Time for a New Year

This is the time of the year when we review the past and look forward to the future.   

Written about in song and poetry, time marches relentlessly to some unknown point or place or end that…who knows?  We relate to the spread of time through past, present and future or yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Our view of it is mostly forward looking unless, of course, you are a historian.  Time in the future is forecasts, predictions, and horoscopes.  It is hopes, dreams and plans.  Time in the present is now, fleeting, ephemeral.  It is deadlines.  We say we’d like to live in the moment, to be present.  Time in the past is memories, experiences and history.  We learn from the past.   

“Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery.  Today is a gift.  That’s why they call it the present,” goes the popular saying.            

Time on Earth is measured in time zones marking the passage of the sun across lines of longitude on a spinning, tilting and wobbling globe.  Only time enjoys all the future.  It existed long before and will exist long after humankind.  Our universe is thought to be about 13.75 billion years old and is still expanding from the singularity also known as the Big Bang.  Our earth is thought to be about 4.5 billion years old or older, some say. 

From Threes, Chapter Three, “Threes in Science” 

Three Wise Men

Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, the three Wise Men or Magi, visited the Christ child in Bethlehem bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  The three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense as a symbol of priestship, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death.  Sometimes this is described more generally as gold symbolizing virtue, frankincense symbolizing prayer, and myrrh symbolizing suffering.  All three are ordinary offerings given to a king.  It has been suggested also by scholars that the "gifts" were medicinal rather than precious material for tribute.  The three wise men were probably priests from Persia who traveled a long distance, perhaps 1,000 miles, on their pilgrimage to Bethlehem.

From Threes, Chapter Four, “Threes in Religion and Mythology” 

The Holy Trinity

The symbol of the trinity representing the father, son and the holy ghost or holy spirit is a part of Christian doctrine that defines God as three divine persons.  They exist as equals.  God exists as three persons but is still one God, meaning that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have exactly the same nature or being as God the Father in every way.  Whatever attributes and power God the Father has, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have as well.  God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are also omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, infinitely holy, infinitely loving, infinitely wise and eternal, according to Christian doctrine.

From Threes, Chapter Four, “Threes in Religion and Mythology” 

Abraham and Threes in Religion

Many believers in some of the 12 recognized classical world religions worship multiple gods. Buddhists, Hindus, ancient Egyptians and others are or were polytheists.  Other believers worship just one god.  Christians, Muslims and Jews are monotheists, and including those who do not believe in any god, then, one group of threes emerges:  atheists, monotheists and polytheists.  The transition from the worship of many gods to the worship of one god or many gods and nature as one began with the appearance of prophets and teachers Jesus and Muhammad, and it can be traced to the forebear of the current monotheist traditions—Abraham.  Much of this shift coincided with a period in Europe and the Middle East during which Rome became the dominant power. 

 

For Jews, Abraham is a revered patriarch, referred to as Our Father Abraham, to whom God made several promises including one big one that guarantees Abraham would have numberless descendants and they would receive the land of Canaan, the "Promised Land.”  For Christians, Abraham is a spiritual forebear rather than a direct ancestor.  For example, Christian iconography depicts him as an early witness to the Trinity in the form of three "angels" who visited him.  In Christian belief, Abraham is a model of faith, and his intention to obey God by offering up his son Isaac is seen as a foreshadowing of God's sacrifice of his son Jesus.  In Islam, Ibrahim is considered to be the first Muslim and part of a line of prophets beginning with Adam.  Abraham is called Our Father Abraham as well as Ibrahim al-Hanif or Abraham the Monotheist.  Islam holds that it was Ishmael rather than Isaac whom Ibrahim was instructed to sacrifice.    

From Threes, Chapter Four, “Threes in Religion and Mythology”

Three Types of Attitude

Anything, we are taught, can be accomplished with the right attitude.  Attitudes, though, come in varying degrees, particularly when they are part of a relationship with another person. 

There are three categories of human attitude, writes Meera Seshadri.  The first category includes those who have a ''You're right, I'm wrong'' attitude.  The second category has an ''I'm right, you're wrong'' attitude.  The third group believes in ''You're right, so am I.''

