Great Shots of San Diego Architecture

Here is a website of visual splendor. It is chock-full of excellent shots of significant San Diego architecture. Among many other things are photos of the first Jack-in-the-Box, and the structure on the site of of the Kumeyaay band--among the most-ancient North American Indians. Some of the photos range around Southern California. A delight!

It Changed Everything

Quote of the day:
“In Mainz, Germany, on this day in 1455 began the mass printing of the Gutenberg Bible, the first manuscript in Europe to be printed by movable type. About 180 copies were produced, the Bible contained more than 1,280 pages, and on each page the text was laid out in two 42-line columns. Up until that time, manuscripts were usually copied by scribes, and a handwritten Bible could take one scribe more than a year to prepare. Sometimes woodblock printing was used, but it was also an expensive and time-consuming process. The movable type printing press featured individual blocks with a single character that could be rearranged endlessly. Passages of text would be covered in ink and used to make repeated impressions on paper. The printing press that Johann Gutenberg built was based on the design of presses for wine and paper. It's estimated that more books were produced in the 50 years after the movable type printing press was built than in the 1,000 years before it. Gutenberg's invention is credited with making the Renaissance possible: it allowed classical Greek and Latin texts to be distributed widely. It also made books affordable to lower classes.”
--The Writer’s Almanac

A strong candidate for biggest understatement of all time is that the printing press changed everything.

Until then, writing and reading was mostly for ceremonial recording, recollecting and passing along tradition. These tasks were done by learned clerics. Essentially, almost no one on earth could read beyond a few symbols.

Before Gutenberg, we lived in stratified oral cultures in which information, knowledge and tradition were passed along in groups through speeches, recitations and storytelling.

With the printing press came the gradual shift to an individualistic culture, as ordinary people learned to read and began to learn about the world through internal one-on-one communication with authors and writers.

Simultaneously with the settlement of Jamestown came the King James bible in 1611. As the immigrant population in America grew over the next 200+ years, this book was a fixture in almost every American home.

Its ubiquity made it a sort of early American equivalent to TV.

Speaking of which, the next tectonic communications/culture shift occurred in the 20th century with the advent of broadcast radio and TV. Broadcast radio initially resembled pre-Gutenberg oral culture, except that listening was done primarily individually and within families. Also, there was no interaction.

TV added passivity to individualism as we began to fixate on flickering images transmitted to our homes. Our eyes and ears became fully engaged, if not always our minds.

Then, of course, in the 1990s there’s the spread of the internet....

There's More to George Washington Than Wooden Teeth

Presidential fact of the day:
“George Washington had a speech impediment and was not good at spelling. He would often mix up i's and e's when speaking and in writing.”
--The Writers’ Almanac

Many of our past presidents positively glow in the aura of history. Actually, it’s more in the aura of legend than of history.

For example, most of us now know that George Washington didn’t really chop down his father’s cherry tree. It’s a very good anecdote, but it’s not history.

We don’t like to hear too much about the real history of our legendary presidents because we think the aura we love gets diminished.

Our “forefathers” had their brave and brilliant moments, but they were also political calculators. If we were to watch the Declaration of Independence being ratified, and certainly if we were to watch the real constitutional convention, we would witness many not-so-noble and even ugly moments.

The thing is, we can’t watch either of these things. And so the legend grows and history fades. A few of these men we have made into our heroes.

That’s rightly because of their accomplishments. It’s not because of how they got to their accomplishments.

Whither Quaintness?

Quote of the day:
“No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other.”
--Jascha Heifetz

Yesterday I was folding clothes when this tune came into my head:
“I’m a little hunk of tin
Nobody knows where I have been
Got four wheels and a running board,
I’m a Ford, a Ford, a Ford.
Honk, honk, rattle, rattle, rattle, crash, beep-beep,
Honk, honk, rattle, rattle, rattle, crash, beep-beep,
Honk, honk.”

I learned this song when I was ten years old at summer camp. It’s one of those ridiculous but fun-to-sing-in-spite-of-myself camp songs.

Until yesterday, I never thought about the words much, except to realize it was about an old car.

It occurred to me that this song was about the very popular Model T, produced by Ford between 1909 and 1927. This car is legendary for being the first produced using assembly-line technology.

