Category Personal

Wassup?

Geir Isene 12 Comments

Been busy lately. With moving into our new home, with interesting new projects, with coaching some amazing people. And so it has been quiet here on the blog. But I’ve got a new idea – what about writing a short blog post every day? Unfiltered thoughts, relating my everyday experiences or whatever pops to my mind. I will try it and see what happens.

The view from our new home - great for my telescope :-)

The view from our new place – great for my telescope 🙂

Brendan suggested I read the book “Antifragile“. A life-changer. What’s the opposite of “fragile”? Most people replies “robust” or some synonym. But no, that’s not the opposite of “fragile”. If you think of a scale from -1 (fragile) to +1, the “robust would be zero. On the minus side of the scale we find the stuff that is harmed by shock or sudden change – like a fragile vase accelerating toward the floor. Stuff that are not harmed are in the middel of the scale, while stuff that benefit from shock or sudden change is on the plus side. While the story of Hercules beheading Hydra only to see two heads replace the former head neatly illustrated the plus side, there are more common-day examples. Like your body. Exercising your body breaks down muscle fibre resulting in a better body. Stuff that adapts, adopts, learn from getting hurt are “antifragile”. And that is far above something “robust”. And people can be fragile. Or robust. Or antifragile. I aim for the latter and have been for a few years.

It actually got me thinking about how I could benefit from the ultimate harm. Got me thinking about death. And I find myself not fearing death. Rather, I am intrigued by it. I really wonder what it will bring. I’m almost excited about that change, whenever it will come. A friend of mine, Egil Möller once said that he believed the purpose of life was to come to peace with death. Interesting.

Apart from my recent personal philosophical explorations, I have been doing some interesting projects in Å. Currently, I am involved in a few projects at Bærum Kommune (one of Norway’s major municipalities) where I am facilitating a cultural change toward 100% responsibility and focus on Deliverables rather than Tasks (ref. my article “Processes, Automation and Human Potential“). I have also been writing their IT strategy for the next 6 years and proposing a steering and financial model. I also concluded a three month project with Altinn (Norway’s governmental digital data hub) last week. Apparently I moved some people in that organization – one person started crying as he stood up during the dinner to thank me for the project. He’s a great guy and I think he finally understood what a great guy he is.

On the coaching side, I have been working with a dozen people simultaneously for a few months with several concluding during the past weeks. One guy, a 16-year old was suicidal when we first met half a year ago. We established a scale from -3 to +3, reporting every day how the day was. A score of -3 would be “I want to kill myself”, a -2 would be a really bad day, -1 a shitty day, zero would be a “who cares”-day, a +1 equals a good day, a +2 a really good day and a +3 would be a spectacular day. We quickly got up from -3/-2 to an average of -0.5. Now he is regularly reporting +2 and very seldom as low as zero. So, it can be done.

Also, Anette and I met with Dan Koon yesterday. That was fun. Dan is an amazing person. I am hoping to do some fun stuff with him in the near future.

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I will probably write shorter posts than this on a daily basis. While on vacation during the next few days, I will write short posts from my mobile phone. Wonder how that will turn out. Up into the mountain we go – stay tuned for pictures 🙂

Reverse Polish Notation explained

Geir Isene 19 Comments

The Youtube channel “Computerphile” has some cool videos. This one explains very well what Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) is and how it works. The concept is central to the traditional HP calculators, something dear to my heart 🙂

Notice how I am drifting away from blogging about Scientology. Scientology blog posts generate a hell of a lot more action than any post on RPN of HP calculators. But it’s the logical evolutions as Scientology drifts away into the sunset. The church is dying and anything of value in the subject itself will find its way into the common pool og human knowledge. And all will be fine.

Kill your presentations with Powerpoint

Geir Isene 26 Comments

In the mid 90s, I decided to drop slides in my presentations. With few exceptions I have managed to stay away from that crutch while inspiring small or large crowds. In 2000, I was asked by IBM to hold a presentation to 35 important customers. And they demanded slides. I gave them one. It was a white slide with big, black letters, “This is a boring slide, look at the man who’s talking”.