Those under "You're right, I'm wrong" category are generally subservient and agree easily with views of other people.  Those who belong to "I'm right, you're wrong" category are often vocal and vehement.  They often embark on 'sparring sessions' with everyone just to prove what they believe is universally true.   

Those who believe "You're right and so am I" are the most prudent, pragmatic and wise.  Though they are prepared to assimilate good points from other people (and even acknowledge another’s good qualities), they live life on self-dictated terms.  Being good listeners, they respect other viewpoints but finally do what they deem to be right.  They never take devious routes to attain success, nor do they pull someone down so they to climb the ladder.  They are so confident of themselves that they don't bother proving their skills and intelligence before others.   

Three Traits of a Psychopath

“James Fallon admits he has a lot in common with serial killer Ted Bundy and Columbine assassin Eric Harris.  He is aggressive, lacks empathy and is a risk-taker. 

“Fallon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California Irvine, accidentally discovered what friends and family have suspected for years--he has all the genetic traits and brain scan patterns of a psychopath.

“’When somebody gets mad at me, I never show it--they can't read it on my face,’ Fallon, 66, told ABCNews.com.  ‘I never get even immediately, but four years down the road, I get them with revenge.’

“’I don't have special emotional bonds with those who are close to me--I treat everyone the same,’ he said.  ‘I am involved in a lot of charities and good works, and my intentions are good for the world.  But I don't have the sense of romance or love I am supposed to have for my wife.  It's not there.’ 

“But Fallon is not a mass murderer and in his new book, The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey Into the Dark Side of the Brain, he tries to understand why.” 

From Yahoo News today

Turkeys and Threes

Here are three things about Turkeys you should know.

There are three towns named Turkey in the US:

• Turkey, Texas
• Turkey Creek, Louisiana
• Turkey, North Carolina

There are only three English words that rhyme with Turkey:

• Jerky
• Murky
• Perky

 There are three colorful names for official breeds of Turkey:

• Black Spanish
• Bourbon Red
• Blue Slate

 Turkeys have traits humans need to adopt:

• They have no ears, but hear very well
• Old males are preferable to young toms
• Old hens are tougher birds

 From “Going Like Sixty” blogpost

The Third Wave

Alvin Toffler talks about waves in his book The Third Wave, published in 1980, that describes the transition in developed countries from industrial societies, which he calls the "Second Wave," to information age "Third Wave" societies.  Toffler is a social scientist, futurist, author and lecturer.  He has been called the third most influential voice in business after Bill Gates and Peter Drucker.      

Toffler describes three types of societies based on the concept of waves.  Each wave pushes older societies and cultures aside.  The First Wave is the settled agricultural society that replaced nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles.  The Second Wave began in western Europe with the Industrial Revolution and spread quickly across much of the world.  A Second Wave society includes the nuclear family, a factory-type education system and the corporation.  “Throughout Second Wave civilization, therefore, three key concepts—the war with nature, the importance of evolution, and the progress principle—provided the ammunition used by the agents of industrialism as they explained and justified it to the world.”

“In short one could move systematically through the entire code book of Second Wave civilization—from standardization to synchronization right on down to centralization, maximization, specialization, and concentration—and show, item by item, how the old ground rules that governed our daily lives and our social decision-making are in the process of being revolutionized as Third Wave civilization sweeps in.”   

From Threes, Chapter One, "The Wonder of Threes"

The Big Three Car Rental Companies in the US

Think you have lots of choices when it comes to selecting a rental car? Think again.

There are actually only three major rental-car companies in America: Avis, Hertz and Enterprise.   Those big three control 94 percent of the market.  No wonder rental-car prices are pretty much the same from company to company.  Are you now trying to name all the ones you've seen advertised?  Most of them are part of the same companies: Avis owns Budget and Zipcar.  Hertz owns Dollar and Thrifty, and Enterprise owns Alamo and National. 

Warren Buffett's Top Three Mistakes to Avoid

USA TODAY asked Warren Buffett to put on his personal finance hat and tick off the three biggest mistakes amateur investors make.  Here are Buffett's Top Three Mistakes to Avoid. 