In spite of its mythic status, Time magazine voted it one of the 50 worst cars of all time.

When I considered the fact that the Model T was a piece of junk, and that they were ubiquitous in America for 20 years, the song made sense.

I have never driven or ridden in a Model T, though I have seen one in a car museum and at an antique-car rally.

At what age is something or someone considered “quaint”? I admit I feel quaint even thinking about the silly song, the melody and words of which are branded on my brain.

The car was on the road more than fifty years before I sang the song at camp. I think that disqualifies me from quaintness. At least for a while.

Do they still sing this song at camp?

Important People of 2008

Quote of the day:
"I opened the door for a lot of people, and they just ran through and left me holding the knob."
--Bo Diddley

The last days of the year bring lists of big events of the past year, and those who have died in the past year.

I’m gratified to see the variety in this latter list. Sure, there are some past mega-celebrities on it. But there are also people who were less known.

It’s apparent that there is no necessary relationship between how well known someone is and the extent of their lasting influence. Example: more Americans know Paris Hilton (even though she has been tragically missing from the news for ALMOST FOUR MONTHS!) than know Mother Theresa. ‘Nuff said.

By the way, quick, who came in second on last year’s “American Idol”? Time’s up.

Applicable truism of the day: “Fame is fleeting.”

Here’s an exercise. In one minute, name as many people as you can who lived (and died) in the 19th century. Even though he was born in 1890, Groucho Marx doesn’t count.

Interesting list, isn’t it? Our grandparents or great-grandparents could name dozens of famous people who are unknown to us now.

I don’t know about you, but my 19th-century list is a few former presidents, writers, composers and scientists. I was confused on some dates and had to look them up after my minute was up, thus shortening my list.

Mark Twain may be the best-known 19th-century non-politician (he died in 1910--we’re being a bit flexible). How many other non-politicians can you name?

Now let’s talk 18th century....

The whole point is that all these celebrities who we think are so influential and important are neither in the long run. One reason we think these people are so important is simply because they are known. Their real influence is completely separate from their fame.

And it’s the influence that lasts. When we look at our 19th-century lists we can begin to see what makes lasting influence.

On a personal level, we can think about our own lives and who we remember from the past. Why do we remember them?

Product of Pearl Harbor

Quote of the day:
“Not everybody has the mental elasticity to be a fideist, believe in Genesis and Galileo at the same time. There is always a conservative party, and by a kind of Newtonian law of the mind, action is matched by an equal reaction; one branch of the conservative party turns reactionary and clings more intensely to the old convictions.”
--Jacques Barzun

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. 66 years ago on Sunday morning, December 7th, our parents/grandparents heard the news that our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was under attack.

Everyone who was more than five years old at the time bore the imprint of December 7th, 1941 for the rest of their lives. The attack continues to affect how some people think about America and the rest of the world.

This was so much more than a sepia-toned movie starring Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. Though I do love “From Here to Eternity.”

We can watch film of the actual bombing, and we can hear FDR’s voice as he declares war on Japan. But it’s hard to imagine reading about the attack in the next day’s paper, or hearing events unfold on the radio in real time. The shock, bewilderment and fear must have been enormous.

I remember my parents often talking about Pearl Harbor through the 1960s. My father joined the Army during the war, and met my mother at a USO event.

So I guess, in a way, I am a product of Pearl Harbor.

1937, 2007, 2077

Quote of the day:
“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”
--Max Planck

I can’t tell you how relieved I was to read this statement from the great physicist Max Planck.

There are times I find it nothing short of exasperating to read statistics that say things like the majority of Americans believe that the creation of the earth happened 6000 years ago, literally according to the Genesis story. No matter what data is laid out, or what careful, rational argument is made, this statistic is unshakeable.

Until some of these people start dying off. I think that’s how the world began seeing that Galileo and Copernicus were right, that the earth revolved around the sun. Over dozens of years, the opponents just slowly died off.

That’s what’s going to happen with creation and the age of the earth, too.

I expect Planck’s statement applies to other kinds of truth, also.

It reminds me of an inside joke I heard just after I was ordained. After being appointed to a congregation for a few months, a minister is asked how things are going. He says, “there’s nothing wrong with this church that a few well-placed funerals couldn’t cure.”

