.
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Woke at 2:00. Drinking water and trying to cool off. It being the first of the month, and having gotten to the store for more than sustenance, it was treat time. Cookies! Oreos and milk are something I have been missing. I have not eaten more than beans and meat and such for a good long time and I have been eating too little even of those. I now know, when my body becomes a furnace, it is due to pure sugar o.d. Like I said, I do that from time to time anyway. I overdid my treat a bit this time. Then again I have gone without sweets for so long it was overdue. I would have waken anyway though. I have been able to get to sleep early three times in the last week or two. Each time I wake after 2 to 4 hours down.
While up, I looked over the American pressure cooker. The metal seal thing was something I had noted previously. It is something that is excellent, especially in a TEOTWAWKI event. One less thing to go bad, and a major thing actually. Something I would have to buy with any other pressure cooker is extra parts. I try to do that for as many items as I can, if I am limited in the knowledge of what I can or should have on hand for many items. I hope to have a few storage areas set up by next year. Having extra items, while super, is almost useless if those items are scattered and unknown. Hoarding is what happens when collecting even good items if no coordination is used to store and perhaps document the items. I will, to this end, employ my mother in her visits. She is tops in this area.
In any case, I am thinking the next to the largest is the one I would probably purchase. Of course I realize I will have to create a means of heating it other than what I currently have available. The Americans are not recommended for glass/ceramic tops, which is all I have. I know, if I ever get to modernizing the kitchen, an island with a gas stove, or at least cooktop, is a non-negotiable. However, at $15k to $20k, that is not looking likely any time soon. A propane deep frying device might work, though the weight would be a huge issue to overcome. I would need to build a structure to support the pot independent of the heat source. Of course, all of that is a long time coming. I can look and think between now and then.
One of the projects on my odd list, if I can get to it, afford it, and then actually do it, is the creation of a brick or other type of solid outdoor cooking and baking structure. Yes, yes, the man is delusional. In the short run, and maybe altogether, but I do have plans and hopes. I can imagine a small brick structure with areas for baking, open flame "grilling", and even a place for true grilling or barbecuing, perhaps even with a rotisserie. As well, a low fuel design could easily be inducted into the thing. If done correctly, I would guess any fuel could be used, wood, coal, even dung, in a satisfactory manner. A pressure cooker added to that would make cooking very fuel efficient! I am merely looking over options, hoping to figure out where to go, what would be best of the choices, how to finance, and such. Options are good until it comes time to begin winnowing the field. I am not there yet.
Still, D.C. and I are right. A simple pressure cooker is all I need for the moment. The rest will remain in fantasy until, well, until it is acted upon or I die. I love races! The planning does offer something for me to do in down times, in any case. I still think a wife who is even half on-board would make these things be sorted quicker, planned better, and come about more surely. Nagging and sugar, sweet and sour, smart and dumb... each have their place and are, whether I always want to believe it or not, better than not.
Well, I think I will go look for designs pertaining to outdoor brick bakery/grill/cooktop constructions, again. Is it still hoarding if what is collected are bookmarks? Do not answer that!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Another item on a long list.
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While considering containers I visited what used to be my number one store for such goods. While there, for whatever reason, my mind drifted to something that has been on my mind. A pressure cooker would make for fast and relatively simple cooking. It might even expand my culinary skills a goodly bit. I like to think of it as an indoor grill. Not that it grills, but cooking is fast, easy, clean, and scalable. Larger group or leftovers needed? Not a problem. So, after looking over containers, I began looking over pressure cookers available at the site. Being who I am, that is only the beginning.
After seeing what was available, realizing I have zero ability to quantify the qualities, needs, and wants from users of such devices, and being on the internet already, a research project unfolded. No, one site is not enough. Gladly so, as it turned out and usually turns out. I found several very good sites. One of the best offered no brand choice, choosing merely to highlight what is good and bad or wanted and unwanted in such a device (good and bad are not always obviously juxtaposed). Further, in that and another site, I noticed that living at 4K+ elevation rules out using a typical pressure cooker for canning. And, actually, most pressure cookers are no longer suggested in the canning process, meaning another set would be needed for that. Since my gardening skills and success warrant no such expense, at this point, I believed I could simply focus on a standard pressure cooker. I do cook beans, rice, and meats frequently, meaning the expense could be warranted.