1. Trying to time the market.  "People that think they can predict the short-term movement of the stock market—or listen to other people who talk about (timing the market)—they are making a big mistake," says Buffett.

2. Trying to mimic high-frequency traders.  Buying stock in a good business and hanging on for the long term, he says, is a better strategy than flipping stocks like a short-order cook flips pancakes.  "If they are trading actively, they are making a big mistake," he says.

3. Paying too much in fees and expenses.  There's no reason to pay an expensive management fee to invest in a mutual fund when super-low-cost index funds that mimic large indexes like the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index are available, he says.  "If they are incurring large expenses in connection with their investing," says Buffett, "they are making a big mistake."


Buffett is famous for buying stocks when they are cheap, buying solid businesses that make a lot of money today and will make a lot of money tomorrow, and hanging on to his investments for a long time to maximize profit. 

Three Averages

Baseball is one activity that’s consumed by averages.  There are batting averages, earned run averages, slugging percentages, on-base percentages, runs with runners in scoring position (an average), stolen base percentages and many more.  Most professional baseball players are average.  Yet even a Major League Baseball position player (not a pitcher or designated hitter), possessing just a so-so batting average of .260, made more than $3,000,000 in salary in 2008.  Most actors are average.  Most actors don’t make nearly that much money. 

Think of the Bell Curve where the large hump in the middle represents average.  Most of any category that has variation is average.  Incomes, scores, performance, prices, sizes and so on.  Students of math are wary of average, for they know that average is a tricky term.  That’s because there are three types of averages:  mean, median, and mode.  When we talk about average, we usually intend the mathematical mean average.  Mean average is the sum of all the parts divided by the number of parts.  Like this:

1+2+2+3+4+7+9 = 28 divided by 7 = 4

Four is the mean average of these seven numbers.  However the median average separates the lower half of all the numbers from the upper half.  In this example that number is 3 because three of the numbers, 1, 2 and 2, are lower than 3 and three numbers, 4, 7 and 9, are higher than 3.   The mode is the average that includes the number that appears most frequently.  In the series above that number is 2. 

When it comes to those characteristics that cannot be measured, the concept of an average is simply speculation.  However when characteristics or behaviors can be measured or counted, then the three averages, mean, median and mode, have meaning.

From Threes, Chapter 2, “Threes in Math”

The Big Three in Business

Being perceived as one of the top three in a market, regardless of industry, industry sector or market size, is critically important.  These market leaders are or can be referred to as The Big Three. 

Big Three U.S. automakers: Ford, GM, Chrysler

Big Three U.S. broadcast television networks:

NBC, ABC, CBS

Big Three national economies: U.S., Japan, China,

Big Three denim jeans makers: Levi Strauss, Lee,

Wrangler

Big Three light bulb manufacturers: Philips, Osram,

GE Lighting

Big Three U.S. breakfast cereal makers: Post,

Kellogg’s, General Mills

Big Three U.S. retailers: Walmart, Kmart, Target  

Big Three global retailers: Walmart, Asda, Carrefour   

Big Three food retailers in the U.S.: Walmart, Kroger,

Costco

Big Three food retailers in Canada: Loblaws, Metro,

Sobeys

Big Three food retailers in Slovenia: Mercator, Spar,

Tus

Big Three U.S. food services companies:

Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo 

Big Three chocolate manufacturers: Hershey’s, Nestle,

Cadbury’s

Big Three U.S. ice cream manufacturers: Breyers,

Edy’s/Dreyer’s, Blue Bell

Big Three U.S. fast food hamburger restaurants:

McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King

Big Three U.S. office products retailers: Staples, Office

Depot, Office Max 

Big Three e-book sellers: Amazon, Apple,

Barnes & Noble

Big Three U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon, AT&T,

Sprint Nextel

Big Three management consulting firms: BCG,

Bain & Company, McKinsey

Big Three credit rating agencies: Standard & Poor's,

Moody's, Fitch  

Big Three U.S. colleges: Harvard, Yale, Princeton 

Name #4 in any category above.  Some are hard to imagine.  A business manager or owner knows his or her business must be perceived as one of the three biggest or best or cheapest.  The categories depend on market segmentation, and market segmentation depends on different perceptions of the company, organization, product or service.  “History shows that the first brand into the brain, on the average, gets twice the long-term market share of the No. 2 brand and twice again as much as the No. 3 brand.  And the relationships are not easily changed.  The leader brand in category after category outsells the number two brand by a wide margin….Many marketing experts overlook the enormous advantages of being first.” 