The particle physics magazine, Symmetry reports that six months ago, organizers of a biweekly forum on Large Hadron Collider physics at Fermilab banned PowerPoint presentations in favor of old-fashioned, chalkboard-style talks. Quoting the article:

Without slides, the participants go further off-script, with more interaction and curiosity,” says Andrew Askew, an assistant professor of physics at Florida State University and a co-organizer of the forum. “We wanted to draw out the importance of the audience.”
In one recent meeting, physics professor John Paul Chou of Rutgers University presented to a full room holding a single page of handwritten notes and a marker. The talk became more dialogue than monologue as members of the audience, freed from their usual need to follow a series of information-stuffed slides flying by at top speed, managed to interrupt with questions and comments.
“We all feel inundated by PowerPoint,” Askew says. “With only a whiteboard, you have your ideas and a pen in your hand.

Yup. Less constraints, more freedom. The opposite can turn really ugly.

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In 2010, when General McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown the above slide, he dryly remarked “When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war.”

The wonders of life

Geir Isene 110 Comments

A recent comment sparked motivation to write about the wonders of life.

As I see it, Earth is pretty close to Heaven as it is. We’ve got great challenges here, action, adventure, the stuff of movies that people fork out real money to watch. We’ve got trials and tribulations, love, hate, joy, anger, thrills, fears and even relaxing boredom. We enjoy the luxury of all the human emotions. We play them out. We take responsibility, we shirk responsibilities, we stress and get worked up, we’ve got real, engaging problems, sorrows and sense of mastery, crashes and the proud feeling of overcoming hardship. We get to work on life, set goals and to feel valuable. All this living has an enormous potential for liking and enjoyment. It’s massive. And something for every taste.

I wouldn’t want it much different, really. A world without downs has no real ups. The light stands out because of the darkness, and without the darkness, there is no amateur astronomy – or finding one’s own way back to the brighter days. If everyone would win, then the soccer games would suck. The balance of good and bad, love and hate, war and peace, good and evil, dark and light all makes for an interesting playing field where we get to strive for the good while enjoying the journey. And while we allow ourself to be tricked into believing that the goal is the destination, we may learn that the journey is the real destination, and that is truly worth loving. And every 70 years or so we get to reboot the game.

It’s an amazing setup. Make the best of it. Enjoy the ride. It’s a choice.

Why this blog is suppressive

Geir Isene 511 Comments

In Scientology, suppression is defined as:

“A harmful intention or action against which one cannot fight back.”

A Suppressive Person (SP) is defined as:

“one that actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist by suppressive acts.”

and

“A person with certain behavior characteristics and who suppresses other people in his vicinity and those other people when he suppresses them become PTS or Potential Trouble Sources.”

And as you can see, a person affected negatively by suppression is termed a Potential Trouble Source (PTS):

“it means someone connected to a person or group opposed to Scientology. It results in illness and roller-coaster and is the cause of illness and roller-coaster.”

and

“a person […] who “roller-coasters,” i.e., gets better, then worse. This occurs only when his connection to a suppressive person or group is unhandled and he must, in order to make his gains from Scientology permanent, receive processing intended to handle such.”

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So, working backward, a person that is involved in Scientology and experiences impermanent gains from it, is connected to a Suppressive person or group. This is somewhat peculiar to Scientology in that the gains are not really permanent, like with physical or other mental training. It’s not like you would expect a person to lose his ability to multiply, to do trigonometry or to ski if he were to be connected to someone opposing those activities in his life. Sure, he could lose motivation and momentum and drop out from his training, and then the skills would corrode. But to suddenly lose his ability to communicate or his ability to recognize the source of problems in life? A person who has audited out all his BTs and then becomes the target of suppression… does the BTs return? Now that is odd.

Could it be that the gains in Scientology actually comes from skillful application of the placebo effect? That the gains are to be had because one really belives one deserve them? And that deep inside we all carry the ability to change our lives if we really can muster the motivation and belief that we can? And that this motivation comes about only when we feel we deserve it?

Is Scientology gains dependent upon the person’s belief, conviction or “inner knowingness”? It would surely answer the conundrum of why one can so easily “lose gains” in Scientology.