I would love to have a double duty device, one that would cook and can at this altitude, but I do not think that is possible, at this point. I could be taught differently, and I continue my search. However, at this point, this is the probable pick. Not only does it have everything of value on all of the lists, save a long handle (not so good on 8 quarts anyway, while it's two stubbier handles make more sense at least to me), it has a few undescribed good features. For example, it has two steam release mechanisms, one for mid-level and one for high pressure ratings. It works at low, medium, and high pressures (5/10/15 psi). Further, this particular device has both an 8 and a 4 quart pan (if only one lid), and an insert basket.
One thing always seems to lead to another. I, of course, ended up buying nothing. Further, I am taking containers off my list for the moment. How did that happen? I will begin, now that I am thinking about it, searching for a cannery pressure cooker which works for food and at this altitude. Perhaps cannery devices are able to achieve higher pressures? Of course, this is not necessarily good if it is limited to high pressure, as some foods require lower pressure. Maybe all foods do. It is amazing how little I know about so many things. Still, this item, or one like it, is on my list. I am thinking I will save pennies for a personal Christmas gift. Good thing I am not a woman, I would have to hit myself with it for the notion!
.
While considering containers I visited what used to be my number one store for such goods. While there, for whatever reason, my mind drifted to something that has been on my mind. A pressure cooker would make for fast and relatively simple cooking. It might even expand my culinary skills a goodly bit. I like to think of it as an indoor grill. Not that it grills, but cooking is fast, easy, clean, and scalable. Larger group or leftovers needed? Not a problem. So, after looking over containers, I began looking over pressure cookers available at the site. Being who I am, that is only the beginning.
After seeing what was available, realizing I have zero ability to quantify the qualities, needs, and wants from users of such devices, and being on the internet already, a research project unfolded. No, one site is not enough. Gladly so, as it turned out and usually turns out. I found several very good sites. One of the best offered no brand choice, choosing merely to highlight what is good and bad or wanted and unwanted in such a device (good and bad are not always obviously juxtaposed). Further, in that and another site, I noticed that living at 4K+ elevation rules out using a typical pressure cooker for canning. And, actually, most pressure cookers are no longer suggested in the canning process, meaning another set would be needed for that. Since my gardening skills and success warrant no such expense, at this point, I believed I could simply focus on a standard pressure cooker. I do cook beans, rice, and meats frequently, meaning the expense could be warranted.
I would love to have a double duty device, one that would cook and can at this altitude, but I do not think that is possible, at this point. I could be taught differently, and I continue my search. However, at this point, this is the probable pick. Not only does it have everything of value on all of the lists, save a long handle (not so good on 8 quarts anyway, while it's two stubbier handles make more sense at least to me), it has a few undescribed good features. For example, it has two steam release mechanisms, one for mid-level and one for high pressure ratings. It works at low, medium, and high pressures (5/10/15 psi). Further, this particular device has both an 8 and a 4 quart pan (if only one lid), and an insert basket.
One thing always seems to lead to another. I, of course, ended up buying nothing. Further, I am taking containers off my list for the moment. How did that happen? I will begin, now that I am thinking about it, searching for a cannery pressure cooker which works for food and at this altitude. Perhaps cannery devices are able to achieve higher pressures? Of course, this is not necessarily good if it is limited to high pressure, as some foods require lower pressure. Maybe all foods do. It is amazing how little I know about so many things. Still, this item, or one like it, is on my list. I am thinking I will save pennies for a personal Christmas gift. Good thing I am not a woman, I would have to hit myself with it for the notion!
Republican win?
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.
I would like to think so, the polls say it will be so mostly, and there is a lot of buzz about the deal. Of course, there are folks suggesting we not count the chickens first and that the deal is not done. I wonder if the push topped too soon. I wonder if attention deficit Americans can really stay on track. I honestly do not have any certainty that either the House or the Senate will be lost. I hope, but uhrm, look where that got many voters last time, along with the rest of us.
As I have written before, even a Republican clean sweep would change little. There are too many big government small people politicians in that party. Of course, I also see that a trend in that direction would be good. And yet I cannot fail to notice there have been three major political changes if a Republican route takes place in the last decade or two. So trends can, do, and will change. I only know that I will be voting this election. To those ends, it is time I start looking at every single man on the ballot. The more difficult information to find concerns judges, which are becoming as if not more vital to change than politicians at this point.