The Big Three category in the list above that has my attention is the Big Three e-book sellers.  Does Barnes & Noble drop off?  Who replaces it?

from Threes, Chapter 8, “Threes in Business and Technology”

Wisdom in Threes

Many individuals have shared their wisdom in sayings or observations that contain the now-familiar pattern of three memorable elements. Some of that wisdom is ageless. “Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong,” supposedly from a farmer. Or this from Christopher Morley, “There are three ingredients to the good life: learning, earning and yearning.”

Threes have been engaged by the brightest among us. Bill Gates, who is the co-founder of Microsoft, is known to use threes in his analyses. During one interview he said, “Most people know that I like threes. Here they are:

• Vision
• Being at the right place at the right time
• Taking massive immediate action”    

New and ancient philosophers have presented many of their best ideas in threes. Benjamin Franklin said, “There are three faithful friends: an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.” And this: “There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.” Buddha said, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” Contemporary author and philosopher the late Stephen Covey said, “There are three constants in life...change, choice and principles.”  

from Threes, Chapter 1, “The Wonder of Threes”  

Three New Technologies

Futurist and Stanford Univ. professor Paul Saffo believes we are in an age similar to the period of development of many of great monotheistic religions between 800 BC and 200 BC. This was a time, he says, “shaped by innovations in government, transport and communications. Population growth created new challenges demanding political innovations. New sailing technology transformed the seas from barriers to highways for ideas that traveled with trade goods to new lands. The consequent intellectual ferment yielded new world views, new uncertainties—and new religions.

“Three technologies have brought us to the edge of another axial shift today.  Air travel has given entire populations unprecedented mobility. The intermodal container has delivered a cornucopia of products to every corner of the globe. And cyberspace has become a promiscuous, meme-spreading hotbed of ideas,” he said.

from Threes, Chapter 8, “Threes in Business and Technology”  

Storytelling

Poetry, prose and theater, indeed most forms of literary expression evolved from storytelling in the oral tradition.  Stories have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education and cultural preservation.  The Greeks told short stories as epillion or hexameter poems and much longer epic stories.  The Celtic Triads of the Druids were conveyed as verbal instruction. 

“Although they had a written language, the Celts rarely used it, preferring instead to pass on their beliefs, knowledge and wisdom through the time honored method of their oral traditions.  The honored and revered Storytellers, the Seannachaidhs, were a popular fixture around the fire, especially those who told the longest and most intricate tales during the wintertime.  Since daylight hours were scarce that time of year and families spent a lot of time around the light and warmth of the hearths, they became gathering places, where the Seannachaidhs, who burned with the fires of inspiration, would tell stories of the people.”

These storytellers pass down the lore that binds a society.  Folklorists study the knowledge, culture, myths, beliefs and tales of a group.  “When a Folklorist looks at Fairy Tales and finds a prominent pattern such as the number Three (i.e. 3 bears, 3 pigs, 3 Billy goats gruff, 3 notes to the Pied Piper, 3 kittens, Cinderella and her 2 sisters, 3 wishes, 3 characters, 3 tasks to be performed, travel to the third bend in the road, etc.,) recurring in a single culture or among a group of related peoples and does not find the same persistent recurrence in other cultural groups, there is a tendency to categorize such an occurrence as a cultural artifact,” writes Herb O. Buckland.

From Threes, Chapter 9, “Threes in Art and Popular Culture”

Play Ball

As we near the end of another season of Major League Baseball, we can pause to think about threes in baseball.  Of The Big Three professional sports in the U.S., baseball, football and basketball, baseball is loaded with threes.  Baseball is three strikes, three outs, nine innings, nine players, and three bases (the fourth is called home plate).  Baseball is scored in hits, runs and errors.  Batters are at the plate, on deck or in the hole.  Baseball is the quintessential natural threes in sport.  

