Kaprekar's Constant

The four digit number - 6174 is known as Kaprekar's constant.

Take any four digits with at least two different numbers.
Arrange them into the highest number and the lowest number.
Subtract the lower number from the higher number.
Using the difference, repeat the process.

You will always eventually wind up at 6174.

Example:
9445
9544 - 4459 = 5085
8550 - 0558 = 7992
9972 - 2799 = 7173
7731 - 1377 = 6354
6543 - 3456 = 3087
8730 - 0378 = 8352     
8532 - 2358 = 6174

And the 6174 will repeat.
7641 - 1467 = 6174

Try it!

John

Thursday Theology

I'm doing coffee out at a little coffee shop that seems to be a gathering place for church people or small groups. It's interesting listening to some of the conversations. I'm not really eavesdropping; they're just not quiet conversations. One of the things that is striking to me is that many of them are very certain of what they believe to be true -- certain enough that an opposing view would be squashed with an abundance of words based on their faith in spite of actual contradictory evidence.

There were also some good open minded questions and thoughtful answers.

I do find people's thoughts on faith to be interesting. I am interested in listening to different thoughts without feeling the need to correct or to interject my thoughts and beliefs into the conversation unless asked to do so.
I haven't always been like this.
I wonder how the thoughts and faiths of these relatively young people will change over time. Giving people the grace to grow and evolve in their faith can be difficult. It is easy to forget the changes that we went through and expect people to get to where we are without the necessary life experience.

I think it's also a little foolish of us to expect someone to adopt our beliefs when their experience and perhaps cultural background is much different than ours.
Is it possible that we each find our own way to the Creator?
Is it even necessary that we find our way to the Creator?
I'm no longer certain that I believe it is.

Just some simple thoughts from a simple man for your Thursday morning consideration.

John

Wednesday Wisdom -- Travel

It is good to be home.
There are so many simple things that just make being home wonderful:
  sleeping in your own bed
  sitting in a familiar chair
  drinking your morning coffee from one of your favorite mugs
  even using your own bathroom!

It was a short visit with Hannah, Jason, and the pups, but we had a good time. This was our first fall trip to the mountains and the brilliance of the yellow aspens against the dark green conifers is truly something to see.
It was unseasonably warm this past week -- upper 80s everyday, so it remained shorts and t-shirt weather. We walked through downtown CO Springs on Friday night and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Saturday we drove up to around 9500' and had a campfire dinner that was tasty and enjoyable. On Sunday afternoon we went to one of my favorite places -- Manitou Springs. It has a bit of the feel of Eureka Springs, AR. It's kind of artsy and hippie-ish with a little mountain man vibe thrown in for good measure.

Although mountain life wouldn't be my personal choice for everyday, I can certainly see the attraction. The wilderness has its own spirituality and way of connecting to the soul. If there was a Venn diagram of urban life, wilderness, and hippie life -- Colorado would be right in the center! I am happy to have someone there to visit and to have a reason to make regular trips to the mountains. This was really an ideal time of year to go.

But it is also good to be home.
Travel.
Go to some different places.
Appreciate the beauty of each place.
Return home better for having seen and experienced a little more of life.

John

This formation is called The Cathedral and was near where we had our campfire dinner. The second pic is from our dinner site. There was a cold stream that ran right next to where we set up our campfire.

Thursday in Kansas

I didn't bring my Chromebook with me this week so there isn't going to be a long, well thought out post today. I'm doing the thumb tappy thing on my phone this morning while Chris catches a few more zzzzzs.

You can't really get to Colorado Springs from southwest MO. You have to go to Kansas City or Wichita first, then you can get to CO Springs from there. We chose the southern route through Wichita and spent the afternoon driving through ... pretty much nothing. There were very few places to stop along the two lane highway and I was grateful for the hybrid truck and good gas mileage. We could've gone a little farther, but decided to stop in Wichita for the night after stopping here for dinner.

I think we'll continue on the country highway today and approach CO Springs from the south this trip. We'll pick up some snacks before we leave Wichita and we'll be fine. Plus we'll see parts of Kansas and Colorado that we haven't seen before.

Here's a simple trick to looking great:

Maybe that's what God was doing with Kansas. The grandeur of the mountains looks even better after driving through the simple plains of Kansas.

We are looking forward to seeing the kids and their pups this evening.

Happy Thursday!

John

Wednesday Wisdom

 

Opting Out

I wish it was possible to opt out of all of the political ads and nonsense once you've voted. Missouri doesn't really have early voting, just absentee ballots for those that are or will be unable to vote on election day. I'm pretty sure that will include us this year and I'm wishing that also meant an end to the political junk mail, endless social media ads, and constant blah, blah, blah on the news sources.

Perhaps we (the US) need to revamp our election system to a much shorter time frame. VP Harris has only been a candidate for President for two months and has managed to mount an impressive campaign in that short period of time. Our party primaries extend the campaign season significantly, but that could change if every state held their primary elections on the same day or even in the same month -- say July. Then primary winners would have all of August, September, and October to convince voters of their value to be elected and we vote the first week of November like always.

I know this is a weird subject when my typical Monday morning posts are more contemplative or meditative, so let me explain how I got here.
I was considering whether or not I should share my thoughts on the upcoming election and explain why I will be voting the way I will be voting. It's still not real contemplative other than I hope that there is a lot of thought going into each vote rather than simply voting for the party one has always voted for or simply following the same media sources one as always followed.

