Monday, September 18, 2006

Sometimes We Wing It

I called this meeting to cancel it. I just couldn't be in three places at the same time. There's this little thing about preservation of matter (I just love science). I ought to book lunch with that Einstein guy, but my German is lousy. Ich nicht sprechen zie Deutsch (if I can't spell in English, forget about it in German). Which reminds me, I just have to learn more about string theory. But I digress.

I saw my nephew this weekend. He's a lawyer. Do not confuse him with The Lawyer, a person with an assured place with the likes of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Felix Frankfurter, John Jay, Clarence Darrow, and other great legal minds of our time. Place him with those adept at aggravating you with words. As good as he is with words, I might as well be on another planet. If Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus, or vice versa, whatever (I am now officially out of my element), then those of us who heart races when you say inferential statistics are looking for the oxygen tank (or the nitrous tank) around the wordsmiths. Really you say? Honest. When Niels Bohr wanted Einstein to know about atomic/nuclear power, he sent him a note with a single equation on it. Einstein translated the equation to everyday language and sent it to Roosevelt, and the Manhattan Project was born. OK, it could have been two equations, but I don't think so.

Why suffer through all of this farfegnugen anyway? Quality! The issue is quality. Can you sing it with me? Quality!!! Nice lilt there.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was written in the 70's. Gives it the same kind of patina as The Beattles and The Stones, perhaps the most often asked "The " Question asked about Quality when you come to think about it. OK, I'll get to the point, I know that you've got a thousand things to do yada yada yada. One of the themes of the book is that there is no quality in science because you can't define it. There is quality in the arts, but no one can define it, they just know it when they see it.

I suspect that we are all after more quality in our lives. I doubt that any of us sees it the same way either. Where one thinks that blueberry muffins is the bee's knees, someone else can't bear the thought of anything but biscuits and gravy. Don't even get me started on grits. And we're not past breakfast. The CHAT mode has shown me that I cannot hold anyone spell bound for more than an entire sentence, so my oratory may not hold any solutions either. Note to self, check with Sigmund about possible listening problems. OK, I'm back. So, I am opening the floor for any ideas on quality out there!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's subjective, that's for sure. And I think I hate Blogger Beta.

Anonymous said...

Yep. Your German is lousy. Mine isn't much better.

The phrase should be, "Ich sprechen kein Deutsch."

Anonymous said...

Leipchen (sp??). you forgot to mention The Ruttles. (anyone who doesn't know of them, should check them out, really. its worth it.)

quality is better than quantity, unless you are speaking of blueberry muffins and then you must have both. :) less science, more culinary arts.

Anonymous said...

'scuze me. its The Rutles, not Ruttles. whoops!

Cindy said...

It's not you in the chat mode. It's the fact that we're all looking for an excessive amount of quality that we're trying to multitask and do five things at once. Like chat, read a blog, work, write a blog, and talk on the phone (like me right now), and check their email. Okay so six things.

The CEO said...

Yup, the opposite of Quality is my command of German. The analogy is baking brownies with macadamia nuts and putting in salt instead of the good stuff, and I'll let you decide for yourself what the good stuff is.

I screwed up because I was reading Cindy's blog and plotting the overthrow of the French real estate market while I was baking and waxing the car. Should have been a snap. Only four things. I mustbe getting old.

Cindy said...

The first time we made brownies in home ec. the teacher put out baking salt and baking powder to see who was carefully reading. Some of us had some salty chocolate brownies, which I imagine, is a lot what chocolate salty balls might taste like.