Baseball has the Triple Crown, which is awarded when one player in either the American League or the National League (or in some rare cases all of Major League Baseball) has the highest batting average, the most home runs and the most runs batted in during a single season.  Before Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown last year, Carl Yastremski was the last player to do it 45 years earlier while playing for the Boston Red Sox.  Only 14 players have achieved the feat.  Pitchers also have a triple crown for most wins, best earned run average and most strikeouts in a single season.  Winning the pitching Triple Crown has occurred more often.  Grover Cleveland Alexander did it three times.  

Newton's Three Laws

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) compiled three laws of motion and published his thinking in Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 while he was teaching at Cambridge University in England. Newton used the three laws to explain and investigate the motion of many physical objects and systems. His thinking is responsible for developments in the field of classical mechanics, which is the study of physical laws describing the motion of bodies in a system. Galileo, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler also participated in the early development of classical mechanics.

Schooled in mathematics, natural philosophy, physics, astronomy and theology, Newton is considered to be one of the most influential individuals of all time and a founder of physical science as we know it today. His thinking dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. We remember him primarily for his description of the principle of gravitation and the three laws of motion. He showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws. By demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, he removed the last doubts about the sun’s being the center of the solar system and advanced the thinking of the Scientific Revolution.

From Threes, Chapter 3, "Threes in Science"

The Wobbly Three-legged Stool

Even though workers are commemorated annually with a one-day break from labor, a more permanent break occurs at retirement. Retirement from a life of work is still a relatively modern development. Preparing for it financially and psychologically continues to challenge even the most careful planners. According to the Social Security Administration, "the three major elements of your retirement portfolio are benefits from pensions, savings and investments, and Social Security benefits." The Social Security Administration expects the program to be unable to meet its financial obligations beginning in 2042. Simply put, the number of people taking money out of the system in 2042 will be greater than the number of people putting money into it. According to statistics released by the Social Security Administration, by 2031, there will be almost twice as many older Americans than there are today, rising from the current 37 million to 71 million over that period. At present, the government's solution for addressing this imbalance is to increase the retirement age, thus delaying payouts to now younger workers on their eventual retirements.  

Since 1971 the life expectancy of the average 65-year-old in the rich world has improved by four to five years. By 2050, forecasts suggest, life expectancies will increase another three years on top of that. Until now, people have converted all that extra lifespan into leisure time. The average retirement age in the OECD in 2010 was 63, almost one year lower than in 1970. Living longer, and retiring early, might not be a problem if the supply of workers were increasing, but declining fertility rates imply that by 2050 there will be just 2.6 American workers supporting each pensioner. The figures for France, Germany and Italy will be 1.9, 1.6 and 1.5 respectively, and younger wage earners will be shoring up pension systems nearly everywhere. 

from Threes, Chapter 8, “Threes in Business and Technology”  

A Holiday From Labor

Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the Labor Day holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York. Others argue that Peter J. McGuire of the AFL (American Federation of Labor) proposed a Labor Day in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labor festival in Toronto, Canada. Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, 30 U.S. states officially celebrated Labor Day. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, Congress made Labor Day a national holiday in just six days after the end of the strike. 

The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York was preferred over the more widespread International Workers' Day (May Day or May 1 in more than 80 countries) because President Cleveland was concerned an observance on the latter date would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair on International Workers' Day. John L. Lewis started the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) trade union, in 1932. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders, including leaders of the CIO, to swear they were not Communists. That provision in the act was later found to be unconstitutional. The CIO merged with the AFL to become the AFL-CIO in 1955.

from Threes, Chapter 8, “Threes in Business and Technology ”  

Fibonacci Discovers a Pattern

While averages settle into a number that’s lower than the highest in the series and higher than the lowest, other sequences involving three numbers expand.  Threes can be represented by relationships of two things to a third in a sequence that’s additive and infinite.  The Fibonacci series, for example, is a sequence of sums.  Starting with 0, add 1 to equal one.  0 + 1 = 1.  Then add the two preceding numbers.  1 plus 1 equals 2.  Add 1 and 2 to equal 3.  Two plus three equals five, and so on.  The series rolls out like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, etc. 

