In other news:

It’s November. How did I do with the PB + 1 Challenge? I bailed on it last week, so no trophies for me. I have photos, but with the gallery acting weird, it may be a while before I get them up, meanwhile I enjoyed several savory selections including, wasabi peas, bleu cheese, chicken livers, mushrooms, bananas, raisins, plain ol’ jelly, and two different kinds of lettuce. Mostly not a bad thing; the strong flavor of the peanut butter tends to overwhelm most other flavors,  so after that it is just a texture thing. The worst were the mushrooms even though I looove me some mushrooms. The contrast was just really weird.

I’ve already upgraded the Wordpress software and started sharing some of my blogroll ( which may go away, so check the links while you can). Now I’m working on adding a gallery and populating it with some photos and past pieces of art. Next up is a customized theme. You may think I’m a masochist, but I’m planning to do this from the ground up. I love graphics and I code for a living so, I should be able to tackle all aspects of this. I actually think it will be fun. It is so far.

Animals are Problem Solvers

Would you find it interesting animals are problem solvers? Have you ever watched an animal solve a problem? I have a small herd of cats and one dog. It is endlessly fascinating to watch how they think. Have you ever watched a cat trying to climb to a higher location? They first look at where they want to be, then they start looking for possible avenues that will get them “up there”. You can see them thinking about the problem and even considering alternatives, like the posturing for the direct jump then changing their mind. Obviously the problems animals are solving aren’t “Save the World” quality. They just want to get from point A to point B, eat, or “find the ball”.

Better Communication

I bring this up because, now that I’ve established myself as a professional problem solver, I get to do the one thing animals can’t. I have to think about how I think, so I can communicate more effectively with you. Mostly, I’ve always just solved my problems, without really thinking about how I did it. Once solved, that technique or strategy was available to me for the next similar problem that popped up.

Now obviously I have had training in formal problem solving strategies, just like you. Remember back in high school when you were trying to figure out how to solve those algebra problems? If you were at all successful then you eventually learned a formal approach or two to help you out. But what were the names of those formal approaches?

For example did you know the cat looking first at where he wants to be and then working backwards to get there is formally called “Working Backwards?” I didn’t until recently, even though I do know of at least one set of information products that teaches this very tactic as a success strategy.

Funny Formalized Solutions

This is what I’ve been doing. I’m researching the formalized fields of problem solving. Some of it is rather humorous too. For example, I think we all have plenty of experience in the ‘trial and error’ method of problem solving. It is very similar to the method called ‘Guess and Test’. These probably aren’t the most effective strategies for tackling important problems, but they are the easiest to employ. You certainly learned all of your motor skills like crawling, walking, eating, and speech through trial and error. You also did it without having to know that there was a named and formalized description of the process, complete with methodology, a list of primary features, and specific examples in areas like algorithm design. I find that kind of funny.

Solution Shopping

Of course all of these labels and detailed descriptions help us organize our own thinking. Thinking is at the heart of problem solving. If you start looking at all the descriptions of various thinking strategies, the list of named, formalized structures seems to explode exponentially!! What I really find fascinating, though, is the fact that the various ways my cats and the dog solve their simple problems, also fit into one or more of these named, formalized, categorized, info-structures. That is even more funny!

After the laughter of surprise dies down, it is easy to see how it is sometimes necessary to organize all of our thoughts about a subject including the simple stuff. The big benefit to you is proof of point #3 in my last post about “The Top 5 Easiest Ways to Solve Almost Any Problem”. Whatever your problem, there is bound to already be a solution, or a suitable strategy to reach a solution. Not all solutions are one size fits all, but you can still probably fill a shopping cart with solutions, or solution strategies that will work. The big problem then is deciding which to use.

Here is a suggestion: Cats and dogs are not terribly complicated creatures. There is a whole school of thought around the idea that simple is good. So maybe the next time you are shopping for a solution to your next most pressing problem, you could consult your cat

Problem Solved?