Could it be that the scientific cloaking serves to enforce belief in its efficacy? Could the religious cloaking serve the same purpose to different target groups? The time spent surely would enforce one’s conviction that It Works. The same with all the money spent. How about the stringent management, the uniforms, the tough schedules, the bombast, the posh, celebrities and grand PR? And the guru worship? It really does seem like an impressive package that could make a believer out of most anyone. And if we do hold the powers to heal our mind and spirit, one could hardly blame the Scientology scheme for tricking the subjects into unleashing their inner powers.

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On this blog I challenge Scientology beliefs. I question everything myself, and I write about it as I go along. I challenge the practice, the philosophy, the gains, the OT levels, Clear and anything else that turns up as I turn every stone. Scientologists who read this may end up questioning their own beliefs and even lose some gains. And in that aspect, this blog can indeed be looked upon as suppressive. While blogging my Scientology journey has been a great process for me, a nagging doubt remains:

Is it right to challenge another’s belief with facts, if the belief they hold serves to make their life better?

It’s a complex question and I have many views on this. But I would like to hear what you think.

Merry Christmas

Geir Isene 165 Comments

Christmas is a nice time for reflection, for empathy and for nice hugs.

I would like to reflect upon the inspiration I get from all of you. I am so grateful for all your comments – the smart, the wacky, the creative, the logical and all the comments serving to warm the hearts of others. I enjoy your present and my life is richer from it. Just wanted to let you know that your participation here is highly appreciated.

Now, let’s get back to Christmas fun and coziness with our loved ones.

Hugs,

Geir

From my mothers' grave yeasterday

From my mothers’ grave yeasterday

It’s the feeling

Geir Isene 40 Comments

In my talk at HP Norway, I covered my history as a calculator enthusiast. I got my first calculator (a TI-57) when I was 13 and my first HP calculator (HP-41CX) a few years later. I started collecting as an adult, and in 2008 eighty-nine of my ninety calculators got toasted when the building where we had our offices burned to the ground.

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A couple of months before the fire, the Norwegian national TV interviewed me and showed my collection. Lots of people saw it. Shortly after the fire, the TV host Petter Skjerven came back to do a “part 2” where he asked me how I felt after the fire. We were standing in the ruins when I told him I felt great.

A couple of weeks before the fire, I had a dream where I had all HP-calculators ever made in mint condition. That saddened me – because the game was over. You see, the point about collecting the calculators, apart from actually using them, is to COLLECT – not to HAVE. So, I had 8 years of fun behind me when the fire struck. And then I had at least 8 years of fun ahead. It felt great. After that second show, people started sending me their old calculators. And now I am almost beck where I was. Except my HP-01 is hard to replace. And my HP-37E had the lowest serial number recorded. Priceless. Oh well. I started to rebuild my collection, and I have calcs now that I never had before – like the gifts I got from HP after my talk; an HP-70, an HP-25C and an HP-10. All rare items.

One important personal point I touched upon in my talk was how I am driven by feelings. The feeling for the unknown, the feeling of learning something new, of discovery, of the vast sea of interesting knowledge, the thrill of learning Einstein’s theory of relativity before I got my first calculator, the excitement of making a self-modifying program on a TI-59 that I borrowed from a friend of mine. The joy of synthetic programming on an HP-41. And the nerve wrecking feeling of reading aloud when I was in high school. The thrill of girls, of the first job, of travelling abroad, of meeting with interesting and amazing people. The emotions, the fun. This is what drives me. And collecting old calculators rejuvenates many tingling, captivating and entrancing rushes. I love it.

This a big reason why I make music, artwork, meet and talk to new people, travel, read, play, point my telescope to the stars and live life as I do. I am a feeling-junky. This is also why I blog.

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Video: Kalkulatorentusiastene

Geir Isene 114 Comments

Det blir vanskelig å slå gårdsdagen. Dagen da julen ble overskygget. Dagen da kalkulatorentusiastene inntok HP-kontorene på Fornebu og fikk dele sin pussige glede over gamle klenodier som selv HP hadde parkert i sin dypeste kjeller.

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Tenke seg til – jeg ble invitert av HP til å holde foredrag om et av deres gamle hjertebarn; HP-kalkulatorene.

Det er videns kjent at jeg har en mental skavank, en særegen svakhet for gamle mattemaskiner fra 70- og 80-tallet produsert nettopp av Hewlett Packard. Og i går fikk jeg muligheten til uten bygsel å legge for en dag mine følelser for maskinene som for meg representerer et vindu inn i matematikken og vitenskapens verden. Sammen med min gode venn, Arne Helme, som deler mitt mentale avvik.