No, I am not certain of anything in politics. Sentiments will not elect good candidates. Yes, grumbling. Yes, doubtful. Yes, I distrust political change is actually occurring or that it will last. Grumble, mumble, and whine. It's a grumpy day, sue me. Well, on to some research.
Update:
More grumbling, of course. Finding information regarding candidates is proving difficult. I have found information regarding those in office, federal offices anyway. My current senator, a stock Republican, was a teacher first. His voting record seems moderate. I wanted to look over the Libertarian running against him. Something about the education system connections and 9 years in office give me pause with the current candidate.
You know, for as long as I have been checking on politicians, you would think I would have the tools to pull up the goods right at the tip of my fingers. A couple of moves, three computer wipes, and a little time off the hunt and peck scene have found me scrambling like a rookie. The most I have been able to track down, even with a name, state, county, party search was... one paragraph in the Libertarian's filing regarding why he should be elected. Oh, I am pretty sure he cannot win. But in this case, I would like to know if a throw away vote would send the right message. I want to pull, push, and tickle the apparatus more conservative and would happily use my vote to do so. But, if he is pro-abortion, or open to the legalization of narcotics, I cannot conscionably do so. That is just that.
As for finding local and county candidate information, I am scrubs for nothing. There is no information, that I can find, at the Utah Republican site, the web generally, or in any areas I have looked. I will next try to find a county site and see if they have anything regarding candidates and judges. I am amazed at how little information is available. I am NOT going to, or able to, visit each candidate or their information centers (if they even exist). I am not sure how to get voting records and biographies. Frustrating, really, for a newbie in a new land, and with so many lost links to a long collected selection of information tools.
I am noticing that the search engines seem to be steering me away from information as well. No surprise, to my mind they always tried to hide decency in the form of Christianity, conservative values and politics while only hiding the truth of liberal intent, ends, and means shown by communists and other socialists. You can find whatever porn you want, I would guess, with a single small set of words. You cannot find information regarding a Libertarian or other conservative candidate. God did say the way was narrow and the many would become the few, but do punk tech kids need to add to it by rerouting internet searches? At least I know what path they are on. And, no, I do not use Google. But they are all the same, I do believe, and in the end. Punks. Brownshirt wannabes.
.
I would like to think so, the polls say it will be so mostly, and there is a lot of buzz about the deal. Of course, there are folks suggesting we not count the chickens first and that the deal is not done. I wonder if the push topped too soon. I wonder if attention deficit Americans can really stay on track. I honestly do not have any certainty that either the House or the Senate will be lost. I hope, but uhrm, look where that got many voters last time, along with the rest of us.
As I have written before, even a Republican clean sweep would change little. There are too many big government small people politicians in that party. Of course, I also see that a trend in that direction would be good. And yet I cannot fail to notice there have been three major political changes if a Republican route takes place in the last decade or two. So trends can, do, and will change. I only know that I will be voting this election. To those ends, it is time I start looking at every single man on the ballot. The more difficult information to find concerns judges, which are becoming as if not more vital to change than politicians at this point.
No, I am not certain of anything in politics. Sentiments will not elect good candidates. Yes, grumbling. Yes, doubtful. Yes, I distrust political change is actually occurring or that it will last. Grumble, mumble, and whine. It's a grumpy day, sue me. Well, on to some research.
Update:
More grumbling, of course. Finding information regarding candidates is proving difficult. I have found information regarding those in office, federal offices anyway. My current senator, a stock Republican, was a teacher first. His voting record seems moderate. I wanted to look over the Libertarian running against him. Something about the education system connections and 9 years in office give me pause with the current candidate.
You know, for as long as I have been checking on politicians, you would think I would have the tools to pull up the goods right at the tip of my fingers. A couple of moves, three computer wipes, and a little time off the hunt and peck scene have found me scrambling like a rookie. The most I have been able to track down, even with a name, state, county, party search was... one paragraph in the Libertarian's filing regarding why he should be elected. Oh, I am pretty sure he cannot win. But in this case, I would like to know if a throw away vote would send the right message. I want to pull, push, and tickle the apparatus more conservative and would happily use my vote to do so. But, if he is pro-abortion, or open to the legalization of narcotics, I cannot conscionably do so. That is just that.
As for finding local and county candidate information, I am scrubs for nothing. There is no information, that I can find, at the Utah Republican site, the web generally, or in any areas I have looked. I will next try to find a county site and see if they have anything regarding candidates and judges. I am amazed at how little information is available. I am NOT going to, or able to, visit each candidate or their information centers (if they even exist). I am not sure how to get voting records and biographies. Frustrating, really, for a newbie in a new land, and with so many lost links to a long collected selection of information tools.
