On the Propagation of Constraints

It is often amazing how propagation of constraints from one situation to another results in non obvious connections between various aspects of the human condition. A few minutes ago, and still now, my granddaughter Willow has been joyfully carrying around a little shopping bag in it with various items. She comes to me about once a minute to add or subtract something from her bag. She has discovered the utility of bags, and probably learned the concept from some older female in her family.

So, what has this to do with the propagation of constraints ? A woman depends, in part, upon her physical attractiveness to others for survival or simply to have a good life. That simple and controvertible fact leads to constraints on the clothes she wears. The clothes must be attractive and favorably display her figure. This leads to the subsequent constraint that women's clothes seldom have as many pockets as men's clothes. A notable example is that men's shirts usually have a breast pocket on the left side, usually absent on women's clothes.

Similarly pockets on women's skirts are usually inconveniently on the front instead of on the side where they would interfere with display of her womanly hips. The net result of this is that women carry purses for their item carrying needs. In men's clothes, the pockets are their "purses." A follow on example of the utility of carrying capacity is the ancient tradition of basket making especially used in hunter-gatherer societies.

And so it comes to pass that my female grandchild is having fun today having joyfully discovered the utility of carrying capacity of some sort, all constrained by her future need to be attractive with that need conveyed to her by the habits of some older woman.

Cicero and the budget

My friend Nat sent me this:

What have we learned in 2,064 years since the Roman Empire?

So here it is. What have we learned in 2,064 years?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled,
public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be
tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should
be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to
work, instead of living on public assistance."

- Cicero - 55 BC

How to Govern

With malice to none and charity to all, here are some opinions on how to govern.

First, delegate responsibility, both to spread the burden of decision and also to spread the burden of taking the heat from the governed. A corollary of this is that the delegated person must be given overall policies, and have the authority to make subsidiary decisions with little second guessing by the executive.

Second, humanity, for whatever reason, detests sudden change. The implication of this is that when great change is required, it should be undertaken incrementally.

Third, a cheerful positive outlook encourages all.

Squash 2 Π - Part 2

A squashsicle this big takes days to thaw, but we managed eventually. Next you add the spices and puree the squash. We have found that the hand blender works better then the food processor.

Makes 1 pie:

• 3 cups pumpkin mush
• 4 eggs
• 1.5 cans (12oz can) of evaporated milk
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground ginger (or more if you like it zesty)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  

Next, make your pie crust. I mix flour, a pinch of salt and a stick of butter in the flood processor.
After it is well mixed, add a little water until this happens.
Roll the crust out, and put it in the pie pan. Pour in the Squash mixture.