I know that politicians have always cherry picked the statistics to favor their talking points and even told outright lies or made impossible to keep promises, but the pure hatred and vitriol now being spewed in campaigns is really too much and that kind of behavior and character is unfit for national office. 

If I set all of the campaigning aside and just answer the question that is posed by the GOP -- Are you better off now than you were four years ago? -- the answer is Yes, I am.
I know that the post-COVID global inflation has taken its toll on many Americans. I also know that the US recovery has led the rest of the world and the World Bank has recently said that the strong US economy is helping to stabilize other economies, as well.

Statistics show that inflation has cost the average American an additional $28,000 over the past three years. They also show that wages are up and the same average American made $1200 dollars more in the month of August this year than they did in August three years ago.
I don't make a wage. Most of you know that I am retired. Due to the rise in the stock market, my savings is doing quite well, thank you. And with the Social Security adjustment a couple of years ago, that also increased to a more reasonable level.

But that's just me, and I realize that I am privileged beyond many others. It's said that you shouldn't ask a question that you don't want to hear the answer to -- I am better off than I was four years ago. 
And I want the majority of my fellow Americans to be better off four years from now than they are today. I truly believe that won't be likely under a Trump/Vance administration and will be much more likely under a Harris/Walz administration.

I also believe that a shorter campaign period will be easier on friendships and family relationships. This year long fighting over political shit becomes nearly irreconcilable for far too many people. Political differences shouldn't be this divisive. 

That's it for my Monday morning rant. 
Sorry if you came here for something thoughtful and meditative. It's just what was on my mind this morning. I'm going to go downstairs and put in 30 minutes on the exercise bike and get my mind back into a more peaceful state.

sigh

John

So long, Summer!

I'm up at sunrise on this last day of summer. sigh
By this time tomorrow morning the sun will have reached the equator in its southward journey and it will be fall in the northern hemisphere. The equinox -- when there is equal night and day at the equator -- is different than the equilux -- when night and day are equal wherever you are. Tomorrow there will be 12 hours and 8 minutes of daylight here in Highlandville MO. Our equilux, where there are 12 hours of both day and night won't occur until Wednesday.

While I may lament the beginning of fall, it isn't like this catches me by surprise or will change my life in any great way. It isn't like I have to build fires earlier or burn more oil in my lanterns. I'll just flip the lights on a little earlier in the evening. Living in rural Missouri doesn't have the active nightlife that life in a city might bring so the only real difference is more dark.
I know that more dark/less light does have an impact on many people. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can impact physical health as well as mental well-being. I am fortunate that I don't suffer from SAD in any profound ways, but by the midpoint of winter I am truly longing for spring and summer.

Enough with the stuff out of my control!
Something I do have control over is meeting with people. I do manage my people contact pretty well, maybe too well. I am trying to be more purposeful about that and have recently been adding occasional meetings with people. I've always sort of known that men have problems with friendships, but I am just realizing that it is more of a problem for quite a few guys. 

"I don't really have any friends," is a lament I hear quite often. 
Truthfully, I don't either, but I don't know that it's something to lament about. Sure, it would be nice to have a buddy to go watch the fights with, but I'm also okay with watching alone or skipping an event all together. 
I do know a group of young men (40ish) that meet weekly and have developed good friendship bonds in doing so. I've been invited into the group and have gone a few times, but I'm pretty sure I'm more like the age of their dads. It's cool, but the relationships they have between one another is much more organic than one they might have with me.
The thing about this group is that it is quite purposeful. Maybe that's something my generation never really learned. So I'm learning from these young guys.
I doubt that I'm going to ever host a weekly fire pit gathering, but if I meet with a few different men for an occasional coffee/breakfast/lunch/beer/cigar that might be a good thing for me and for them.

I already have a coffee connection for this coming week, so I should be good for the rest of the month. I'll start working on October later.

John

Friday Funnies

 

Thursday...questions

What are your questions about religion/theology/God/heaven/hell/etc.?

Don't expect any answers from me. I'm just wondering what you're thinking about.
A couple of the things that I have struggled with are the two very different Gods portrayed in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible -- the angry, judgmental God of the Old Testament vs the loving, merciful God of the New Testament.
These two very different distinctions of God are incompatible in my way of thinking.

I've kind of reconciled it in my head that the Old Testament God is a god of man's design (religion) and the New Testament God is the real deal that Jesus came to help us understand. I'm not sure if that makes any sense or not because it is difficult for me to explain it in my head, much less try to share it in words. Sometimes I sort of think in feelings instead of in words. Does anyone else do that?

Most of Christianity seems to use Jesus as a kind of get out of jail free card to the Old Testament God's wrath and eternal condemnation, but that doesn't work for me anymore. I'm not sure that it ever really made sense to me. I guess I accepted it because I trusted others that taught it to have understood it better than I did. I think we were all believing and teaching a misunderstanding or perhaps a known falsehood without really knowing what we were doing.

I saw this meme recently...

...and thought to myself, "See? The whole evangelical thing makes no sense when you put it like that!"

What would Jesus say about that?
I think he would fall into his Sermon on the Mount rhythm with something like, "You've heard it said that God is going kick your butt if you don't follow all of the rules, but I'm telling you that's just religious manipulation and your leaders trying to control you. God loves you!"

What if people actually knew Jesus followers by their love rather than by their hate?
What if people stopped using religion to control and manipulate people?
What if we worked to bring love and understanding to our community instead of striving for personal wealth and power?

Does God really love me?
Does God love everyone?

I have questions.
Do you?

John

Wednesday Wisdom