I am noticing that the search engines seem to be steering me away from information as well. No surprise, to my mind they always tried to hide decency in the form of Christianity, conservative values and politics while only hiding the truth of liberal intent, ends, and means shown by communists and other socialists. You can find whatever porn you want, I would guess, with a single small set of words. You cannot find information regarding a Libertarian or other conservative candidate. God did say the way was narrow and the many would become the few, but do punk tech kids need to add to it by rerouting internet searches? At least I know what path they are on. And, no, I do not use Google. But they are all the same, I do believe, and in the end. Punks. Brownshirt wannabes.
Digging out of the hole.
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Paying bills seems like a simple thing. One either writes a check, fills out an envelope or places an address label, seals it, adds a stamp, then transports the collected and assembled pieces to a post office box, OR, calls the business and attempts to figure out a maze of a telephone directory, usually getting through to another automated system, and pays using a credit card or debit card or perhaps even through the use of an electronic check. Of course, that is only necessary if one has not set up automatic payments. Simple, of course.
These things are not at all simple when the world of flesh becomes an anomaly. When even my name, whispered to try and gain some grasp of the flesh within which I am encased, sounds more like a single echo of a meaningless mantra whispered a thousand miles away than a wake up call or a form of identification. Dreams, sleep, wakefulness, function, form... all meaningless drivel... things I no more understand in the context of my senses than you must understand of my living state of mind, at least to the lengths and depths and heights of that state. I do not need dope. Nothing is this pure. Still, if I could bottle it and sell it, I would put cocaine and opium (opiate) dealers out of business. Actually, I think I could train someone to find this, but I would not do so. Some of them, many of them, most of them, would die on the way.
But I do think the fever, as I said, has broken. I may not be much better, as to function, but the planning stages are doing well. Further, I was able to go online and get several bills paid one way, get another paid another way, and set up plans that, if not automated yet, might soon be. I used three or four systems as a raw recruit, pushing and tugging to figure where to type what, what to allow through my virus and other filters, and then what to do once it was all connected. And, without fail, I took the tasks out like a pro. All but one bill may now be paid either automatically or online. My local utility bill. I am going to talk to them, if I can figure out how to be awake during their office hours, to find out about that. Even if they only allow it as a special case, if I explain my situation, I think everybody would come out better. They get paid, I receive services.
I am also considering what to do with storage, food storage, cooked food storage. Have you ever noticed how exact one has to be in order to say exactly what one means? I would prefer glass or ceramic, meal to three meal sized, since I cannot seem to find gallon and two gallon sized items that seal. I am looking for something that is freezer (if not directly, of course) to oven ready, with microwave and dishwasher readiness thrown in. The price may force me to mix plastic containers in there, which are only good for the refrigerator no matter what the label says and in my opinion.
It is odd. After nearly a decade of attempts to perfect my cooking skills, tools, storage, and such, I find myself still learning. Tools that were perfectly good yesterday simply vanish, some not to be replaced at all. The spiraling economy, litigious nature of the West, and many other factors are all playing a part in a sudden crash of the availability of fringe products. That is not really something I can do a thing about in the big picture. Still, attempting to do what I need, get what I need as I want it, and watching my few pennies in the process... well, that is what I can and am doing. If I would stop taking trips to the dark and light nether realms. Sheesh! A trip to a couple of online stores might see me to success. I will probably just price, look locally at two places I have in specific mind, and then either order by Tuesday or have them in my home tomorrow.
I win. Hush.
.
Paying bills seems like a simple thing. One either writes a check, fills out an envelope or places an address label, seals it, adds a stamp, then transports the collected and assembled pieces to a post office box, OR, calls the business and attempts to figure out a maze of a telephone directory, usually getting through to another automated system, and pays using a credit card or debit card or perhaps even through the use of an electronic check. Of course, that is only necessary if one has not set up automatic payments. Simple, of course.