Fibonacci numbers were named after Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170-c. 1250) who was known as Fibonacci.  He published a book on mathematics in 1202 that described the series, although it had originated in India several centuries before.  Fibonacci found examples of the series in nature.  One of his first studies was the creation of the sequence of individuals from a single pair of adult, mating rabbits.  He concluded, given the parameters of his study, the rabbit pairs would multiply in accord with the numbers in the series identified with him.  Fibonacci numbers are used in financial markets today to make predictions about the movement of prices. 

From Threes, Chapter 2, “Threes in Math”  

Three Graces

Grace fascinates for its many dimensions. It goes well beyond the spiritual meanings. You can think of physical grace or gracefulness, which is an ability to move around effortlessly. You can think of social grace. In Greek mythology the Charites, known as The Three Graces, were the goddesses of joy, charm and beauty. They were named Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer). The Graces presided over banquets, dances, and all other pleasurable social events, and brought joy and goodwill to both gods and mortals. In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, which connotes gratitude.  With grace and gratitude derived from the Latin gratus, the meaning of grace can be extended to mean a sense of gratitude or gratefulness. “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow,” writes Melodie Beattie.        

from Threes, Chapter 4, “Threes in Religion and Mythology”  

Three Reactions to Government Arrogance

A father writing to his hero son (Marine Corps officer) with three tours in Iraq expresses his anger when he says, “That a soldier who murdered 13 other soldiers on a Texas Army base, and who admitted he did it, is having a show trial (court martial).  I'm pretty sure UCMJ calls for his summary execution....That another soldier (Manning) who revealed sensitive, classified operational shit to the world won't be executed for treason, no matter how long he is in the slammer.  Better be Leavenworth. They make you break rocks with a sledge hammer, every day.  Till you die.  I can live with that....That a govt contractor who did the same is hiding in Russia.  Russia!”

These three strong, individual reactions from Hasan, Manning and Snowden remain in the news.  We could believe the reactions resulted from U.S. government responses to the September 11, 2001 attack that took the form of deception at the United Nations, an invasion of Iraq in 2003, and an explosion of government-directed intelligence-gathering capacity.  For many the news of these episodes of retribution or betrayal is disheartening and disgraceful.  For others, it represents examples of the moral courage it takes to oppose overwhelming institutional force. 

Conceivably, governments can be plotted along an imaginary line from benevolence on one end to malevolence on the other.  Most governments fall along that line with a majority, presumably, occupying a middle ground.  As governments creep away from benevolence they can begin to display arrogance, which falls far short of malevolence for sure but elicits nevertheless strong reaction from individuals such as Thomas Paine, Daniel Ellsburg, Nelson Mandela and right now, Hasan, Manning and Snowden.  Some we regard as patriots; some as traitors.  Wise leaders in governments pull back from arrogance.  

Threes of Modern Design

Ever wonder what constitutes successful modern design?  IDEO, a large, international firm, designed the Apple mouse way back when and the Palm hand-held organizer.  Recently, a wider lid for Samuel Adams beers.  It designs services as well.

“There are three main elements to IDEO’s ‘design thinking.’  The first is ‘lots of different eyes.’  It employs people from wildly different backgrounds—surgeons and anthropologists as well as engineers and designers—and lumps them into multidisciplinary teams.  The second is to look at problems from the consumer’s point of view: for example, conducting detailed interviews with patients about their daily pill-taking routines and how they feel about them.  IDEO likes to focus on the outliers rather than the typical customers—people who have demanding medical regimes or who constantly forget to take their tablets—on the assumption that this produces more useful results.

“The third element is making everything tangible.  The company produces mock-ups of its products and processes to see how people react to them ‘in the wild.’”

We need firms such as IDEO to help us re-think everything every so often.

from Schumpeter, “Back to the drawing-board,” The Economist, July 6, 2013. 