Bake at 425 F for the first 15 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 350 F and bake another 45 to 60 minutes, until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKetAgYbZL3wH4x9wYxrxJTv2GzwM8x2H9vGrGVMBopPuG4QCXAvKN_N1q3r185Xc2hMTp-ec1gXTI9E8ZXFPvU1oO4hQbZzUItGkua6F3Zpf-UWKtMeNdy-qvM9tpwz0vO6vSnTRi9r-n/s1600-h/100_3921.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKetAgYbZL3wH4x9wYxrxJTv2GzwM8x2H9vGrGVMBopPuG4QCXAvKN_N1q3r185Xc2hMTp-ec1gXTI9E8ZXFPvU1oO4hQbZzUItGkua6F3Zpf-UWKtMeNdy-qvM9tpwz0vO6vSnTRi9r-n/s320/100_3921.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276300694809218466" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bdBhzkYUZPhF11yniFGvh1HQeGMyOOSbQHgRk2fddL6w2YSFxxMKvciHJLXYOjWDZaR3COcg_fQKZdM4J-0sbGF-Zjuv1eUb9AX7xiqtwWyRNTM4wjFvTlTFLnYBYFpSfUFXhPxiDxon/s1600-h/nov2008+002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bdBhzkYUZPhF11yniFGvh1HQeGMyOOSbQHgRk2fddL6w2YSFxxMKvciHJLXYOjWDZaR3COcg_fQKZdM4J-0sbGF-Zjuv1eUb9AX7xiqtwWyRNTM4wjFvTlTFLnYBYFpSfUFXhPxiDxon/s320/nov2008+002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276102879082203970" border="0" /></a>A squashsicle this big takes days to thaw, but we managed eventually. Next you add the spices and puree the squash. We have found that the hand blender works better then the food processor. <ul><li>3 cups pumpkin mush</li><li>4 eggs</li><li>1.5 cans (12oz can) of evaporated milk </li><li>1 cup sugar </li><li>1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon</li><li>1 teaspoon ground cloves</li><li>1 teaspoon ground allspice</li><li>1/2 teaspoon fresh ground ginger</li><li>1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract </li><li>1/2 teaspoon salt </li></ul> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8e3b2wz73XjNtemeh8lM2OKxa9xj0I8Q6ySNamNZn_EHVlFRJ5XVcswr2tVw65hN_6q1kOP8gydL6J-l2a49o8jOaiEhqYS_fDOrZoXhypVSNi9qia43vMsOtXKevW0n18-v64hmt0un8/s1600-h/100_3913.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8e3b2wz73XjNtemeh8lM2OKxa9xj0I8Q6ySNamNZn_EHVlFRJ5XVcswr2tVw65hN_6q1kOP8gydL6J-l2a49o8jOaiEhqYS_fDOrZoXhypVSNi9qia43vMsOtXKevW0n18-v64hmt0un8/s320/100_3913.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276103438764499042" border="0" /></a> Next, make your pie crust. I mix flour, a pinch of salt and a stick of butter in the flood processor.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1x2UENWRGH0NmVE5z_r0hOSQHylKUc-orxX_uAOgDvt0UEmZ8JfcUXpS59cVsuVGJfEfp2fMM6hXtt9vTpTf3zl87RCDm2dQ3SuM6baNMw79HXRJXR1gi3IFZVoq6OxeSLaSb3qjJP2k/s1600-h/100_3917.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1x2UENWRGH0NmVE5z_r0hOSQHylKUc-orxX_uAOgDvt0UEmZ8JfcUXpS59cVsuVGJfEfp2fMM6hXtt9vTpTf3zl87RCDm2dQ3SuM6baNMw79HXRJXR1gi3IFZVoq6OxeSLaSb3qjJP2k/s320/100_3917.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276297698049969106" border="0" /></a> After it is well mixed, add a little water until this happens.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEXmmxXIltf35BY-Ek3Awyuwxmq62nK5fwtPu0RxzeJTrn-ktkyvHN-vGvhf_HSDhb5IQIY0Y5TkZq5PzkouNWz3yRy_eycRJuDOAXNs-HFeonEEKWXEfQWTwpljhVFwVk3F6-VJBnv4w/s1600-h/100_3918.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEXmmxXIltf35BY-Ek3Awyuwxmq62nK5fwtPu0RxzeJTrn-ktkyvHN-vGvhf_HSDhb5IQIY0Y5TkZq5PzkouNWz3yRy_eycRJuDOAXNs-HFeonEEKWXEfQWTwpljhVFwVk3F6-VJBnv4w/s320/100_3918.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276297709318800226" border="0" /></a> Roll the crust out, and put it in the pie pan. Pour in the Squash mixture. Bake at 425 F for the first 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 F and bake another 45 to 60 minutes, until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
We doubled the recipe, so we got 2 pies. And we still have pumpkin mush left over.

Squash 2 Π - Part 1

The last day of the farmer's market, a slippery squash salesman talked Guy into buying this monster squash. The price was $3, a very good veg to dollar ratio. Apparently, this is a good type of squash to make into pumpkin pie.
After giving the squash a bath, hack it to bits. Its harder then it looks, this is one mighty squash. Remove the seeds from the bell at the bottom, an ice cream scoop works well.
The next step is to steam the squash. We got out our very large, 20 quart, beer brewing pot. Put a veggie steaming basket or a stainless steel colander at the bottom, add a couple of inches of water and pack the squash in. This one filled the entire pot. We cooked it for 30 minutes (a smaller squash should cook in half the time) and it was really nice and mushy.

Peel off the skins. If your squash is watery, let it sit in a colander for a few hours to drain.

After we got to this point, we had to take a break and our squash turned into a giant squashsicle. Hopefully, it will turn into pie soon. If you must know, the story ends with pureeing, seasoning, making pie crust, baking and eating.