Conversations revisited.

Yesterday, I ranted on the lack of relevant conversations. I received a reader's thoughtful comment that I have  reproduced on this blog with his permission. This reader is also the founder of a group of parents who spend time teaching their children about the marvels of useful electronics. The reader is a genuine explorer, hence I have posted a picture of him hiking somewhere in the Utah mountains feeding his insatiable curiosity. If it were up to me, I would put him in charge of national education. 

Bob:
 

Welcome to the club:

I am in no forum groups, except one, teletypes, because the group is passionate about the machines, as I am.

We have no broadcast, TV, Cable whatever, and haven't for 9 years.  We subscribe to no magazines.  No newspapers, and I look at only two blogs (Drudge and Market Ticker), a total of about 10 minutes each day.  We don't vote in any elections, since there is no one who represents our conservative views.  We watch no sports, no Olympics.  I find the newspapers, magazines, everything so boring, vapid, and with no depth.  Why should I spend time reading an article, from an uneducated person, who copied the info from someone else who did not really know the subject, and added nothing to it?

What do we do?  We spend time with family.  We build things, we read incredible books, mostly written many years ago.  Just finished "Leni Riefenstahl" (ISBN: 0312119267 about $4 on abebooks.com), an incredible read, and now reading a book about Russia in 1944.  We go on hikes, watch old movies together.  We play games, ride bikes, go camping, looking for fossils, attend a civil war reenactment, tour factories.  We eat dinner together each evening, and when the kids start goofing off, I tell them to calm down and come up with a topic of conversation.  I also encourage them to start conversations with people.

We have conversations with good neighbors and relatives.  I save up technical questions for a like minded technical neighbor, and we go to lunch every couple weeks.  I asked him what I could do for him, since he is always answering my questions.  He said, "Nothing, I just enjoy talking to someone who is passionate about things."


John Whitney
Former silicon valley entrepreneur
Now living somewhere in Utah.