The Opossum Buddha by David Smith

 A spoken word thing of one minute length.

The 85% Rule where Perfection is never attainable.

The 85% Rule where Perfection is never attainable by David E. Smith of Banks, Oregon

Abstract: In all areas of endeavor, desire for perfection exists at the onset of any project, but perfection does not exist at the end of the same project. The Principle Rule governing this is proposed as the 85% Rule which governs returns on investment of resources in efforts of the pursuit of happiness over perfection as a consequence. So when is Enough of a return sufficient to become Good Enough to end the project at its most acceptable result? This is a moral consideration and therefore the 85% Rule is a Moral Calculus and within the boundless precepts of Moral Consequentialism.

Enough is a moral threshold which, once met, constitutes a level of utility, or happiness, in those efforts where happiness is an expressed goal. To accept the outcomes as sufficient to our needs and cease striving further to achieve what might be imagined as perfection in the result, one might say this is a level of enough, or a good enough result. The amount of effort and resources necessary to achieve Enough is being put forth here as a universal constant. This is to say that if creating perfection is achievable using the 100% of resources and effort necessary to achieve 100% of perfection then, in all things, using 50% of those same resources and efforts will achieve 85% of the perfection in the outcome, at all times.

This 85% Rule on return on investment is objective and enough or good enough subjective.

This is the 85% Rule in action:

For all (A ) IF:

100% of desire (A) = 100% of Total Resources Available (A1)

AND

85% of desire (A) = 50% of (A1)

THEN

15% of desire (100-85) or (B) = 50% of (A1), or (B1)

Once this rule is enacted the result is to achieve 85% of any desired perfection, while only expending 50% of the resources available to achieve the same perfection. While not perfect, the result may well be economically efficient and this may be said to be Enough to satisfy the moral desire expressed with the minimum expenditure of resources. (In building the perfect chair, one might sit on a chair for half the investment and be happy enough.) But the desire satisfied by the result, no matter how efficient, may not rise to the threshold of Good Enough and a Better result may be desired.

Better: The “85% Rule” is compounding. The result (B) becomes (A) in any second (or subsequent) iteration and so outcomes are an asymptote if tracked mathematically. 100% of perfected outcomes cannot be met no matter how many iterations of the 85% Rule are cycled. But one might wish for a Better outcome than that found in the initial (A) = (A1) exemplar and so continue trading resources for outcomes in the pursuit of Better:

IF (B) is 15% of (A) = 50% of (A1)

AND

85% of (B) = 50% of (B1)

THEN

12.75% of (A), now (C) = 25% of (A1), or (C1)

In this second iteration, of the 85% Rule, 97.75% of (A)is achieved using 75% of (A1). This is still quite efficient, but might be in excess of need and therefore potentially wasteful of resources and a less than Good moral result. (In building a perfect chair you may find that 97.75% of a perfect chair is really quite nice.) 

More: But one might wish for More and put forth additional the effort toward achieving 100% of the desired outcome. The 85% Rule is compounding, and so:

IF (C) is 12.75% of (A) = (C1) is 25% of (A1)

AND

85% of (C) = 50% of (C1)

THEN

1.9125% of (100-(C)) = 12.5% of (A1)

Remembering that 100% of budgeted resources are available to create a 100% result, should it be the only acceptable outcome, in this third iteration more than 98% of 100% is achieved by expending only 87.5% of resources. But since the economic return is diminishing at every step and 100% can never be achieved in the result in any case, returns on effort become increasingly inefficient. Again, resource allocation remains constant, there is no cost over-run, and (A1) is never exceeded, but the economic return in happiness is diminishing in any and all areas of effort as the effects become smaller. (Our perfected chair now will be prectically indistinguishable from the perfection of the desire. But are the savings worth the addtional result?

Conclusion: While never exceding the resources available at the onset, More costs an increasingly larger percentage of resources at every iteration and returns a cumulative smaller result in an asymptote where 100% is never met and returns on investment diminished. This then becomes a moral consideration in all circumstances: If perfection cannot be met, then, is Enough the good which allows redirecting unspent resources to other projects or thrift?

On Entering the Stream

The Stream

I walked through the illusion in prayer.
Conceptions prying at my soul.
To pause at the bank of the Stream.

The liquid sparkling of all souls.
All thoughts, and yours too,
adrift in unique bubbles;

countless in number;
counting the illusions;
a sum of only one.

My toe entered the stream,
having known only cold;
warmed only by pretense.

My soul tasting everything,
the light and the dark,
always balanced in its perfection.

And it scared me so.
For to know all is to know nothing.
One cannot be without knowing.

My toe rebelling sent chills up my spine.
What is known
may be enough.

-David Smith 2025

A Farm Update

 We haven't been posting about the Farm much. Farming has not been my priority for two years, and deep depression took one of those away from our long history. But things are happening right now worthy of letting people know something about.

We had a litter of puppies in the last Winter which gave us some excess money to spend on putting a floor under our wrap around porch roof. We had planned for concrete but concrete got really expensive and I suck at it. So we are going with 2x6 wood planks. We are using concrete to make a barrier between the concrete bases of the porch supports. Even though they are strange the idea is to block out the rats and raccoons who would just love a nicely sheltered home under the decking. The concrete retaining wall comes within a quarter inch of the understructure of the deck so there's a chance it will keep the bigger people out. We will not be putting a wodden deck under the west side roof so that our segregation kennel has the drainage and is easier to clean up. Part of that section will house a newer hot tub too for old bones to soak in next Winter.

We put up a new greenhouse last year and it worked wonderfully. All of our plantings came up strong and the garden is looking really well. Today all is doing super out there and we have bought a few new tools to make things easier on arthretic hands and tired bodies. We got a nifty rechargable pruner which cuts anything up to 5/8 inch without slowing. Ann oftentimes uses it to cut off larger weed stalks and berries. The battery lasts for months and we have two of them. I bought Ann a mini rechargable roto- tiller which tears anything up which is less than two inches into the dirt. The thing clears crabgrass, the last thing in the dirt after everything else is gone. And last Summer we bought a used riding lawnmower so our flowering weeds don't stand a chance in the longer term. The place seems much more managable these days and we get more done in less time, which is good. We need more done and time is fleeting. Our corn is chest high today, we've had strawberries for two months, potatoes are doing very well. Tomatoes, peppers, zuchinni, cukes, are doing better than we've had in a while. We're no longer a farm, but as gardeners we are killing it.

The fruit trees I put in at odd intervals in the past five years are fruiting their little branches off. We have four varieties of apple, five of plum, all of these fruiting it up out there. A nectarine which is doing nothing, an apricot which is barely hanging on, and a peach which is doing less than nothing still look good at a distance. Our Mimosa is flowering and lovely. We initially started the Farm with the idea of becoming a Upick orchard. It might have worked too.

Our chickens and Ducks are healthy and egg sales happen weekly. Not enough to do it for the money, but it does defray some feed expenses. We built them a larger run this year to keep them out of the gardens and protect them from Raptors. It has two ponds and loads of berries hanging around, so the birds are happy.

And finally, but not the least of our good fortune, our Hound business is doing very well. We have had two litters this year, boarding rates were risen and the business is up, and we even have one order for dog coat (in Summer) so far. Between retirements, dogs, eggs, and our age keeping expenses low, the accounts are stable. 

Life is good here. We hate leaving, even for an hour. Ou personal health is exceptionally good for a pair sixty-seven years old. It won't last, as nothing ever does, but if you live day to day by God's grace and it works out. . .  Celebrate.