I just finished a good book. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences. So to all those who know their numbers I applaud you. Thank you for doing your part to help out our society, or at least not hinder our progress.

To those who are innumerate. Learn a little bit, so at least you can assess if someone is correct, if a danger is worth the worry, or if we are moving as a society in the right direction. I know its overwhelming, but a little bit at a time. Slowly you can move from addition to multi-differential calculus.

And a quote from the book: “Innumeracy and pseudoscience are often associated, in part because of the ease with which mathematical certainty can be invoked, to bludgeon the innumerate into a dumb acquiescence.” -John Allen Paulos

See it on Amazon:

I left FL last Thursday and was able to spend the weekend in Asheville. A wonderful time spent with friends in beautiful Western North Carolina. I rode my bike around the city, had tea with friends, went to play on some rocks, and fished for small mouth with a great friend. Now I am in Bedford, VA. Where is bedford one might ask. Well it is a small little town just southwest of Lynchburg. See Map. Yep someone named a town Lynchburg. So I am heading up to Richmond for the weekend and then on to Marlborough, MA. Where is Marlborough one might ask. Well its a small town about 40 minutes west of Boston. See Map.
I am starting work there for a managment consulting and economic advisors firm for the North American energy and water industries. Concentric Energy Advisors. So that’s my plan. And I will try to post some pictures of Richmond. I forgot to take any in Asheville.

The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to president Bush about the concerns he had on how the President was running the country. This was great. I checked out the letter which actually made some good points. He often brought up the confilict between christian moral values and our countries actions abroad. Check the letter out and let me knwo what you think.

So there has been a lot of news and conversation surrounding Leonardo da Vinci, especially with Dan Browns’ book, The DaVinci Code (a great book). Google is even running a davinci puzzle of thier own. And sony pictures has their new movie coming out.

But something a little more deeper interests me, Leonardo da Vinci’s seven principles.

• Curiosita: An insatiably curious approach to life.
• Dimonstratzione: A commitment to test knowledge through experience.
• Sensazione: The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to clarify experience.
• Sfumato: A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
• Arte/Scienza: The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination (“whole-brain thinking”).
• Corporalita: The cultivation of ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
• Connessione: A recognition and appreciation for the connectedness of all things and phenomena; “systems thinking.”

I hope all of you who do enjoy checking this site out every now and then, enjoys the new look and new features.
-The Random Reflection section updates a new quote each time the site refreshes.
-There is a quote page with a list of all these quotes
-My Photos is now random, clicking on ‘My Photos’ takes you to the photo page within this site (it needs work).
-Cliking on ‘photos’ at the top navigation bar will take you to my Flickr account
-There are other links added to the top navigation bar to other pages
-You can now subscribe to my site’s feed. I highly recommend Google Reader, it is like your own newspaper.

So enjoy.

The Boat, originally uploaded by jdtaylor.

For that last few weeks I have been entertaining myself in Northern Fl. Actually its been very pleasent. I have been helping my dad put together a wooden coanoe. This is a picture shortly after it was fiberglassed, a process that took more than 12 hours. So for all those who are board and need a creative outlet I would highly recommend building a boat.

Not much to say about this. It seems as though their is a large culture around ironing boards and taking them to interesting places. There’s many more pictures if you seem to have some spare time. Extreme Ironing.

I am now back in the U.S. looking for a job. So if you know anyone in the finance or energy industry let me know. The total trip was a wonderful time, lots of laughs, great people, and a wonderful setting. It was hard to leave, but I am excited about my next venture and finding a job. So now this site may have more diverse entries, not just pictures of me not working.