Not throwing away my shot

Playoff time for Little League summer ball. During the regular season, the emphasis is on allowing everyone to play. There are 12 players on OB's team and everyone gets to bat even though only nine can play in the field at any one time. Free substitutions are allowed. Once the playoffs begin, that changes. At that point, only the nine players playing are allowed to bat with a tenth "extra" batter. Three kids are usually switched out in the fourth inning to allow them to play the last three innings.

Given OB's performance, I naturally expected that he would be one of the six kids who got to play the whole game. He is certainly one of the best fielders on the team and his bat has been one of the most consistent on the team. The team ended up 9-1 in the regular season, so the first game would be against one of the worst qualifying playoff teams (only 16 made it out of about 40). 

Just before the game, OB walked up to me as I was sitting in the stands next to the dugout. He was obviously upset. He said he felt like he shouldn't even have come. Not only was he one of the three kids sitting in the dugout to start the game (shades of spring ball), but he also was not the tenth batter. I was puzzled by the decision, but what could I say? Coach had been fair all season long. It seemed odd that he would have suddenly benched OB. In my mind, I felt like this was a replay of the time in the Sandwich tournament when he flipped the order to allow the lesser kids a chance to play.

The game turned into a runaway. By the time OB got into the game, it was already 6-0. He only got one chance to bat. He was mad and he ripped a double to left down the left field line and ended up scoring. The game ended by mercy rule in the fifth inning 10-0.

After the game, I congratulated OB for keeping his head in the game and not sulking despite spending most of the game on the bench. I reasoned that things would change as soon as the next game.

Just prior to the game, we had an agonizing decision to make. Last year, OB had gone to Camp Yawgoog. This Boy Scout camp was a lot of fun for him, but he ended up missing the semi-final game. Sadly, the team lost there so there was nothing to come back to. This year, he would have to miss the last three playoff games (assuming they won) if he left on time like he was supposed to. The key sticking point is that OB only enjoyed the camp so much because he went with his friends. Assuming it would be possible to switch weeks, he would be going in as a complete stranger. He was not liking that strategy. It took him a few hours to process before he finally decided that he would do it. We switched his camp to the following week without an issue, but further games would require wins.

Today, that game came. To my surprise, he was again sitting. Again, he was not in the order. This time, I could barely contain my disappointment. One time could be explained. Two in a row? What had he done? After all of our maneuvering, how crushing would it be to lose here in the quarterfinals and sit home (instead of at camp with his friends).

I know that his bat had slumped towards the end of the year. He spent the last week of the season at day camp. Spending all day in the sun probably sapped his energy and he seemed a bit lethargic. Still, one would think that you shouldn't move from second or third in the order to the bench overnight!

Again, OB took it well. While he was upset, he's been doing a much better job of containing his emotions.

The game was a tense affair. As the higher seed, we got to bat last as the home team. In the bottom of the first, one of our kids hit a home run over the centerfield fence to give us a 2-0 lead. We gave back one in the second as the Nationals countered with their own home run to left. In the third, we had runners on first and second when the batter laced a hit to right field. While a run would score, an excellent throw cut down a runner at third and helped staunch the rally. We would end after four innings up 3-1.

OB got to bat in the bottom of the fourth. While he was anxious to do something, he ended up hitting a shot off the end of the bat which was easily caught by the third baseman. 

In the top of the fifth, we ran into a bit of trouble. A walk and a double scored a run for the Nationals. With two out, coach popped out of the dugout and replaced the pitcher with our ace. He proceeded to allow a flare to right that fell just over the top of two boys and scored the tying run. He got out of the inning and now the score was tied at 3.

The Americans would go down in order in the bottom of the fifth. Our ace had pitched the first three innings on Saturday and he was noticeably tired. Normally, he has impeccable control. Today, he labored to find the strike zone. The first batter dumped a single into right. In the next at bat, he had two passed balls which moved the runner to second and third. He threw another changeup in the dirt which skipped past the catcher. The runner dashed home to try to score the go-ahead run but was cut down at the plate. Our ace then walked the boy at the plate. The next batter hit a shot to left center that fell for a double. The Nationals played aggressively and sent the runner from first home in an attempt to score that elusive go-ahead run. OB was playing center and rushed over to the ball. He threw a strike to the shortstop who relayed home in time to get the runner at the plate. Our ace then struck out the batter at the plate to end the top of the sixth.