Det hele ble kronet med en julaften som lignet den jeg opplevde da jeg var 12 år og fikk mitt første teleskop. Harald Andersson hadde tatt turen ned i kjelleren og hentet ut en skokk pensjonerte kunstverk for å gi dem et bedre hjem. Hos Geir og Arne. Jeg fikk tolv kalkulatorer! Inkludert en HP-70!! Arne fikk tak i en HP-70 for noen år siden og misunnelsen har ikke stått stille siden. Og der var det jommen meg en HP-25C også. Og en flott HP-27. Og en HP.10 🙂 og en ubrukt HP-34C som jeg ga til Arne. Jeg har en slik fra før, men det hadde ikke han. Et lite ras av dokumentasjon og bøker fulgte med. Og en blomst og en vinflaske. Helt sykt. Snakk om julaften! Tusen takk til Julenissen som til daglig jobber som ingeniør i HP.

hp calculators

HP er en unik bedrift med en unik historie. Og nå som de har lansert en svært avansert kalkulator med touch-skjerm i farger og heftige matematiske funksjoner, er de på rett spor igjen. Mer om HP Prime i en senere bloggpost.

Hele opplevelsen ble tatt opp på video og lagt ut på Youtube. Popkorn. Snurr film:

Like!

Geir Isene 176 Comments

One of my current quests has born fruits. A couple of years ago, I got the idea that it should be possible to like anything. Yes, anything. But while it may perhaps be a distant, even unreachable goal, it has shown to be a worthwhile pursuit.

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I started out with the small, everyday things. Liking the noise from the neighbor. Liking my own irritation on a bad day. Liking others’ criticism of me. Liking nasty people. The cold. The failure on a job. Unpleasant food. The pain at the dentist’s. Practice makes perfect. Or at least approaching perfect. Because it seems an everlasting quest for liking anything. And the rewards are great 🙂

Life is brighter, more fun and there is a higher harmony. The alternative is less pleasing.

Just thing about it, is there any benefit in NOT liking stuff? You might as well like it, even enjoy it – and life will be brighter from it. Enjoy. Like!

Tough questions…

Geir Isene 437 Comments

…I should be asked.

Since I left the Church of Scientology I have been asked thousands of questions. Many were simple and easy to answer, others were more tricky and harder to reply to. There are a few questions that could put me in a tight spot and that would be hard to answer. Although they have been touched upon, no one have yet asked me these directly. And so I take the matters into my own hands.

First the questions:

  1. You claim you have had heaps of gains from Scientology. Yet you criticize the subject that helped you get those gains. Are you not in fact “burning the bridge” behind you and hinder others to get the same gains as yourself?
  2. When you talk about your gains in Scientology, are you not running the risk of encouraging others to become victims of the biggest cult trap known to Man?
  3. Every time you talk about your gains in Scientology, should you not be responsible enough to also inform about the dangers, the destroyed lives?
  4. When you criticize Scientology, should you not be responsible enough to also inform about the marvels of the tech, your gains and the only hope for Mankind.
  5. Are you not done yet?

Then the answers:

  1. After having discussed Scientology openly for 4 years, I realize that I was lucky living on the fringe of the Scientology world when I was in for 25 years. Others were less fortunate and have been victims of much more pressure and oppression in the church. Lives have been destroyed, families broken apart. I believe that every person should be able to make informed decisions about whatever they may decide to get involved in. Informed decisions require open access to all relevant information – both the good and the bad. I do not believe in hiding or not revealing anything bad or good in a subject that may come so close to your mind and spirit as Scientology. All information should be freely accessible on the Net, and through discussions, people can learn and avoid harmful involvements and make use of what they think will help them.
  2. See answer #1.
  3. I feel no obligation to bloat my blog posts with anything else but the succinct points I am trying to convey.
  4. See answer #3.
  5. I live on a whim. I do what I enjoy. And I continue to enjoy this until I enjoy something else. Who knows when I am done blogging, discussing or babbling about Scientology? Not me.

It really is that simple. Got any other tough questions for me? Shoot!