Archive for January 2009
In ancient Greece, scholar and intellectual, Dr. Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about one of your friends?”
“Hold on a minute,” Dr. Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”
“Triple filter?” asked the man.
“That’s right,” Dr. Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test.
The first filter is Truth.
“Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and wanted to tell it to you”
“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.”
Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of goodness.
“Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”
“No, on the contrary, it is bad ”
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.”
You may still pass the test
“Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”
“No, not really.” Replied the man.
“Well,” concluded Dr. Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful to me, then why tell it to me at all.”
A Passing Thought:
An arrow which has left the bow and killed an innocent soul, and a spoken-word which has come out of your mouth and hurt someone’s heart, both can never be recalled. So before speaking, please use the triple filter.
It recently came to my attention that the neighbohood I live in, Woodbridge in Irvine, CA, is sitting on top of a huge plume of toxic waste that has apparently been contiminating the water table and soil beneath us for many years thanks to our neighbors, the El Toro Marine base.
The chemical Trichloroethylene (also known as TCES) is known to cause cancer (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichloroethylene).
Read an ongoing news series about the contaminate in Irvine here:
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august042008/el_toro_video_4_7-31-08.php
A TON more information about the issue can be found here:
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Web Developer / Project Manager / Internet Marketing Specialist
0 Comments | Posted by Mark Warrick in About Me
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I don’t own one of these yet, but, I will soon. This is a pretty sweet device. It’s a personal GPS locator, meaning, if you’re out in the middle of nowhere and need help, this is your ticket to get out of a difficul situation!
Included in the basic annual subscription plan ($49.99) is the ability to summon help from your family or friends. Just push the help button and within minutes the company will contact people you’ve designated as your helpers with your current location. For an extra $8.00/year, they’ll even summon a rescue team to come get you if you push the panic button! And for an additional $49.99/year, the unit will track your every move on the go and report it back to a website which you can share with family and friends.
The base cost of the unit is pretty reasonable as well. I figure for a few hundred bucks the first year, it’s well worth it if you ever run into trouble out in the wilderness.
Buy it here:
http://astore.amazon.com/saferbikinglocators-20/detail/B000YTZV74
What I have found over the years is that everyone wants three things:
- They want it all.
- They want it now.
- And they want it cheap
In reality though, you can only have two of the three at once:
- If you want it all and you want it now, it won’t be cheap.
- If you want it now and you want it cheap, it won’t be everything you want.
- If you want it all and you want it cheap, it’s going to take longer then you expected.
The concept applies to pretty much everything in life. If you want that new BlueRay DVD player, but don’t have the money for it, you either go in debt to get it or you wait until you can afford it. You know that garden you’ve been thinking about putting in the back yard? Well, if you want to buy all the plants grown up you can have it now, but it won’t be cheap! If cost is your concern, you’ll have to plant the seeds and wait.
When prioritizing the things you want in life, it’s all ways good to keep these three things in mind.