I caught OB in the dugout area and congratulated him on his fine play. I reminded him that he was a good hitter and that he would do his best. I gave him a fist bump through the chain link fence and then walked out to right field to watch everything unfold.

The Americans had a crafty leadoff batter. He worked a walk. The next batter sacrificed him to second. After that, a groundout to short allowed the runner to get to third. OB was next in the order. 

Here is my view from right field.

I meant to try to get video and I hit the wrong button. Before I could switch, the first pitch was thrown and OB launched it out to deep left center. Just about the time he reached the first base bag, it hit the ground and he watched as the winning run crossed the plate!

Maybe it's for the best. OB told me later that he will play this moment on repeat for a long time. I am so, so proud of him. He kept his head in the game and allowed himself to let his natural ability shine through in a critical moment for his team. There is a much larger lesson in this. So much of our life relies on our memories. I'm really glad this one went his way.

After the game, we stuck around to watch some of the older kids play. OB said that he had one regret. He got the winning hit off one of his good friends who was the pitcher on the mound at the time. I told him that baseball was like that. Some days, you can do your best and end up on the losing side. He said he still felt a little bad.

I am glad that OB has that kind of empathy. I'm also glad that he didn't throw away his shot!

Echoes of the past

One of the more frustrating things about being a parent is learning just how little control you really have. Despite your best laid plans, there are just going to be things you can't change. This is especially true when it involves your children.

We do our best to mold our kids. We'd like for them to learn from our mistakes and live their lives without the hard lessons we might have picked up along the way. Despite our best efforts, our children are actually unique human beings on their own. While they may have at least 50% of our genes, there are no guarantees that they will approach issues in the same way that we would. Or, for that matter, the way that our spouses would!

It's a minor frustration, but it's there all the same. In private, our boys are lively and imaginative. They are playful and rather creative in their conversations. All of that flair seems to disappear the moment we introduce others into the equation. They are generally polite (although your interpretation may vary depending on when you catch them), but they are a shell of their normal selves. It's rare to get more than a handful of words out of them--and each of them are given grudgingly along the way. This obstinate performance is especially infuriating when you are with your friends or family. You want to impress them with the bright, charming young men that you have dutifully raised. Instead, you get the sullen or withdrawn lumps that could be anyone's progeny.

And then the memory struck. Out of nowhere, I suddenly flashed back to a scene from my own childhood. It was my exasperated mother looking at me with sadness in her eyes. "Why don't you ever talk to your Aunt Phyllis?" She had expected me to be my bright, charming self with her sister and I had withdrawn into that pre-teen shell just like my boys are now doing.

Maybe they are learning from me after all. I guess the only saving grace is that they may yet evolve into more enlightened forms--later.

AP or not AP may not be the question

The Brookings Institute published a paper that questions the traditional wisdom that AP courses help prepare students for college.

It cites an overemphasis on measurable statistics that are attempting to quantify the elusive nature of improved educational outcomes. The data are not encouraging:

For instance, in 2009, the U.S. Department of Education's research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences, conducted an exhaustive review of research on college preparation and found "low evidence"--the weakest category--that academic preparation for college was effective at improving classroom outcomes. The reviewed studies included a wide variety of methods of college preparation, from increasing the difficulty of academic standards to matching curricular topics to known college courses. 

These methods also notably included increasing the quantity of advanced coursework taken in high school, such as Advanced Placement classes. None of the methods was found to have a strongly predictive positive impact on college readiness.

Indeed, in 2013, Dartmouth stopped accepting Advanced Placement credits after 90 percent of students who scored a perfect "5" on the AP Psychology exam reportedly failed the university's own test.

More evidence from later in the article:

We thus examined whether these patterns held up in a nationally representative database of U.S. students progressing from high school to college in the 1990s. Analyzing thousands of transcripts from the Department of Education's National Educational Longitudinal Study, we found confirmatory evidence that advanced high school courses apparently do little to prepare students for success in college coursework.