These things are not at all simple when the world of flesh becomes an anomaly. When even my name, whispered to try and gain some grasp of the flesh within which I am encased, sounds more like a single echo of a meaningless mantra whispered a thousand miles away than a wake up call or a form of identification. Dreams, sleep, wakefulness, function, form... all meaningless drivel... things I no more understand in the context of my senses than you must understand of my living state of mind, at least to the lengths and depths and heights of that state. I do not need dope. Nothing is this pure. Still, if I could bottle it and sell it, I would put cocaine and opium (opiate) dealers out of business. Actually, I think I could train someone to find this, but I would not do so. Some of them, many of them, most of them, would die on the way.
But I do think the fever, as I said, has broken. I may not be much better, as to function, but the planning stages are doing well. Further, I was able to go online and get several bills paid one way, get another paid another way, and set up plans that, if not automated yet, might soon be. I used three or four systems as a raw recruit, pushing and tugging to figure where to type what, what to allow through my virus and other filters, and then what to do once it was all connected. And, without fail, I took the tasks out like a pro. All but one bill may now be paid either automatically or online. My local utility bill. I am going to talk to them, if I can figure out how to be awake during their office hours, to find out about that. Even if they only allow it as a special case, if I explain my situation, I think everybody would come out better. They get paid, I receive services.
I am also considering what to do with storage, food storage, cooked food storage. Have you ever noticed how exact one has to be in order to say exactly what one means? I would prefer glass or ceramic, meal to three meal sized, since I cannot seem to find gallon and two gallon sized items that seal. I am looking for something that is freezer (if not directly, of course) to oven ready, with microwave and dishwasher readiness thrown in. The price may force me to mix plastic containers in there, which are only good for the refrigerator no matter what the label says and in my opinion.
It is odd. After nearly a decade of attempts to perfect my cooking skills, tools, storage, and such, I find myself still learning. Tools that were perfectly good yesterday simply vanish, some not to be replaced at all. The spiraling economy, litigious nature of the West, and many other factors are all playing a part in a sudden crash of the availability of fringe products. That is not really something I can do a thing about in the big picture. Still, attempting to do what I need, get what I need as I want it, and watching my few pennies in the process... well, that is what I can and am doing. If I would stop taking trips to the dark and light nether realms. Sheesh! A trip to a couple of online stores might see me to success. I will probably just price, look locally at two places I have in specific mind, and then either order by Tuesday or have them in my home tomorrow.
I win. Hush.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Au contraire!
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It happens. Actually it happens often. My thinking might be called dogmatic. I have built a foundation, defenses, work-arounds to exceptions, designated outlets where only faith will sustain the beliefs, and generally I keep to this. However, while inspecting the psychic fortresses I have built, I do not merely look at the scenery and enjoy the power of my constructions. I have seen the enemy. Hell, I AM the enemy. I know what happens during failures. I know what happens to losers. I know what I do when I cause or capture such. To put it colloquially, it ain't pretty. So, while inspecting my defenses, from men and ideas which I use to defend and go on the offensive to the virtual ramparts, walls, pits, and machinery, I test harshly. I look for my own weaknesses better than any enemy can, or so it is hoped.
Tonight is a light version of some minor results. I am not going to tell you about my follies and foibles which are serious. I, simply put, do not think outlets such as the New York Times, the network news outlets, the Democratic party (considering those are supposed to be American institutions) should be emulated, or possibly even legally permitted to stand, if that is a different issue. No, my contrarian notions are of a lighter sort.
The first regards sports. Football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, gymnastics... I am not prejudiced, I truly hate them all. Well, maybe I like gymnastics like a cat enjoys watching goldfish. I have played football and basketball. I have run track and competed in field events. I did that more from peer pressure and civic duty as I saw it, then out of any love for the sports. But that does not mean I did not play hard, I did not play well, or I did not succeed given my circumstances in those competitions. I did very well indeed. And, yet, I despise the games.
My sense of loathing has little to do with who than what. The whole notion of pushing and shoving through a group of men to put pig skinned compressed air into an area of soil covered by grass for no real purpose... disgusts me. It is both a waste of energy, a waste of time, and an economic drain. It does not produce better men, a stronger economy, or, really, anything. The same can be said for any sport. I will admit, professional sports has become a micro, or would that be macro, economy. Of course, if my ideas are correct, this micro (or macro) economy competes with real economic growth and the production of goods and so it is a bad thing. Not that this notion matters, the whole notion of economy is an afterthought in any event. This is my dogma.
