One of the first things we do when we go outside is gauge the power of the wind – in the northeast at this time of the year is the wind coming from the Arctic or the north wind; what we are looking forward to is those southern winds which brings warmer weather. For most of us in the urban environments, the wind will add or subtract from one of many things to do in our daily lives. In the 1800’s the wind was one of the most important elements to daily lives for the wind allowed sailing ships to sail and turned windmills. The wind is something you that happens to you, to describe it means to observe something else. One of the most used table of wind is called the Beaufort Scale and there is wonderful book about how the scale became to be known. The book is titled Defining the Wind by Scott Huler published by Three Rivers Press, NY, 2004

Mr. Huler loves the simplicity of the Beaufort Scale which was adopted by the British Navy in 1862 and can be seen in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary and a host of other places. Mr. Huler was a copy writer which requires to pick the exact words to tell a story and when he reads the scale he was wondering how and why does the Beaufort Scale come to be written. The wind has to be observed to be felt; it had to go through regular science authorities to be adopted and it had to come about at the right time by the right person. Mr. Beaufort was an Admiral in the Navy, he was one of those people who like to draw maps of where everything is. This was extremely useful to the Navy – the ships need to miss the rocks and reefs around the ports. Mr. Beaufort was educated in the latest science and navigation equipment.

According to Mr. Huler, the words of the scale do work. Those works have a job – to make you understand how the wind is blowing, exactly how the wind is blowing, in comparison to other winds. They express perfectly a fundamental thing about language: Language is technology. It is a tool to accomplish a task.

It turns out there were other scales, other people had tried to quantify how the wind could be placed on a scale, however Mr. Beaufort tightened up the language so everyone would know and understand and that is a good gift.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when you pick these types of stocks, many people will have picked them before. You will not necessarily be breaking new ground but you will be following the principle of trying not to lose money. If you do not lose money, then overtime your wealth grows both in terms of the stock price and the dividends you receive. Simple is hard to do, but simple often works.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.