Specifically, we showed that students with one more year of high school instruction in physics, psychology, economics, or sociology on average have grades in their first college course in the same subject just 0.003 to 0.2 points higher on a four-point scale. For example, for students of similar race, socioeconomic status, and high school standardized test scores, those who took a year of high school economics earn a final grade in their college economics class 0.03 points higher than students who have never encountered that subject before. What’s more, these trivially small differences hold even for students who took exactly the same college course.

Here is some analysis of the reasons why the authors believe this gap exists:

What can explain why high school course-taking is so weakly related to college grades, both in our study and in previous ones? It is not that high school students are not learning. Rather, it is more likely they often learn the wrong things, do not sufficiently focus on the critical thinking commonly needed in college, or simply forget much of what they learned.

For instance, the ability to analyze evidence and pen a persuasive essay is central to much of college. Most colleges mandate at least a semester course of intensive writing and argument, as it is presumed that even students from top high schools are insufficiently prepared with this essential skill.

Additionally, studies on long-term retention of high school coursework suggest that students forget much or most of what they learn. Students who remember a few basic concepts may hold a head start that quickly diminishes as college classes rush toward advanced material. The little information that is retained from high school may explain the very slight advantage from prior coursework that we observed in our study.

The authors argue for a stronger emphasis on the need for more innovation and experimentation. In other words, the jury is still out.

Here is the link to the full article:  How important are high school courses to college performance?

Sandwich Blast 2016

Over the past weekend, I got to spend a lot of quality time with Older Brother (OB). He participated in a baseball tournament held in Sandwich. We stayed at a nearby Cape Cod town of Hyannis (ancient home of the Kennedy clan). I learned a lot about my son over the course of these few days.

OB continues to mature as an athlete. Summer ball has been a bit of a transition for him. He started out as just one of the boys (instead of as an alpha dog). On the ride down to the Cape, I remarked that his team had inherited three of the better players who had been on the opposing town team the previous summer. He agreed, but grumbled that it was forcing him to the bench more often. (There are 12 kids on the team and only nine can start so the boys compete for playing time). We laughed and I told him that he simply had to raise his game! Of course, this is easier said than done.

In anticipation of this higher level of competition, we had taken some steps to prepare. Over the winter, I signed him up with one of the high school coaches for some extra batting instruction. OB has always felt that his hitting is the weakest part of his game. I watch his sweet swing and disagree, but given his early struggles in spring ball it would be hard to dispute the evidence.

At the start of summer ball, OB was generally batting somewhere between seventh and ninth. In the past few weeks, he has grown increasingly comfortable with facing the more talented pitchers. He was starting to make pitchers work really hard and was putting the ball in play with solid contact. While he was the victim of some bad breaks (some of the hardest balls he hit were right to outfielders who made the catches for outs), I reminded him that baseball rewards consistency and over time his luck would change.

I was as surprised as anyone when we got to the first game on Friday night and OB was batting third! He would later tell me that he was nervous and preferred to bat lower in the order. I let him know that he should welcome the pressure. He was given the opportunity because he is talented. If he can trust in his ability and allow himself to perform as he knows he can, he will be able to succeed.

Well, he struck out in his first at bat. He would soon learn that he had to get more aggressive. He did better in his second at bat. He hit it to third and beat the throw for an infield single. He would go on to draw a crucial walk in his third at bat that helped trigger the winning rally. He would end up scoring as the team would go on to a taut 2-0 win.

It was late by the time we got back to the hotel. Flush with smiles from the thrilling victory, we celebrated with some homemade ice cream. Looking over the many flavors, he looked past the standard vanilla and chocolate (“you can get that anywhere”) and opted for the “secret recipe” of Cape Cod Sand. If I had to guess, it was some combination of vanilla, caramel, butterscotch and something else to give it the sandy texture. It was also delicious! It was a decision his mother would have made and it gave me another reason to smile as we walked home and fell into bed.

One of my last memories of the day was looking over as OB crawled under the sheets. He was clutching his old friend, Wally the Walrus. It was a touching moment. It was also a sad reminder that these days are passing way too quickly.

Saturday morning brought a new opponent. OB again struck out in his first at-bat. He was nearly in tears. Since the field had no defined dugout or real separation from the kids, he walked over shortly after that and sat next to me with his puffy eyes to get a cold Gatorade. I asked him why he was so upset and he complained that the first two strikes were at his shoulders and the last one was about a foot outside of the plate. I told him I agreed, but that he had to adjust to the way the ump was calling the game. He again improved and got another walk and flicked a nice single out to left field. The team ended up winning by more than ten runs and invoking the mercy rule.