We are indelibly shaped by the culture in which we grow up. Our opinions and beliefs are more part of us and therefore more resistant to change than we think they are.

Think of how you are different from your parents, and how they were different from their parents.

While much about the world is the same, our cultural outlook today is quite different than that of our grandparents. This is largely because of what we have learned in the intervening years. We have come to accept new truths that have emerged.

70 years ago women had had the right to vote for just 17 years. Significant parts of the United States were clearly segregated by race, and would stay that way for years.

There was no television. Major cities each had a few daily newspapers. Air travel was for very rich people, and you there were no commercial flights over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. There were no malls, McDonald’s or Starbucks. If you wanted to go shopping, you went downtown. Life expectancy was 63.

In 2007, we live differently. Mostly better.

And we believe differently.

A Reason to Celebrate Today

Quote of the day:
“...government of the people, by the people and for the people....”
--Abraham Lincoln

I think this day on the calendar should be celebrated each year.

On this day 144 years ago, Abraham Lincoln delivered the most-important speech in American history. It became known as the Gettysburg Address.

The huge historical influence of this speech is well known. However, the reason I think we should commemorate its anniversary is only indirectly related to its historical impact.

This reason has to do with the nature of the speech, including how it was prepared and delivered.

It was four minutes long--just 10 sentences.

When was the last time we heard any politician give a four-minute speech, except when they were in trouble and avoiding the press?

When was the last time we heard ANYONE give a four-minute speech? How about never?

That Lincoln could change the course of American history and create a statement imprinted for eternity in our memories in four minutes is extraordinary and worthy of extended celebration.

Especially in our world where the ability to not shut up has become a an absolutely necessary characteristic in the careers of pundits and celebrities. Yak, yak, yak. Or, if you prefer: yack, yack, yack. (Both spellings are acceptable.)

In Lincoln’s day, political speeches were measured in hours, not minutes. In fact, his speech at Gettysburg followed a two-hour oration that has long been forgotten.

Lincoln’s speech did not get that way by some kind of accident or serendipity. He planned it very carefully and deliberately, spending hours over each word and phrase.

This is also unique in today’s world. What we see in the political arena is almost always just the stringing together of market-driven phrases and sentences.

Lincoln’s concisely constructed sentences are also the opposite of what we hear from anyone giving a speech--at work, or in our volunteer or leisure activities. In these cases, if there is any preparation at all, it is a few scribbled notes on a yellow pad.

For these reasons as well as the world-changing effect of the Gettysburg Address, its anniversary should be celebrated.

The 1960s Are Not What You Think

Quote of the day:
“Contrary to the usual understanding, the baby boomers didn’t create the culture of the sixties; they didn’t even inspire it. They consumed it. In 1968, the climax of the decade politically, the oldest baby boomer in America was just turning twenty-two. To the extent that baby boomers participated in protests, took drugs, and practiced ‘free love,’ they were responding to slogans, tastes, and fads dreamed up and promulgated by people much older than they were.”

--Louis Menand

It is common wisdom that the 1960s was a decade of revolution in many ways, including in movies and music. Neither were the same afterward.

Sometimes so much emphasis is put on the 1960s that we forget that what happened then didn’t just drop from the sky.

The amazing change in music and movies also was not the pure result of political rebellion. The much more vital factor in this was the rise, undetected by all except practitioners, of other creative forms.

For example, blues came to prominence in the 20s and 30s. Musicians growing up in the 40s and 50s were invariably exposed to it. And many incorporated it in very creative ways. Some of those efforts became rock and roll.

Experimental film grew into a serious movement in Europe and elsewhere in the 40s and 50s. Great filmmakers coming to maturity in the 1960s were heavily influenced by this.

So most of what we see as a cultural overthrow, a disrespect of authority and established forms, and a general rise in bad behavior caused by long hair and “liberalism,” is really simply the creative combination and alteration of forms that already existed.

70 and 140 Years Ago

Quote of the day:
“Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”
--Anonymous

Tonight TCM ran “Gone With the Wind.” Merrie and I tuned it in as we continued to unpack our kitchen, which, other than a few lingering details (like inspection), is complete.