While watching what I do enjoy, that is cooking and really high end cooking one will see watching Iron Chef type shows, I punched through some weakness in my defenses. I thrilled at the competition. The show I was watching pitted 9 top chefs in an ongoing competition to eventually see who would be the next Iron Chef. The cooking was interesting. Seeing people forced out of their elements, required to use surprise, difficult, or both, ingredients, with a time limit and strict judging was fantastic. Albeit probably just to a few of us foodie types.
I cannot cook at that level, in that time, under the stress. Probably. I can whip up a meal to feed an army in short order, under tight constraints, with what is on hand, and it will satisfy most (picky eaters, like hecklers, need not apply). I can, given time and a trip to various markets, make a meal that might bring marriage proposals... from guys (I think I am going to be sick). But I cannot bring that all together and I am hit and miss, mostly since I experiment a lot. There is much I do not know. Though and again, I see mistakes made by chefs which I would not have made (in theory, at least I recognize the mistakes) if too I see chefs make mistakes I would very much have made.
The thing is, I garnered more than a few culinary ideas from the viewing. I felt the call to compete. And I sensed my incapacity to compete. Bluntly, I enjoyed vicarious competition. I enjoyed the highs and lows. Even if I can still pick out what a penalty is for in football, and my coach usually asked me what a call was if he did not see it, knowledge is not enough in football. I sometimes wonder if my problem with football was playing against and with inferior athletes. I caused 2 to 3 fumbles a game and 4 to 7 turnovers, but played with a team that never won a game and really could not have won. Though that does not really explain it as in basketball my team made it to the play-offs every year, handily, if we blew it at that point every time. I was average, give or take, on that team. Good team, bad team, superior or average skills, plenty of knowledge, no interest. At least now I see why sports are enjoyed, if my understanding is skewed and in it's own way, so as to be itself vicarious somehow.
The other notion which came to me tonight is the ongoing warfare of the sexes. There are, of course, some more and some less dogmatic elements on both sides of the issue. I am a moderate man side type. I am not fully in the woman hater's camp nor am I at all interested in even the soppy pseudo feminist camp that begs for room to be equal but different. Men, as I see it, are the crafters of the world (of flesh, and as we know it), the makers of the world, the developers of science, the masters of religion and philosophy, and the leaders, princes, and kings of all. If I were to set this in the ways of war, I would call men warriors and women civilians. Both have a place, there might be some overlap by needs, but the majority of warriors can and are both actors while civilians are limited to just being that. Few are the civilians who can stand against even a weak warrior in the domain of war and fewer still are the ones who survive unscathed from the effort. Fine fine. And, no, that did not change tonight. But a component of that did.
Women always seem to attempt to 'gain their freedom', go against the machine, fight, debate, rankle, and disagree. The notion came to me when I was fussing with Sassy. Go figure. When I wanted to hold her and cuddle, she wanted to leave and check out something 'over there'. When I wanted to be alone, she wanted to play or cuddle. When I wanted to pet, she wanted to fight. This is the way of it. I realized she could not be intentionally contrarian all of the time. So, what was the problem? Simple, she simply is controlled by a set of parameters, time tables, interests, buttons, tabs, switches, and hormones which I simply cannot fathom. As the leader, it is incumbent upon me to either find a way to get her on my wave lenght, adjust my wave length to fit her's, or to simply leave things well alone. Simply, she does not have the capacity to self adjust easily or happily. More and more, I guess, I am seeing that women are our responsibility more than our enemy, at least most of them. Feminists might not even be to blame, fully, logically, as one might a man. Their estrogen levels are often out of balance with their testosterone, making them a bit odd to deal with in a normal sense. Nearly male by hormones, yet completely female by anatomy... tricky dicky... less. Ha!
That may not go over well with the ladies, but it is as close as I get to altering my dogma there. My beliefs stand. That we live in a world where life is viewed as dispensable, chastity is seen as farcical, propriety is seen as a thing of the past, and everyone is seen as equal, it is no wonder that women have ended up where they are, that men are refusing to go there, and where law and equality in their attempts to merge have only proven the futility of such an action by completely ignoring the fact that the only way to create equality is to suspend justice, meaning that neither exists at this point.
I still hate pink men's shirts, and yellow. I still think mustaches are teh gey. I still think women are far too interesting for my own good. And I still like beef in large supplies, merely flame or heat touched enough to add a sense that something might have been cooked while the inside begs to differ in the same manner a boot to the head might cause pain. So, I can live with my little alterations. Well, back to the main keep to sooth the pain of the possibility I might have been a little wrong. I am not a baby. I am a great big wonking baby. Just setting the record straight.