We had a six hour break before our next game. We went back to the hotel and changed. OB decided he didn’t want to swim so we walked to the arcade on Main Street. After some light fun, we decided to grab lunch near the ice cream shop we had been to last night. It was a fairly fancy Italian restaurant. Since OB can eat a fair amount of food, we both ordered off the regular menu. He originally thought about a Caesar salad, but I convinced him to try something else. I talked him into his mom’s favorite—pappardelle. This version had short rib in it. I had gnocchi. They were both quite good! Later, we split the Cape Cod Mud and Lavender Honeycomb. OB was impressed because the latter choice tasted exactly like it smelled!

The late game was another tense affair. We started off well and then fell behind. OB got a nice double and a single and played well in the field. We ended up with a tight win.

That evening, we decided to join the team for pizza at the hotel pool. It was a chaotic scene. OB had some fun, but as time wore on I saw him shying away from the centralized scrum of boys fighting over the football in the middle of the pool. I walked up to him and he shared that he didn’t feel comfortable roughhousing with the rest of the boys. I told him I understood. After about an hour or so, he climbed out of the pool and asked to go back to the room to get some rest.

Sunday morning brought the first round of the elimination portion of the tournament. The first three games were only for seeding purposes. At this point, any loss would end our run. To my pleasant surprise, OB was scheduled to lead off the first game. His first inning went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts. His first at-bat also was a solid single to left. By the end of the first inning, we were up 6-0. In the second inning, the first batter grounded to third and the throw to first went over the fielder’s head for an error. After two passed balls, the runner was now on 3^rd. The next batter hit a pop fly to the outfield. The center fielder wandered over to where it would land and stuck out his glove. Unfortunately, it popped out and a run scored. Through it all, OB maintained his composure and never lost his cool (even though he was seething inside). I have to say that he’s really improved in his ability to manage his emotions.

OB settled down and was able to get out of the inning with no further damage. Because it was a hot day, coach went with another pitcher. We would go on to win 13-3 after four innings (mercy). With two hits and a walk as well as two solid innings, OB won the “star of the game” award. This had been one of his goals for the weekend, so he was quite pleased and proud.

The next game was against Canton. We had just played them in the late game on Saturday. We had also played them twice in a tournament about three weeks prior. That familiarity would add to the overall difficulty.

One of our aces started the game. He had pitched brilliantly on Friday night. Against Canton, he would not do quite as well. The leadoff batter started off with an infield single. The next batter struck out on a wicked changeup that seemed like it was on a string. The third batter then hit a rocket to the gap for a double that scored a run. That was followed by another solid single and then another double. Before we knew it, we were down 3-0. Even worse, the batter on second was actively yelling out “changeup” to the batter when he was down 0-2. As I said earlier, Canton had learned from their previous battles with us! We eventually got out of the inning, but it was fairly somber in our dugout.

OB was batting second. The leadoff batter was able to get on base. He lofted a nice ball to left center that fell in for a double. He was followed by another double and now we were in business. We would score three to even the score. It was now a five inning game.

There was no score in the second. In the top of the third, our ace walked a batter. A sacrifice and a groundout would move him to third. The next batter hit a lazy fly to right center. There were two boys there, but they both hesitated as it started to come down. It fell between them for an error and gave up a critical run. It didn’t help that we went down meekly in the bottom half of the frame.

We brought in our second ace to start the fourth. He throws really hard and started out by striking out the side. In the bottom of the fourth, we pushed a run across. OB drew a walk and the batter after him did as well. The bases were loaded and one of our better hitters was up with two outs. During the at-bat, a wild pitch eluded the catcher. Our fastest player was on third and he darted home. He was so fast, he scored standing up—or so we thought. In Little League, there is a rule that if there is a play at the plate, you have to slide. Since he did not, he was automatically out and it snuffed out our rally.

We thought we had their pitcher on the ropes, but we just could not come up with the timely hit. After holding them scoreless in the fifth and the sixth, OB came up in the bottom of the sixth with the go-ahead run on first. He flared one out just past first base, but the fielder made a nice catch backing up to get him. We got the runner to second, but couldn’t score. The game would go into extra innings.