Joy, Zone and Flow

That ability to focus can become the gateway to even greater physical or athletic achievement highlighted by effortless, graceful movement that is beautiful to watch or experience.  Kinesiology, also known as human kinetics, is the study of human movement, and it addresses physiological, mechanical, and psychological mechanisms.  The word comes from the Greek word kinesis (movement).  The graceful flow of the human body can become a source of elation and joy for athletes and performers. 

“You are in an ecstatic state to such a point that you feel as though you almost don’t exist,” says Hungarian psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi.  Athletes can experience these feelings when they perform at such a high level that they feel invincible, when they seem to float through the competition, their bodies able to do whatever they will them to do. It does not happen often, and when it does, it is unforgettable.  It tends to accompany a state of mind characterized by a trance-like intense, yet seemingly effortless and enjoyable, concentration of mental and physical effort.  It can be accompanied by a feeling of joy. Csíkszentmihályi calls it Flow.  Others have described the feeling as “being in the zone.”

from Threes, Chapter 10, “Threes in Sports and Games” 

Igneous, Metamorphic, Sedimentary Rocks

Geologists group rocks into three categories based on their origin: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.

Igneous rocks solidify from a molten or partially molten state.  These rocks are characterized as either extrusive or intrusive.  Extrusive igneous rocks solidify from molten material that flows over the earth’s surface (lava).  Extrusive igneous rocks typically have a fine-grained texture (individual minerals are not visible unless magnified) because the lava cools rapidly when exposed to the atmosphere, preventing crystal growth.  Common extrusive rocks are basalt, andesite and rhyolite.  Intrusive rocks form from molten material (magma) that flows and solidifies underground.  These rocks usually have a coarse texture (individual minerals are visible without magnification) because the magma cools slowly underground, allowing crystal growth. Common rock types within the intrusive category are granite and diorite.

Erosion and deposition play a key part in the formation of sedimentary rocks.  Wind, water, ice, and chemicals break down existing rock into sediment that is then transported and deposited by wind, water, and glaciers.  As sediment accumulates with time (thousands of years) it becomes compacted and cemented (lithified), eventually forming rock.  Some common sedimentary rocks are shale, sandstone and limestone.


Metamorphic rocks are any rock type that has been altered by heat, pressure, and/or the chemical action of fluids and gases.  Metamorphic rocks are classified by their structure and their dominant minerals.  Metamorphic rock structure is either foliated (has a definite planar structure) or nonfoliated (massive, without structure).  Common foliated metamorphic rocks are slate, phyllite, schist, and gneiss.  Common nonfoliated metamorphic rocks are quartzite and marble.

Horse, Donkey, Mule

The horse, the donkey and the mule are related yet different species.  In fact a mule is a biological cross between a male donkey (ass) and a female horse.  The Zebra is related to the horse and the donkey.  There are three species of Zebra: plains, mountain and Gre´vy’s.  Zebras have never been domesticated successfully to any large scale because they are unpredictable in their behavior.

Three Documents for the New Government

Thomas Paine’s remonstrations against the oppressive monarchy led not only to the popular uprising and a formal Declaration of Independence but also to the first of three documents that shaped a new government, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.  Adopted in 1777 and ratified by delegates from each of 13 colonies, the Articles of Confederation organized a “Perpetual Union” among the 13 states that had declared independence from Great Britain.  The Articles were in effect from 1781 to 1789, when they were superseded by the new Constitution. 

The Articles of Confederation established a national legislature with authority to raise an army and navy, declare war and negotiate treaties, borrow and coin money, run a postal system, and handle relations with Native Americans.  Each state could send two delegates to Congress but had only one vote.  Delegates from seven of the 13 states represented a quorum necessary to conduct business.  Delegates were elected for one-year terms and could not serve for more than three years in any six-year period.  The single-body Congress under the Articles was the entire national government.  There were no executive or judicial branches.  Under the Articles, the president of the Continental Congress was simply the presiding officer of the legislature and had no executive functions.

Read a whole lot more in Threes, Chapter 7, “Threes in Government and Politics”  

Threes speak

Here are a few common threes expressions.