Due to the immense popularity of the film, it exists in near-perfect form, thanks to meticulous preservation and restoration. In some ways, it’s very hard to believe that “Gone With the Wind” was made in 1939.

(In other ways it is decidedly non-contemporary, such as the facile use of the term “simple-minded darkie” by Rhett Butler.)

All the production elements--sound, lighting, set design, costumes, camera movement and focus, acting, makeup and more--are exceptionally well-done.

There’s an interesting symmetry to watching “Gone With the Wind” in 2007. This movie was made 68 years ago, as the world was stepping into a devastating and planet-changing world war.

It depicts a period some 70 years before it was made--the Civil War and the end of the antebellum South. That war also altered the course of human history.

The Civil War was as contemporary in 1939 as World War Two is in 2007.

And the results of both these wars are imprinted on our 21st-century souls, whether or not we know it or think about it.

"In the Shadow of the Moon"

Quote of the day:
"America did not invent human rights. In a very real way, human rights invented America."
--Jimmy Carter

Quote of the day no. 2:
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
--Neil Armstrong

It was an electrifying moment worldwide in July 1969 as people everywhere watched a man step onto the surface of the moon.

The excellent documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon” tells the story of the Apollo space program and our flights to the moon in the 1960s and 70s.

The structure of the film is quite simple. Lots of historical footage (some never or rarely seen) is blended with contemporary interviews with several of the Apollo astronauts. I was fascinated with their stories of what went on behind the scenes as they prepared and undertook their missions.

The movie reminded me that our mission to land a man on the moon resulted in a singular achievement. And that spectacular, unifying accomplishment has yet to be matched.

As I watched the film, I also realized that many Americans were not even alive to see Armstrong’s historic step. It turns out that MOST Americans were not alive for it. The 2005 Census survey measured the median age as 36.4, which means that more than half of Americans were born in September 1970 or later.

If you were alive and can remember where you were when the first moon landing happened, this film will bring back wonderful memories, fill in some gaps and introduce you to the variety of personalities of the astronauts.

But the film is especially important for those who were not watching as this happened. The story of the Apollo space program is a vital and authentically inspirational part of our recent history. We need to remember that such things are possible.

It’s a good time at the movies.

The 5000-Year-Old Man

Quote of the day:
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
--Samuel Johnson

What may be the most extraordinary archeological discovery of our lifetimes was announced 16 years ago today.

A 5,300-year-old corpse was found frozen in a glacier in the Alps, between Austria and Italy, the most ancient human being ever found completely intact.

He was between 25 and 35 years old, about five feet, two inches tall. His hair was cut; he had several tattoos.

He wore a fur robe, whipstitched in a mosaic pattern, a woven grass cape, and size 6 shoes.

He carried a copper axe and a fur quiver for his arrows, which had sharp flint points and feathers to make the arrows spin in flight, and several mushrooms strung on leather cord, a mushroom known to fight infections. But the mushrooms didn't do him much good because he had an arrowhead in his back.

He was apparently murdered.

(Thanks to “The Writer’s Almanac” for this history item.)

Self-Evident Truths

Quote of the day:
"There's nothing constant in the world,
All ebb and flow, and every shape that's born
Bears in its womb the seeds of change."
--Ovid

A while back I ranted and raved about those who see the King James bible as the one true bible. In effect, they believe that the book dropped to the earth with a thud in 1611, with nothing relevant before or after it.

I get the distinct impression that many people treat the Declaration of Independence the same way: it just appeared all of a sudden, thanks to the brilliance of the Founding Fathers (otherwise known as the 2F’s).

Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the document, and Benjamin Franklin, who edited it, were indeed both brilliant men. But what they were brilliant about was history. They had read deeply and had had an unusually broad cultural experience.

The Declaration of Independence came out of this knowledge and experience, which included the historical scope of English and European attempts to govern. These attempts went as far back as the Etruscans as well as the ancient tribes of northern and central Europe.

Also brought into play by Jefferson and Franklin was an inherent grasp of classical ideas, especially those of Plato, Aristotle and the bible.

To say America was born out of nothing is ludicrous. And the one idea that is unique in its prominence--that “all men are created equal”--is a ways down the list of America’s attributes, according to many.