In the seventh, our luck ran out. The fireballer who struck out the side was running out of gas. He gave up a single and then a long double followed. The lead runner ran for home. The relay home was just a bit too late and we were now down 5-4. Later in the inning, runners would get to second and third. With two outs, the batter hit a grounder to short which looked like a sure out. Unfortunately, a bad throw allowed two more runs to score.

Canton had thrown the same pitcher for all six innings (!). They switched pitchers. It didn’t help us. We went down 1-2-3 and our tournament was over.

OB was sad. To be honest, I was, too. By all rights, our team should have won the game. We also have lots of good pitchers on the team and could possibly have won our next two games and the tournament. The ride home was mostly silent. I know from experience that I just need to give him space and time to sort out his feelings. We wouldn’t really end up talking about any of the games until the next day or so. Even though he doesn't usually fall asleep in the car, I could see in the rear view mirror that he was exhausted and he dozed off for much of the ride.

All in all, I am extremely proud of the progress OB has made over the course of this year. He stayed in second or third position for the entire weekend. He even spent time at shortstop instead of second base. He told me he doesn't like the added responsibility, but I think he secretly does like leading.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted as he continues his baseball journey.

Unified Theory of Deliciousness

Who knew you could combine philosophy and food?

This article from Wired covers David Chang's "Unified Theory of Deliciousness"

Early on, the author describes how he thinks about food constantly. This thinking was really driven years before by a seminal class in logic. Here was one of the main lessons:

DeLong and Hofstadter both found great beauty in what the latter called strange loops—occasions when mathematical systems or works of art or pieces of music fold back upon themselves. M. C. Escher’s drawings are a great, overt example of this. Take his famous picture of two hands drawing each other; it’s impossible to say where it starts or ends. When you hit a strange loop like this, it shifts your point of view: Suddenly you aren’t just thinking about what’s happening inside the picture; you’re thinking about the system it represents and your response to it.

It was only recently that I had a realization: Maybe it’s possible to express some of these ideas in food as well. I may never be able to hear them or draw them or turn them into math. But I’ll bet I can taste them. In fact, looking back over the years, I think a version of those concepts has helped guide me to some of our most popular dishes.

He goes on to explain:

MY FIRST BREAKTHROUGH on this idea was with salt. It’s the most basic ingredient, but it can also be hellishly complex. A chef can go crazy figuring out how much salt to add to a dish. But I believe there is an objectively correct amount of salt, and it is rooted in a counterintuitive idea. Normally we think of a balanced dish as being neither too salty nor undersalted. I think that’s wrong. When a dish is perfectly seasoned, it will taste simultaneously like it has too much salt and too little salt. It is fully committed to being both at the same time.

Try it for yourself. Set out a few glasses of water with varying amounts of salt in them. As you taste them, think hard about whether there is too much or too little salt. If you keep experimenting, you’ll eventually hit this sweet spot. You’ll think that it’s too bland, but as soon as you form that thought, you’ll suddenly find it tastes too salty. It teeters. And once you experience that sensation, I guarantee it will be in your head any time you taste anything for the rest of your life.

He describes the process for creating one of his signature dishes:

Anyway, that meant he would have to find a way of re-creating the sweetness, umami, and pungency of Bolognese without the onions, celery, carrot, tomato paste, or white wine. He ended up using scallions, red chiles, ground pork, and fermented bean paste. Instead of using milk to provide that silky mouthfeel, I encouraged him to add in some whipped tofu. And rather than pasta or gnocchi, he served it with rice cakes that looked like gnocchi. We called it Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes, and when most people taste it, it reminds them—even on a subconscious level—of a spicier version of Bolognese.

But here’s the thing. When I taste that dish, I don’t taste Bolognese—I taste mapo tofu, a spicy, flavorful Chinese dish made with soft tofu, Szechuan peppers, and ground pork. I’ve had way more mapo tofu than I’ve had Bolognese, so that resonates more for me. I’d never seen a connection between Bolognese and mapo tofu before, but Joshua had inadvertently discovered this overlap between them. We hit the middle of a Venn diagram, creating something that incorporated enough elements of both mapo tofu and Bolognese that it could evoke both of them, while being neither one precisely.

