Some will understand

Buddha decided to teach what he had learned with the idea, "Some will understand".

Some of his "learning" was likely hunger induced hallucinations. Other were random good insights and summaries. Some are built on the tribal culture and religion of the time and location.

These are only my opinions on the various readings I have done.

Compassion and the elimination of suffering is the main concept. Buddha recognized that suffering is an inside job, a self induced feeling, and that that feeling can be nominalized by a series of concepts, beliefs, values, ways of thinking and actions. Various translations and repeated expressions create a range of ideas of what each component really says. The four Noble truths go something like this:
1.  Life contains suffering, pain, impermanence, toxicity, loss, stress, vaguity, distress, depression, pain causing things. The pain is an internal mental object, not a physical reality except if it is our body, but even then, the pain is a mental object. The unsatisfactory quality of life which is targeted mental object, the sorrow and trouble, the never completely fulfilling. We always want more happiness, less pain. But this ‘wanting more’,the longing, is itself the problem, the craving, the desire for more. Buddhism does help the physical, but first, it removes the internal mental object in ourselves.
2.  The second part is it is our cravings, our attachments, our selfish grasping after pleasure and avoiding pain that causes the problem. Our delusions of how life should be, our attachment to people, property, prestige, and money, our aversion to loss of people, property, prestige, and money, or simple attachment, delusions, aversions are the cause. Again, these are internal, mental objects. It is not necessarily the real loss, just the potential of loss. Many religions find it easier to have real poverty than deal with the mental potential of loss, or the issues that desire for these things can bring.
3.  the third is there is a solution to all this,
4. The solution is following the eight fold path to a peaceful serene state of mind.

Surrogate Measurement vs Real Measurement

Surrogate Measurement vs Real Measurement is an issue in many things beside soils. The medical industry uses surrogate measurement for a lot of things.

Surrogate measurement is the concept of measuring something that generally relates to a desired property, that is difficult to measure. The swelling potential of soil is time consuming test, but the moisture content, liquid and plastic limits can be determined in a day. There is a direct relationship between the liquidity index and the swelling potential, so we determine the liquidity index and imply a swelling potential.

As long as that relationship between the liquidity index and swelling potential holds, we are in good shape. But add any one of a long and growing list, and we are out to lunch by a long shot. Gasoline, any petroleum, soap, or even organic staining, and the correlation is out. Now we must do the full consolation with swelling, to find one point. We may need a number of points, depending on the situation. Each point is 12 days at least, if a (the) consolidation frame is available.
We would need to do the test to even find out that the relationship does not hold for this sample.

Those time do not include any sampling time involved, nor sample quality issues.

Now what about the medical field. wtf. They use more surrogates than we do in engineering. If you are producing enough iodine in you urine, you are not short. 20 years of misery, and Oh, you are not absorbing enough iodine. wtf.

Oh well shit happens. The medical industry knows what it knows, which is considerable less than they indicate that they know. If they do not deliver results, they do not have a solution. Trying something may be the only true test of whether it will work or not.

History

Quote from about:

History books tell us what historians have selected rather than everything that happened.

History, as recorded after the event is recorded by the survivors. What the concurred race was up to is speculation from artifacts and other evidence, not was going on. In my youth, I spent a bit of time with natives, and as a young man, I worked in the north among them. Few got the concept or idea of working for something, rather the concept of ownership of property was not in there philosophy.

The social, philosophical, living aspects just are not there. A people living hand to mouth, when presented with food, will not move from that spot until the food runs out. How does The Canadian Government deal with the native northern population, and population growth. Supply more food. How long does it expect us working stiffs to support such foolishness?

Free Speech, Really

In Canada, do we have free speech, or free speech as long it agrees with the politically correct view? If I said that we have been providing for the northern Indians for them to reproduce in places that have not economic base, would I be in shit, if anyone read it?

The only reason to be in the north, in many areas, is to provide services to the natives, all on the taxpayers nickel. How long are we going to keep paying as the natives keep reproducing? Where is the occupy movement now?

Just bitching.