At least, that’s the way it seems when people say “America is the greatest nation on earth” and mean that Americans are somehow better or more special than others.

The principle upon which we are founded is “all men are created equal” not “all Americans are created equal.”

History Was Real

Quote of the day:
“If I can’t count on myself for pity, who can I count on?”
--Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers, Crankshaft, June 23, 2007.

The other day I was reading a brief account of a major historical event--the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

We all know that it was Charles Lindbergh who did this. And we may remember that it happened in 1927.

We may forget, however, that the flight took 33 1/2 hours. Can you imagine being in a plane for 33 1/2 hours? With no heat and no bathroom? And with just a few sandwiches to eat?

I had forgotten that Lindbergh took no radio on his flight, and he had no navigational equipment. Also, when he took off, the plane was so heavy with gasoline for the nonstop flight that it just barely got off the ground.

Making the flight took a lot of courage.

In our factoid-obsessed world we are often bumping into historical snippets. Reading about Lindbergh’s achievement reminded me that history is not an abstraction. It is made by very real human beings in very real circumstances.

Paul Newman, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Carter

Quote of the day:
“They are the kind of people who are embarrassed by money, a dead middle-class giveaway. Poor people are not embarrassed by money and are contemptuous of those who are.”
--Rosellen Brown

Yesterday the San Diego Union-Tribune reported three historical facts, each of them a cause for reflection on the passage of time.

First was a milestone. “Jimmy Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital.” It wasn’t all that long ago that women routinely gave birth at home.

Second was an announcement. “Paul Newman says he has given up acting. ‘I’m not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to,’ said Newman, 82. ‘You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that’s pretty much a closed book for me.’”

I think of all his great roles--Hud, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, The Verdict, Butch Cassidy, and so many others. It’s hard to imagine that the list is coming to an end.

Third was a 65th anniversary. It was yesterday in 1942 that Bing Crosby recorded White Christmas. This snow-loving holiday classic was recorded in Los Angeles in May, and it was the top-selling record of the next 55 years. But our grandparents or great-grandparents actually knew a time before this song was ubiquitous at Christmas.

"The New World"

Quote of the day:
“Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.”
--Ludwig Wittgenstein

Quote of the day no. 2:
"It was so lovely out in the country — it was summer! And the wheat was yellow, the oats were green, hay was stacked up in the green meadows, and the stork walked about on his long, red legs and spoke Egyptian, for he had learned the language from his mother."
--Hans Christian Andersen, from The Ugly Duckling.

Merrie is getting a little more active each day. It was a pleasantly slow day today. We walked to The Living Room for a couple hours this afternoon. It’s our favorite hangout, and it has wireless access.

We saw Terrence Malick’s 2005 film The New World the other day. It’s about the beginnings of Jamestown, the first English colony in America.

I’m always hesitant about period pieces, because so often they seem somehow affected or artificial. That is not the case with this film. Malick has done such a brilliant job with the look and all the details of the film it sometimes seems more like a documentary, filmed in 1607.

If you rent the DVD, I highly recommend the fascinating “making of” feature. When I saw it, I understood why the film seemed so authentic. Malick found a location just a few miles from the actual Jamestown settlement. He hired Indian actors and extras for all the Indian parts. They spent months together and they learned the Algonquin language and culture. He also secured the use of three period reproductions of the ships the English used.

Just like all his films, the visuals are amazing--stunning and real. The acting in the film is nuanced and sensitive. All the lead actors are well-cast, most especially Q’Orianka Kilcher, the 14-year-old who plays Pocahontas.

Terrence Malick is a bit of an acquired taste. People either find his films (such as Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line) glacially slow and ponderous, or poetic, memorable and inspiring. I’m in the latter group, and this film is a fine example of his best work.

Martha Washington, Hollywood and Teachers

Quotes of the day:

“So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
finding faith and common ground, the best that they were able.”
--Dar Williams

“[It’s a] dreary industrial town controlled by hoodlums of enormous wealth, the ethical sense of a pack of jackals, and a taste so degraded that it befouled everything it touched.”
--S.J. Perelman, talking about Hollywood.

