Better and brighter folks than I will always be able to take any topic and turn it into an extensive discussion, dissecting every salient point into finer and finer bits. Me, I’m a big picture guy. I stand in awe of some of the discussions in blogs, but for the most part, I prefer someone who can boil it down.

Take Einstein. e=mc^2. Simple, sweet. William of Ockham: “don’t needlessly multiply entities” (yeah, that one is a little obscure but only because of the language of the day) Porretto: “Islam is toxic to human life”. Each pretty much nutshells the idea, each wraps the totality in an easy to remember, descriptive phrase.

I don’t have a lot of patience for people who have to drag shit out and examine every aspect until it’s dead; I do it myself inside my own head, and before someone can even begin to explain something to me I’m twenty steps ahead of them. Nutshell it, and move the hell on.

This has been a source of irritation to the folks around me all my life, they begin to give me some long drawn out explanation and I stop them and continue for them: “yes, and this and that and the other thing happened, I know, but what was the end result? Nutshell it for me so I can get ON with my life!” I don’t have time for people to tell me their life stories before they get to the point. Get to the point first, if I need other details, I’ll ask for them.

Most of all, if you find someone telling you a story that is longer than it ought to be, you can pretty well guess it’s gonna be a lie. Remember your childhood?

Mom: “What happened to the glass door of the china cabinet?”
kid: “well, you remember when Aunt Daisy had that big goiter on her neck?”

You know this kid is stalling, and if he can, he’ll stall until mom forgets what he did; trouble is, she never will.

Give it to me straight, clear, honest. I’ll do the same for you. We’ll get by.