vignette

      He was about 5'11 200 pounds. Definitely not ripped but fit.  Probably, to my eye, too big to run optimally and too small to be strong.  " I don't mean to be arrogant", he said ironically, " but if the whole army were as strong and fit as me, It'd be an awesome army." He was commenting on our discussion of his occupation in the military as a signal core sergeant.  A general gym douche-bag, but I liked him. He carried on a bit more, a possible promotion in the next few months, on his recent child, his wife and even his wealth.  He was arrogant but in a amusing way to me. Perhaps because I didn't really think joining the military was an endeavor in riches or family. I mean pay for the military sucks and the divorce rate is high. I was more beholden him for his duty in spite of these things, not because of them. He was in no way trying to measure up as I think he thought I was unemployed or at best near that. It was maybe a self convincing deception at his lot in life. Anyways, I chalked him to being at a level of competency equal to his tasks, an idea which says more about myself than him.
     A few months later, I learned from another gym member that he was passed over. No promotion. I chuckled. Not out of spite but because in his mind, advancing the military's ability to "awesome" would require all people be at his physical acumen, according to him, yet a simple promotion wasn't even fitting evidently for those in charge. Talk about being out of sink with the organization. Lord knows I've been there. 
    

Career choice

   He yawned. He had finished the day and he had also finished with his youth. Various well-bred moralities had already discreetly offered him their services: disillusioned epicureanism, smiling tolerance, resignation, common sense stoicism - all the aids whereby a man may savour, minute by minute, like a connoisseur, the failure of a life.

• L'âge de raison (the age of reason)  (1945)- JP Sartre

  Numerous long thought out philosophies were proffered up for their services. Stone faced stoicism, smiling tolerance, resignation, all aids one may savour, minute by minute, like a connoisseur, the regret of a choice of a degree.

hunger

     Hunger is a companion most people dislike. She is not evil, just demanding of attention. She does have some virtuous attributes though. Her huge ability to demand attention ensures a refocus from other bad companions, fear, worry, envy, jealousy, greed, despair,  etc. and what we give attention to means not giving attention to these other things. Other things that may lead us down a road to unhappiness. Hunger, although unpleasant, does not lead to unhappiness. In fact, being virtuous to hunger often lets us visit other stygian companions knowing or not that hunger will soon call us home. She is not acute but ever chronic. Although most people try to soothe her, tis better to encourage her to grow as best as she can. People may state that it is not good, physiologically, to do this, and to extreme degrees this is so. But it is far more likely that most people despise her so much that they hurt themselves physiologically repelling her. Encouraging her is likely far safer (except to the vain who use her solely for alleged aesthetic ends)  physiologically, psychologically and maybe even empathetically as we are reminded of many peoples chronic valley of tears.

science of happiness

Besides being a ripoff of existentialism, which argues ideas through philosophy,  it seems to practice very soft science to confirm questionable axioms. The "science" of happiness is over ambitious, sloppy and reaches questionable "truths"and will certainly deceive many minds to what is "truth". Herein lies the problem because what we believe to be true, affects how we think. What we think leads to what we do an who we become. Certainly most religions follow this recipe, and they're not wrong in a sense, but higher education is supposed to be a quest for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Sciences strive to the precept that it is better to know an ugly truth or even remain ignorant than to be enamored by a beautiful lie.

recipe to happiness

-Type 2 fun-enduring unfun (training for a marathon, fixing up an old car etc.) to complete a passion and finding passions (like marathons and old car restorations) that can fulfill one`s interests.
-Satiating wealth, health and family buckets in a manner that is not burdensome.
-remembering that you enter and leave this world with nothing.
-knowing that one chooses what they think which leads to what one does and who one becomes.

mixing up individuals with populations

     Mixing up individual people with populations is like mixing up atoms in air with the air mass itself. Yes, there are atoms that do not follow the properties of the air mass but, all in all, this is irrelevant to the properties of the air mass. Pointing to anomalies within the structure is hardly proof that these air mass properties don't exist, or ought not to exist.
     Similarly, comparing two air masses as potentially equal because there are similarities between individual atoms is incorrect. One must consider these as wholes. That is, the cherry picking of the parts cannot be extrapolated to the whole. We agree that if atoms in one air mass were to behave as they do in another air mass, then they'd act similarly but to assume because certain atoms in one group behave as another, and that this is proof they could achieve equality is to ignore other forces on other atoms within the mass that do not act similarly.
     That is not to say this is an abdication of responsibility. Ultimately it must be preached that what we think turns into what we believe. And what we believe turns into what we do and who we become. We can change individual atom behavior, but to change the properties of the air mass, fundamental properties must change to the forces on the masses entirety.

Japenese longevity

1) Leave the table 80% full-http://www.crsociety.org/
2) Have a purpose-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard
3) Avoid loneliness-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1767289