“Some southern California students have been secretly videoing classroom moments and putting them up on YouTube. One clip, in which a teacher at Malibu High School loses control of his class and raises his voice while students laugh, has sparked a debate that led to the district’s cutting access to YouTube on school computers and limiting electronic devices on campus.”
--Tami Abdollah and Amanda Covarrubias, LA Times, February 9.

“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.”
--Martha Washington (1732 - 1802)

We Still Have a Dream

Quote of the day:
“On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.”
--George Orwell

Much of what follows originally appeared in “I Have a Dream Today”:

On this Martin Luther King weekend, we are again hearing frequent references to King’s seminal “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The depth and breadth of the influence of this speech, and of King’s speeches throughout his leadership of the civil rights movement, have only begun to be appreciated.

The “I Have a Dream” speech was an extraordinary accomplishment. It was just eight minutes long. It was delivered on a very hot August day, among presentations by many speakers . Most important, King’s speech was in no way casual, either in its preparation or in its delivery.

He did two things exceptionally well. First, he realized and embraced the opportunity the speech presented. He knew this would be an extraordinary chance to address not just the people around him on the platform, but the whole nation. Second, he worked very hard to carefully prepare the speech. He chose words, phrases and images with thought and deliberation. He wrote, rewrote and rewrote again, and kept editing and then editing some more.

It would have been easy to focus just on the issue or policy of the moment. It would have been easy to make the speech up as he went along--he was certainly smart and talented and experienced enough. King did neither of these things.

Techniques King used in this speech have been imitated widely and often. Bill Clinton often tried to use the rhythms and repetitions that King did, but he wound up violating the”musty lettuce” rule. Clinton (and many other politicians) loved to intone long lists of “we must” this and “we must” that, or “let us” this and “let us” that.

The “I Have a Dream” speech was not about technique. Martin Luther King did with this speech the same thing that Abraham Lincoln did at Gettysburg. He put into eloquent, memorable words the highest and deepest hopes of America. And those words ring just as clear and true today as they did 43 years ago.

The “I Have a Dream” speech was a world-changing and world-enhancing achievement. The legacy of that achievement is what we celebrate this weekend.

6 Weeks and 600 Years

Quote of the day:
“I detest a man who knows that he knows.”
--Oliver Wendell Holmes

As I write this, I am listening to 600-year-old music by Giulliame Dufay and drinking 6-week-old beer by Budweiser. (I know this thanks to the ”bottled on” date printed on the label.)

It gives me pause to think that people were listening to the Dufay motets before Columbus sailed, and way before the printing press and the Reformation. They are beautiful pieces, with multiple voice parts accompanied by simple instruments. The descant parts especially give the music an “other-worldly,” spiritual feel.

It’s fun to have the present and the past come together, and to realize that many people over the years have seen the value of this music, and have carried it forward for us.

In so many different ways, I guess the holiday season is about this, too. Carrying the goodness of the past into the present. Allowing ourselves to be moved or inspired to continue it into the future.

Are You Average?

Quote of the day:
"It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence, — that which makes its truth, its meaning — its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream — alone."
--Joseph Conrad, in Heart of Darkness

Quote of the day no. 2:
“You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.”
--Dave Barry

How many times in an “average” day do we hear about ratings, poll results, rankings and averages? Sometimes it seems to me as if everything is quantified in one way or another.

In a way, we can see this as the cumulative effect of the Enlightenment, or at least one way of interpreting the Enlightenment, which brought into being a new, rational way of seeing the world. Over time, in an effort to be more and more rational, and to understand more and more, we create more and more measurements, and the corresponding rankings and averages.

These measurements and averages serve a very useful purpose. They are a way to digest very large amounts of information. Which may help explain how the numbers can sometimes go wrong.

Averages are not meaningless, but they are abstractions. An average describes a long period of time or a large amount of data, it does not describe any particular individual.

We develop problems when we get so obsessed with averages and rankings that we use them for smaller and smaller phenomena. Example, during a football game when we’re told such things as the last time this team had two turnovers in the second half was last October 29th.

When the late scientist and writer Stephen Jay Gould was diagnosed with cancer, he was told the average life expectancy for his condition was eight months. He lived for twenty more years, and became fascinated with the concept of “average.”