New Year's Day at Ithaca Starbucks and Patterns

Ithaca has two Starbucks, one up by Cornell University in Collegetown, and one in the basin (what we like to call by the Commons) at Tioga Street and Seneca Street (in the Hilton Hotel). I guess you could stretch, and say that there is a third Starbucks location "in" the Barnes & Noble on Route 13 but in my mind they are not a "real" Starbucks. Kinda like the airport Starbucks, their coffee seems watered down or maybe they are serving Pike Place (I don't like Pike).

My wife and I have a Sunday morning routine (older people have these routines). We take a walk up the hill and then down, get some fresh air (cold in the winter), and then relax with some coffee at Starbucks.
This morning I viewed the change of the numbers up at IC (Ithaca College) to 2012, unfortunately I can't make it past 10:00pm to see them change in the night.

Ithaca College Towers with "1 2"

Ithaca is a small place, and not a day goes by that I don't run into people I know. One of the local pastors is David Grimm. He is usually preparing (or honing) his sermon at Starbucks on Sunday. This Sunday was no exception. His church is only blocks from my office at Buffalo and Aurora. Pastor Grimm has a way of disarming you with his gentle smile. He puts alot of work and thought into his Sunday church service. Laptop in hand every Sunday, focused on task. Today it's on Fracking. A hot Ithaca topic.

 Pastor David Grimm

http://unitarian.ithaca.ny.us/

This is from the Church website. There seven tenets/principles. Not much to argue with here although if you give me some time I can probably come up with some challenges.

Unitarian Universalist Principles

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

THE MAGIC OF NUMBERS

I love the magic of numbers, and the number Seven is no exception, maybe there is a reason it's used by so many, including the Unitarian Church:

the seven seas

the seven ages of man

phone numbers

seven deadly sins

seven continents

ph of 7 (balanced) for pure water

seven days in a week

musical scale of seven notes

most space missions have seven astronauts

7 up

7 eleven

RX-7

Jack Daniel's No. 7

Seagram's 7 Crown

007

Boeing 707

747

seven colors in a rainbow, ROYGBIV

Popular, lucky, or just a great power number.

THE POWER OF PATTERNS

Just like numbers have power I believe that there is also a power of patterns.

Any legal case must be broken down, evaluated, and investigated into it's parts. Like a good story with a beginning, middle, and an end. Every case has a rhythm and a pattern (s).

A trucking or car accident case (personal injury case) will likely have 3 main parts:
1. potential pre-existing injuries and/or medical conditions,
2. current/existing injuries,
3. the predictable future of those injuries.

These follow the body's pattern of inflammation and then repair.

The accident itself will have three parts:
1. pre-accident behavior (drinking, smoking, texting, lack of sleep or rest),
2. accident behavior (negligent/distracted driving, failure to inspect, repair, or maintain),
3. post-accident behavior/evidence (statements, black boxes, vehicle damage, positions, equipment defects, etc.).

In any case we look for consistency or an inconsistency.
Are there things that do not match or add up?
Do things that normally are together wind up apart?

I remember a legal seminar on insurance fraud that still sticks in my head where they started to use computers to evaluate medical bills. They went though this doctor's database of patients and billing. the spreadsheets revealed some ridiculous patterns.

Why did everyone in the car accident (age 8 to age 60) receive the same treatment?
Why did they all have the same or similar diagnosis?
Why did they all have the same date of release?

This made no sense in the real world of variables. Yes they were all in the same accident, but would a six year old need the exact same therapy as a sixty year old? Fraud at it's finest.

I look for patterns in police reports. Why do some police officers write the same or similar things?Are these reports "canned"? Are they using "Skeleton frames" over and over to bolster probable cause?

Some people are looking for the right Answers. I believe that it is far more important to first ask the RIGHT QUESTIONS. They may be a pattern or two that needs exploring.

Lawrence Newman, J.D., D.C.
Doctor of Chiropractic
Attorney at Law

504 North Aurora Street
Ithaca, NY 14850

607-229-5184
IthacaInjuryLawyer.com