Plumb, level, square

“Third time’s the charm”

Fat, dumb and happy

“Woulda, coulda, shoulda”

Father, son and holy ghost

Faith, hope and charity

“Friends, Romans, Countrymen”  

“Liberty, equality, fraternity”

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

“preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” 

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“pretty good, not bad, I can’t complain”—John Prine from “Pretty Good”

“send lawyers, guns and money”—Warren Zevon from “Lawyers, Guns and Money”

“Exuberance, Raw Power and Punctuality”—This Is Spinal Tap

“The never ending battle for truth, Justice and the American way”

"faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"—Superman

Swifter, higher, stronger

On your mark, get set, go

They create an appealing pattern and rhythm.  There are many more.

From the book, Threes

The Triple Crown

Baseball has a Triple Crown, which is awarded when one player in either the American League or the National League (or in some rare cases all of Major League Baseball) has the highest batting average, the most home runs and the most runs batted in during a single season.  Before Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown in 2012, Carl Yastremski was the last player to do it 45 years earlier while playing for the Boston Red Sox.  Only 14 players have achieved the feat.  Pitchers also have a triple crown for most wins, best earned run average and most strikeouts in a single season.  Winning the pitching Triple Crown has occurred more often.  Grover Cleveland Alexander did it three times. 

Horseracing has its own Triple Crown, and so does professional surfing, making, then, three Triple Crown awards, including baseball. 

from Threes, Chapter 10, “Threes in Sports and Games”  

The Tipping Point has Three Factors

Malcolm Gladwell, author of the best-selling The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference contends the Tipping Point is determined by three factors.  The first, the Law of the Few, identifies three agents of change who are responsible for moving to and across The Tipping Point.  These change agents are connectors or those individuals who are skilled at networking; mavens or those to whom others go for information, and salesmen or those with charisma and personality to persuade others.  The second is the Stickiness Factor, which is determined by the content of the message and how it resonates in a society.  Gladwell’s third factor in reaching the Tipping Point is the Power of Context.  Context is a critical part of any communication that seeks to educate or persuade.  It relies on the local conditions and circumstances for its power. 

from Threes, Chapter 5, “Threes in Psychology and Sociology”  

The Three Domain System

I have noticed more lightening bugs in the evening air than I can remember seeing.  June bugs are out, and cicadas are on the way.  The abundance of life is, I find, always remarkable.  

“Life, like Caesar’s Gaul, is divided into three parts.  The Linnaean system of classification, with a prescriptive hierarchy of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum and kingdom, ultimately lumps everything alive into one of three giant groups known as domains.” 

Eukaryotes are the most familiar domain, though perhaps not the most important to the Earth’s overall biosphere.  Eukaryotes include all animals, plants, fungi and many single-celled creatures, all of which are grouped together because they have complex cell nuclei divided into linear chromosomes. 

Then there are the bacteria—familiar as agents of disease, but actually ecologically crucial.  Some feed on dead organic matter.  Some oxidize minerals.  And some photosynthesize, providing a significant fraction (around a quarter) of the world’s oxygen.  Bacteria, rather than having complex nuclei, carry their genes on simple rings of DNA which float inside their cells.          

The third domain of life, the archaea, look, under a microscope, like bacteria.  For that reason, their distinctiveness was recognized only in the 1970s.  Their biochemistry, however, is very different from that of bacteria (they are, for example, the only organisms that give off methane as a waste product), and their separate history seems to stretch back billions of years.      

The Three Domain System was developed by Carl Woese following the identification of archaea as a third domain to classify organisms.  Until the late 1960's when Woese made his discovery, organisms had been classified according to a six kingdom system. Genetic sequencing has given researchers a whole new way of analyzing relationships among organisms and classes.  The current system, the three domain system, combines organisms primarily based on differences in ribosomal RNA structure.  Ribosomal RNA is a molecular building block for ribosomes.  Ribosomes serve to “create” proteins from amino acids.  With Woese’s modern taxonomy in use, organisms are now classified into three domains and six kingdoms that capture the entire web of life in one organic system.

from Threes, Chapter 3, “Threes in Science”  

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