All of this combines to create powerful emotional connections:

Now, most diners probably aren’t consciously drawing connections between what they’re eating and the favorite meals of their youth. They probably don’t fully understand why they’re enjoying it so much. But I think deep down, whether they realize it or not, they’re having that Ratatouille moment, tasting one of those underlying base patterns and feeling that interplay between the exotic and the familiar.

Chang later explains the concept of isomorphisms. This is the idea of concepts taking many different forms but expressing the same ideas. He applies this approach to his food and finds innovative ways to fuse the different with your own past!

Poor kitty

The humans enjoyed this. The kitty--not so much.

Nine point guide to spotting dodgy stats

The Guardian published a deeper examination into the many ways facts and figures are twisted and distorted--sometimes beyond recognition. Statistics can be powerful support for an argument, but it is also important to look past the headline and gain greater context before making your final decision.

An early paragraph helps explain their rationale:

Every statistician is familiar with the tedious “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” gibe, but the economist, writer and presenter of Radio 4’s More or Less, Tim Harford, has identified the habit of some politicians as not so much lying – to lie means having some knowledge of the truth – as “bullshitting”: a carefree disregard of whether the number is appropriate or not.

Guardian: Our nine-point guide to spotting a dodgy statistic

Planned obsolescence and LED lighting

LED lights are about more than just energy efficiency. The new bulbs are meant to last for a very long time--25,000 hours. The average light bulb is estimated to be used about 1.6 hours per day. At that rate, LED bulbs can last up to 42 years!

This story from the New Yorker discusses an incandescent light bulb that dates to 1901 that is still burning today (it is left on at all times). It goes through the history of light bulbs and how this was the first time that an industry went through deliberate efforts to "break" their products prematurely in order to create turnover in their markets.

New Yorker: The LED Quandary

Why charcoal grilling tastes better than gas

There is a scientific explanation for the reason why charcoal grilling has a distinctive flavor that is different from gas.

Two paragraphs explain the critical part of the magic:

Ironically enough, it’s the volatile compounds in the food, not in the briquettes, that are responsible for charcoal grilling’s distinct flavors. As the meat heats up, it releases drippings that strike the super-hot charcoal and combust with a tsss and a burst of flame (check it out in the video above—it’s beautiful). Those drippings are full of fats and oils and sugars and proteins that vaporize and rise back up into the meat whence they came.

That’s how grilling over charcoal gives you that wonderful flavor. The briquettes themselves are just middlemen, not the flavor-makers. The more you drip, the more the flavor builds.

Here is the link to the full article:  Wired: Charcoal Grilling Tastes Better Than Gas

Great article on Human Behavior Hacks

Found an amazing article on ways to use human behavior in your favor.

Build Your User Base with These Human Behavior Hacks

Framed as a discussion on how startup companies can best develop new products or services that can succeed, it provides some clear examples on how to tease out the truth from your target audience.

One of the critical recommendations is to avoid the trap where you believe you know exactly what your customer is looking for. Without data to support your suppositions, you could be dangerously exposed. This could be a fatal error if you bet on a solution and you turn out to be wrong!

Confirmation bias is perhaps the most common obstacle.

Confirmation bias manifests in a few ways:

• Only talking to people we think will agree with us.
• Writing off people who don’t agree with us as idiots or haters.
• Asking questions designed to support our hypothesis.

The author recommends having a neutral party take notes so that the interviewer can concentrate fully on the interview. At the end, they can compare notes. The note taker may be able to point out subtle changes in tone or interpretation.

The PM might say, “I think they really liked our solution.” And the engineer, freed up to really hear the call from a different perspective, might reply, “I’m pretty sure they were just being polite.” That’s how you counteract bias. You start small and take it interaction by interaction.

Other issues are hindsight bias (I knew it would work all along), supportive bias (sunk cost defense) or hyperbolic discounting (more weight to now than the future).

One other surprising method is to avoid asking about the future. Instead, ask about what people have done. They are more likely to be honest.

You want to capture quantitative data about what happened in the past. It won’t lie to you.

