You Live and You Learn

1

May 5, 2017 by JImbo

I find I’m constantly learning, even when I don’t mean to. I suppose I should say ESPECIALLY when I don’t set out to. If you sit down and think about it, you are constantly learning as long as you keep your eyes and ears open.

For example, just yesterday on a relatively boring day at work I probably learned way more than I realized. A new store opened. A store closed. A street is closed for repairs. Someone just had a baby.

Oh I can hear you saying “Well that’s minor stuff. That’s not LEARNING, that’s just everyday life stuff!” Yes, it’s “normal” stuff, but it’s still information I didn’t have the day before.

However, even beyond that I realized I’d learned a few “academic” things just by being curious. I’ll share a few with you.

1. I saw a worm in a mud puddle crawling around so I wondered how long they could live underwater. Turns out, more or less indefinitely. Since they don’t have lungs they don’t need a lot of oxygen. They absorb oxygen across a membrane kinda like fish (only on the outside of their body) so any oxygenated water will work. Now I know for sure that it’s not drowning that kills my worm while fishing. It’s the stabbing it through with a fish hook. Science!
2. Secondly, I wondered what the difference was between “Pursue” and “Chase.” Cops “pursue” crooks, but it sounds weird if you say your dog is “pursuing” a stick you threw. So what’s the difference? Turns out that “Pursue” means to follow with HOSTILE intent. “Chase” is following with intent to CAPTURE. So just remember if the cops say they are “chasing” you, you’re still good. If they change to “pursue”, they’re gonna shoot first.
3. And finally, the Amish DO have private property. Many people kept telling me that the Amish were a “communal” society that shared everything like hippies. However, an Amish guy cleared it up. He said that while a few things are in common (the church and schoolhouse for example), the individual families own their own things. While they are willing to loan them to one another freely, they still OWN things just like the rest of us.

I’d kind of like to start a Neo-Amish movement. Maybe we can make the cut-off around the point at which cell phones came out. Everything before that’s fine. I’m fond of electricity and central heating. Running water is a personal favorite. Even computers are okay to the extent that you can use them to communicate and type on.

What we’re lacking is personal interaction however. Everyone spends so much time with their face in their phones that they don’t learn to TALK to one another. Think about it.

Computers in the house are fine. A phone in the house was fine. It was kinda NICE to NOT be near a phone. It was kinda quiet.

On top of that, things in the house are FAMILY owned. The living room TV is the FAMILY TV. The house phone is for EVERYONE. The family computer is for there for the family.

Ah well. It’s just a rambling thought. Now I have a half dozen more things to look up.

So now I ask you.. what did YOU learn today? This week? This month? This year?

What have you caught yourself learning accidentally? =-)

 

 

 

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