Cargo cult?

Thanks for that. You almost lost me at concatenation there but I hung in to the end. I think I’ve followed a similar path. I’ve been around entrepreneurs most of my life who’ve researched and executed their own thing in niche industries but counter-intuitive to that, watching what many people do here is like nails on chalkboard to me. To the discussion I mentioned, when I suggested a 3 or 4 wheeled electric vehicle my students were thinking Tesla because of its retail pricetag not something more practical and affordable because of our energy dependence. I’ll keep swinging at windmills, though.

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I hope you’re successful in helping this new country to improve its prospects.

Yeah, instead of encouraging exciting discussions about “why do all atogas drink milk” or “why don’t Canadians take showers”, I steer things to my own interests. I’m not oblivious to the nodding heads outside but shaking the head inside look I see in most people’s eyes. If my students are deluding themselves I might as well do as the Romans do.

Maybe some ideas are best incubated by oneself, but I think they’re probably going to be presented to some kind of group (1, 2, 3, 4) in order to move them eventually forward to fruition. I guess the trick is to find a good group to share those ideas with.

I majored in English, so finding a group that’s interested in your kinds of ideas is 'way out of my league, but I can’t help but think there might be groups of people here–whether local or foreign-born–who think and talk about the same kinds of things you’re thinking and talking about–you know, people with whom you can exchange ideas instead of just getting internal head shakes and/or outright guffaws.

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You can’t turn a bottom feeder into a marlin no matter what you do.

I lack the skills to tell the fortune of a twenty-two-year-old country.

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Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll show this video and see if it shines through.
https://youtu.be/V9AbeALNVkk
or this one if I want them to cry.
https://youtu.be/2-DhlrMqKNk

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Mini golf. It’s time mini golf took Taiwan by storm.

That’s an elitist gateway drug.

https://youtu.be/Zd9JqkXUbVs

That would definitely help with traffic congestion.

image

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Droll, very droll.

Where’s fear of failure? Did I miss it? That’s one of the big three that separate the pros from tha amateurs.

I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get past numero uno without being overcome by shame.

What do you think a cargo cult is? Because a cargo cult is an organized religion where people who have had some past encounter with more advanced outsiders, perform rituals to try to bring them back in expectation of gaining wealth. What you’re describing sound like simple wistful thinking with a lack of creative thinking.

It’s called ‘It will never work’ mentality.

It’s very common in Taiwan when you propose something novel.
I’ve had to deal with it when innovating products before.
It’s quite shocking to deal with factory owners who just look at you as if you are mad when you are proposing to pay them to do a trial run.

But when you succeed there will be 100 others right behind you.

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Yes, sir, and it goes back a ways:

Arthur Helps (1817-1875), “The Art of Discouragement,” in McGuffey’s Fifth Eclectic Reader (1879), p. 309.

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I guess you are correct. I think too much. Life would be a lot easier if I let others tell me what is.

He was a good writer Arthur and his friend was a smart fellow too. Could imagine sitting down and having a beer and a good chat with them about cold water pourers.

Those readers had some interesting content, the Audubon account on passenger pigeons was really fascinating.

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I’ll have to check out the passenger pigeon one.

I think when my dad (1916-1995) was in elementary school, he might have used those readers. There were other brands of readers, but he mentions McGuffey’s in a memoir he wrote.

It does have some interesting stuff in it. I stumbled on McGuffey’s Readers on the 'net years ago while looking for public domain stuff from which to take stories, essays, or what have you, for my cram school. But the McGuffey’s stuff, in addition to being old, uses pretty advanced English for Taiwanese elementary-school kids, and adapting those kinds of things looked like a lot of work. I think I ended up downloading some simple little stories from Gutenberg.org.

Once again, not sure whether sarcastic or serious. But either way, ask Israel about that concept.

Tl/dw: failure is useful, if you know what to do with it.

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