A cerebral welcome from the physics lab here at TTG University. Actually the only science course I ever took in my life was an Easy A Biology course at Georgetown taught by Fr. “Ha Ha” Harley SJ. It was a sight to behold as I dissected worms and frogs with the basketball team in assembly line style. The first guy took off the head and the next the skin and so on down the line. The last gnius put it all together in the wax tray. Quite efficient. And you thought jocks were stupid. But I digress.

As I understand it, an ohm is a unit of resistance for current between two poles. Not sure it is exactly so but work with me as I hope it will make for a clever epistle. Let’s for a moment view all that current as the river of life itself. It courses and roars from the get go and often overflows its banks. I think that is what we call mania. I know a lot about that. So according to the TTG textbook on physics we have to throw ohms in there lest we go completely off the rails.

There is the Ohm of rules,ethics or religion. These are serious brakes. Now I know some of you want to throw out the whole concept of an Intelligent Being but think for a moment where we would be without One. A whole lot of chaotic. I learned in Catholic school that if I didn’t shape up I was gong to hell. Why else would I want to be good? You mean there is no punishment for my transgressions? Let the good times roll and maybe we can shelve this one.

Alright even if we don’t have you know Who, there has to be something holding the planet together. We will call this the Ohm of Society or Propriety. There are just some things you don’t do in public unless you are Bruce Jenner aka Caitlin or The Donald. I am not just talking about tacky behavior but serious slime. The problem becomes difficult when we go from one area to another. Things that are perfectly acceptable at the Breakers in Palm Beach would be totally out of bounds at the ISIL Country Club in whatever country they are taking over. In Saudi Arabia everything points toward Mecca. In New York our rugs are positioned towards the Hamptons.

Now there is also the Ohm of ritual. We have always done it this way. If it was good enough for your grandparents then it is more than fine for you. In Jewish, Italian and Irish circles this also falls under the heading of guilt. Why are you acting this way? Weren’t you brought up properly? Did we teach you to talk like that? Where do these kids get these crazy ideas? This becomes particularly tense when your son or daughter makes about 100 times more money at 30 than you made in your entire life. Oi Vey!

Now this is all fun and games until we get to the OHM of negativity.No matter what you do or dream up there is someone there telling you it can’t be done. “It’ll never work” becomes their mantra. I wonder how many great ideas have been quashed over the years by choruses of naysayers. Republican or Democrat, it makes no difference. Sure we are the seat of innovation in the world but imagine if we all were cheering the troops on? Yes, there are venture capitalists and entrepreneurs and God bless them . But imagine if we all were singing “Go for it”out of the same hymnal.

Creativity is a gift we all have. We can look at a situation and see what could be. If it is broken,fix it. If it is good how can we make it great? Every day I see people who are complacent or just peachy with their lot in life. Young and old alike. I can’t tell you the number of times people look at me with a quizzical expression and say what is that screwball up to now? It is not a matter of whether it works or not or whether it will come true. It is the absolute fun of letting it rip.

We all talk of excesses and believe me there are plenty. I am actually talking about a different altered state. Sit down and look at your world. Don’t say why but why not? Don’t shoot down the invention before it gets off the ground. Get off our butts and see something beyond the TV screen or our IPhones. Most of all give a sense of excitement about our world to your kids and those around you.

I met with a woman the other day who works for the Greenway Foundation here in Denver. She is going to help us on a project to better the Cherry Creek. 40 years ago the South Platte River was a dropping off point for everything in the Queen City that looked like refuse. Little by little a dad and his son transformed it and now their Foundation holds a summer camp to teach kids about the riparian environment and the denizens that inhabit it.It sells out for the summer in three weeks. How many times do you think people told them they were crazy?

I am totally out of my element as to explaining science but I think when the ohm is in place there is a buildup of energy and that creates an ampere of power. In other words all that resistance really gives energy to our lives . What a cool thought.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

The “body fat analyzers” you see at gyms these days use a mechanism to estimate “body fat” or “muscle mass” by calculating body impedance to a couple of frequencies. No wonder I feel fat.

“ Georg Ohm, was a German physicist, best known for his “Ohm’s Law”, which implies that the current flow through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference (voltage) and inversely proportional to the resistance”. If you have even a clue what this means I am never talking to you again.

“Guilt and its handmaiden, shame, can paralyze––or catalyze one into action. Appropriate guilt can function as social glue, spurring one to make reparations for wrongs. Excessive rumination about one’s failures, however, is a surefire recipe for resentment and depression”. I couldn’t have said it better.

My buddy Neal Seibert passed away last night at home in Alexandria, VA. His wife KC was with him. I just had a cigar and a 15 year old scotch in honor of him. Life is too short my friends. Live it. And that is a factoid.