found it. This puzzle was about truth and lies. Truth is positive and Lies are negative. Thats it!

The truth will be represented by positive numbers, for example, 1 or (+1). The lies will be represented by negative numbers, for example -1. In order to get to the safe spot I will need get an answer that is “positive”. A “negative” answer will take me to the wrong place.

The truth teller will point to the right direction. His answer will be always be positive. The person we need to be concerned about is the one that tells lies. That is where the answer will be.

So how do you change a negative into a positive? The only way a negative number can become a positive number is by multiplying it by another negative number.

At this point, I knew I was on the right path and I abandoned the puzzle. I let it sit for a couple days and on the 3rd day, it came to me. It’s a technique for solving puzzles. I analyze the info, come to a temporary conclusion and then I put it away. By filing it into the “temp” folder, it activates a behind the scenes, subconscious exploration.

I had to figure out a way to turn a “positive” question into a “negative” question. After a lot of pondering, I found that by adding the word “if” in front of a question, I could remove the value of the question and make it act, as if it was a “non-question” or a “negative” question.

Here is the question.

“If I was to ask you, what was the way to the safe spot, what would you have told me?

By making the question a hypothetical and by placing it in the past we are able to make the pathological liar, lie about what he would have said, and in effect tell us the truth. It’s like a negative multiplied by a negative.

This question will make either tribe point to the safe place.

Everything is a puzzle.

Everything is a puzzle and every puzzle can be solved. The first thing to do is to figure out what type of a puzzle it is. Until you figure out the type of the puzzle, chances are you will be going in circles.

Just like there are only a few types of jokes, there are only a few types of puzzles. Learning different puzzle types and structures, is like getting an upgrade for your brain. It makes you quicker.

A joke for instance, is a story or event that leads you and ends in surprise. This surprise causes laughter and may affect you biologically. The most common types of jokes are, exaggeration, sarcasm, irony, putdowns, non-sequiturs and visual or physical humor. Most jokes will fall into one of these categories.

In a way, puzzles are like jokes, in that you don’t know where it will end.

I have found that a lot of puzzles, can be solved by using simple numbers. When I approach a puzzle I convert it to numbers and it helps me to find the answer. It’s weird.

As an example, I will use one of my favorite puzzles. The one with the fox, the chicken and the corn. Once you work out this puzzle in your mind, your mind will record the format of this construct and usage of this format should manifest itself in your life. This puzzle can open your mind to hidden possibilities. Most puzzles are solved by addition. Most puzzles are linear and are like adding one plus one. This puzzle uses addition and subtraction.

The Problem

A man needs to take a fox, a chicken and a sack of corn across a river. He has a canoe, and can only take over, one at a time. The most common way of attempting to solve this problem, would be taking one at a time until you get them all over.

However, in this case, if you leave the chicken with the corn, the chicken will eat the corn. If you leave the fox with the chicken, the fox will eat the chicken. What do you do?.

The Solution

The man first takes the chicken across the river and leaves the fox with the corn. Goes back and takes the fox across the river. He leaves the fox and brings back the chicken. He then leaves the chicken and takes the corn. Now the corn is with the fox on the other side. He comes back and takes the chicken across the river.

In this case, unlike most puzzles that are simple addition, this puzzle is about adding and subtracting. Solving this problem will flex any brain.

If you have a child get him or her a book of variety puzzles, they are inexpensive. These books with math puzzles, word puzzles, word searches, crosswords, matching games and others, are the best books you can give a child. By learning to solve different types of puzzles and learning how to to find answers, a child can be prepared for life.

I thank my Dad for introducing me to books. He had a set of Encyclopedia Britannica and on our spare time he would pull out one of the books, and we would scan the volumes for knowledge. It was our past time. We would play a favorite game, guessing the Capital cities of countries all over the world. It thought me about the planet and of people living in places far away. People just like us.

Thanks.

Looking For Treasure

When I was young I was a treasure hunter. I would look for treasure, inside the pages of books. I would scan the pages for nuggets, jewels and pearls. Weightless treasure, treasure no one could take away. If I found a nugget, that made my day. On those days, I knew I was growing.

Some books were like treasure chests, there was gold on every page. Those were the best books in the world. Other times I would need to turn many pages and scan many chapters, to find something that was lasting.

Ideas that can withstand the test of time, ideas that are sustainable. Those are the nuggets. Ideas that would apply to any people at any time. When I found an idea that was lasting, I was in heaven. An lasting idea is like a torch of light that will burn forever and illuminate generations.

I grew up absorbing knowledge from my extended family, grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, friends. So I knew that every person has something of value to offer, every last one.

I realized that if I can read books written by my elders I could learn from their life experience, and prepare myself. I could gain a life’s experience without having to endure it or use up any of my time. It was crazy, I could learn from someone that’s long passed. It was an awesome discovery.

Every person has flaws. When you read a book, take the good and throw away the bad. Its just like eating a juicy apple that has a bad spot, you eat around it and throw away the rest.

In my teens, I discovered Khalil Gibran, a fountain of wealth. I read many books by different people and each one brought more light to my world. I knew then, that I owed it to myself to search more, everywhere. And I keep looking for treasure.