This is an area that’s especially sensitive to negative judgment from others. People want to idealize their future selves. They want to believe in their ability to work toward those goals. So when faced with past behavior that runs contrary, they might get defensive. They might be dishonest. You have to phrase your questions to make it acceptable for people to give answers that may not be perfect or socially acceptable.

“Instead of asking someone if they let their kids use an iPad (an assumed negative behavior), ask them how many days in the past week their kids used an iPad,” says Alvarez. “Most people will answer honestly because you already implied that the answer won’t be zero — and that it’s not zero for the other people you’re talking to.”

Overall, I thought it was excellent!

Ambiguous cylinder illusion

I just saw this and it was rather impressive.

Even after watching it a few times, it's still difficult to believe that it isn't some CGI trickery.

This is how it works:

Nagging limitations

At some point on our recent driving trip, I strained some muscles in my lower back. This has happened before on long drives. I'm not sure if it is tied to an awkward position held for long stretches of time or perhaps a misstep at some point. Whatever the cause, it was excruciating.

I first noticed it when I tried to get out of the car. After I opened the door, I went to take a step out and realized that my body did not want to move in the way that I intended. Waves of pain shot from my lower back down my leg and back up to my brain. I gingerly forced myself out of the car in the way that an elderly person might.

Over the course of the next few days, I had the family help me. My wife went first and helped to ease some of the knots. There was temporary relief, but it soon returned. My younger son took his turn standing on some of the worst areas. Again, it helped for a while but the discomfort was soon back.

It's been over a week now. I had to stop working out temporarily because the pain was too great. The last two days, I have been able to walk on the treadmill for a few miles. I feel as if I am getting closer to normal. As I type this out, there is still a dull ache and a twinge in my lower back.

It's weird to think that only about ten days ago, I was feeling really good. There were absolutely no concerns of any sort and no pain whatsoever. I'm not sure what triggered this phenomenon, but I hope it doesn't come back for a very long time!

All in all, incidents like these help remind you that your health is far more fragile than you think. It also makes you appreciate even more the good things that you do have in your life!

Take a simple idea and take it seriously

Interesting column today on the Motley Fool.

Take a Simple Idea and Take it Seriously

The article points out how companies that seem to do one or two things but do them really well have outperformed big name (read:  "sexy") stocks over time.

McCormick makes garlic powder. Its stock is up 1,423% since 1995. Oracle has a near-monopoly database management software. Its stock is up 1,419% since 1995.

V.F. Corp makes jeans and flip-flops. Its stock is up 1,444% since 1995. Cisco Systems connects the entire world together in one place. Its stock is up 1,018% since 1995.

Valspar makes industrial coatings, and has returned 1,521% since 1995. Adobe makes some of the most popular software in the world, and has returned 1,230%.

Google is one of the most exciting companies of all time. Its stock is up 345% since 2008. Altria makes cigarettes in the rapidly declining U.S. market. Its stock is up 494% since 2008.

I cherry-picked these examples, but the idea holds up with broad indexes. The best-performing industry over the last 50 years, by far, is consumer staples – things like food, toothpaste, and toilet paper. The worst-performing industry, by far, is technology.

The article summarizes with a few key points. Here is the one that resonated most to me:

Value isn't necessarily created by innovation or complexity. It's created by solving people's everyday problems for the longest period of time. This is why toilet paper and garlic powder have been better investments than some of the most innovative technology companies. Lots of technology has solved people's problems, but few to the degree toothpaste and deodorant have, and will continue to do for the indefinite future.

I couldn't agree more!

Fireworks

For the past 53 years, Walpole has put on an annual fireworks display on the 3rd of July. Thousands of people will gather informally near the center of town to watch the display. For a small town, they put on a rather impressive display. The show lasted nearly 30 minutes!

We had been invited to join the Little League team at the coach's house. He lives a short walk from the main viewing area. At one point, there were well over 100 people at his house. It was great to see so many young boys running around and having a good time.

I took some short phone video of the event. I didn't want to spend too much time capturing the event for fear of missing out. I do wish I had been able to catch some of the spectacular finish. The layers of colors in the explosions almost appeared to move closer and closer--as if they were nearly upon you! The intensity grew and grew for nearly a full minute. It was an awesome way to end the evening and likely the best one we have ever seen. What makes this event so special is that we are almost literally under the spots where they go off. At that distance, you can literally feel the booms as the shells explode!