If not, then check in here regularly, I have lots to share. If you get impatient, have a peek at Problem Solving in Wikipedia and spend some time surfing. It is very enlightening.

First, let’s look at this blog as an example. I downloaded the Wordpress software nearly two months ago. I managed to pull my old and neglected TypePad blog and get Wordpress installed in one day. This is just the second post though. Among many other activities, I have anguished over what focus to give it. I decided on a focus and then I made of list of article ideas. Then I decided I don’t like the default Kubrick theme. I’ve wasted several hours browsing themes on the Wordpress site, the web, CSS Zen Garden, and I’ve finally decided what I want to do. Now I just have to start doing it. Bottom line: my blog still is just barely started. But if I had just started posting ( as I am doing now ) I would be that much further ahead. And there is the answer in a nutshell.

The solution: Nike says it best: Just do it!

• Just start. If you find you started in the wrong place or got ahead of yourself, then save your work as best you can and back up as far as necessary, then re-start there. At least now you have some momentum.
• Be persistant. Nobody says your project has to be perfect at the very beginning. ( Isn’t that what the term ‘beta’ is for?). Leverage your momentum, and keep making those incremental improvements on a consistent basis. Eventually you will get where you want to go.
• Let go of any frustration. You can probably think of many successful projects where you started knowing nothing. Maybe you did get frustrated along the way. It happens; especially if you find you started in the wrong place. I bet you had to let go of, or move past any frustration to finish though, didn’t you?

This blog is my project. There is no boss standing over me with whip, but I look back and see if I keep going at the previous rate, it will just become another regret. So I am posting, everything else can come later. Depending on when you read this you may or may not see the default Kubrik Theme. I must assume you aren’t here just for the pretty pictures and the atmosphere ( or maybe you are ), you’re here for the content. Either way, thanks for stopping by.

As you may know, a moiré effect is created when two patterns are combined and a third pattern emerges. If you aren’t familiar with with this already, check out this mathematik.com page for a very simple animated illustration(headache free of charge) . I’ll wait right here while you go check that out. . .

Back? Good. Let me tell you a story. . .
When I was a teenager I received a gift called Moiré. It was string art craft project. If you received one as I did, then you know you had some fishing line and a couple of abstract clear acrylic shapes with notches cut in them. You glued the shapes together (my kit had a square and a moon sliver) and wound the fishing line around the notches in some recommended sequence. When you were through, you had a piece of abstract art composed all of straight lines, but where several lines intersected closely there were elegant curves. Looking through the piece, the patterns on the opposite side combined with those on the near side and added more interest which changed with you as you changed your viewpoint. Moiré!

Around the same time, I was learning to program on an Apple II. The very first pretty and abstract computer graphic I created way back then depended entirely on the moiré effect. I learned little something about programming, and graphics. The experience also served as the motivation to complete the Moiré string art kit. Before then I had let it set unused in its box for a year or more.

There are three things to note about the story; First it is a good example of unexpected possibilities that emerge when you combine things. That is obviously the moiré effect itself. Second, while programming graphics has little to do with craft projects per se, ( particularly back then) both activities had art and the moiré effect in common. So, an activity in one area inspired me to take action in another. Third, I made some wonderful discoveries in both areas, and wound up with a nice piece of art to share.

Which brings us to the explanation of this blog and why I (and you) want Moiré.

• Moiré is creative problem solving. Combine ideas from two or more different disciplines and create a solution to whatever problem you need to tackle.
• Moiré is adapting, and applying, useful concepts from different disciplines in your quest for excellence by leveraging similarities, like the nearly, but not quite parallel lines in the string art.
• Moiré is seeing value in your work, however simple and straight it may seem, and choosing to add it to the elegant whole. Yes, like the remarkable, elegant curves emerging at the edges of the intersections of several simple straight-line string segments.

Moiré serves one other coneptual purpose for me. My interests are all over the board. The three principles of Moiré give me a way add useful focus to whatever topic has my interest at the moment.

Enjoy