.
It happens. Actually it happens often. My thinking might be called dogmatic. I have built a foundation, defenses, work-arounds to exceptions, designated outlets where only faith will sustain the beliefs, and generally I keep to this. However, while inspecting the psychic fortresses I have built, I do not merely look at the scenery and enjoy the power of my constructions. I have seen the enemy. Hell, I AM the enemy. I know what happens during failures. I know what happens to losers. I know what I do when I cause or capture such. To put it colloquially, it ain't pretty. So, while inspecting my defenses, from men and ideas which I use to defend and go on the offensive to the virtual ramparts, walls, pits, and machinery, I test harshly. I look for my own weaknesses better than any enemy can, or so it is hoped.
Tonight is a light version of some minor results. I am not going to tell you about my follies and foibles which are serious. I, simply put, do not think outlets such as the New York Times, the network news outlets, the Democratic party (considering those are supposed to be American institutions) should be emulated, or possibly even legally permitted to stand, if that is a different issue. No, my contrarian notions are of a lighter sort.
The first regards sports. Football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, gymnastics... I am not prejudiced, I truly hate them all. Well, maybe I like gymnastics like a cat enjoys watching goldfish. I have played football and basketball. I have run track and competed in field events. I did that more from peer pressure and civic duty as I saw it, then out of any love for the sports. But that does not mean I did not play hard, I did not play well, or I did not succeed given my circumstances in those competitions. I did very well indeed. And, yet, I despise the games.
My sense of loathing has little to do with who than what. The whole notion of pushing and shoving through a group of men to put pig skinned compressed air into an area of soil covered by grass for no real purpose... disgusts me. It is both a waste of energy, a waste of time, and an economic drain. It does not produce better men, a stronger economy, or, really, anything. The same can be said for any sport. I will admit, professional sports has become a micro, or would that be macro, economy. Of course, if my ideas are correct, this micro (or macro) economy competes with real economic growth and the production of goods and so it is a bad thing. Not that this notion matters, the whole notion of economy is an afterthought in any event. This is my dogma.
While watching what I do enjoy, that is cooking and really high end cooking one will see watching Iron Chef type shows, I punched through some weakness in my defenses. I thrilled at the competition. The show I was watching pitted 9 top chefs in an ongoing competition to eventually see who would be the next Iron Chef. The cooking was interesting. Seeing people forced out of their elements, required to use surprise, difficult, or both, ingredients, with a time limit and strict judging was fantastic. Albeit probably just to a few of us foodie types.
I cannot cook at that level, in that time, under the stress. Probably. I can whip up a meal to feed an army in short order, under tight constraints, with what is on hand, and it will satisfy most (picky eaters, like hecklers, need not apply). I can, given time and a trip to various markets, make a meal that might bring marriage proposals... from guys (I think I am going to be sick). But I cannot bring that all together and I am hit and miss, mostly since I experiment a lot. There is much I do not know. Though and again, I see mistakes made by chefs which I would not have made (in theory, at least I recognize the mistakes) if too I see chefs make mistakes I would very much have made.
The thing is, I garnered more than a few culinary ideas from the viewing. I felt the call to compete. And I sensed my incapacity to compete. Bluntly, I enjoyed vicarious competition. I enjoyed the highs and lows. Even if I can still pick out what a penalty is for in football, and my coach usually asked me what a call was if he did not see it, knowledge is not enough in football. I sometimes wonder if my problem with football was playing against and with inferior athletes. I caused 2 to 3 fumbles a game and 4 to 7 turnovers, but played with a team that never won a game and really could not have won. Though that does not really explain it as in basketball my team made it to the play-offs every year, handily, if we blew it at that point every time. I was average, give or take, on that team. Good team, bad team, superior or average skills, plenty of knowledge, no interest. At least now I see why sports are enjoyed, if my understanding is skewed and in it's own way, so as to be itself vicarious somehow.
The other notion which came to me tonight is the ongoing warfare of the sexes. There are, of course, some more and some less dogmatic elements on both sides of the issue. I am a moderate man side type. I am not fully in the woman hater's camp nor am I at all interested in even the soppy pseudo feminist camp that begs for room to be equal but different. Men, as I see it, are the crafters of the world (of flesh, and as we know it), the makers of the world, the developers of science, the masters of religion and philosophy, and the leaders, princes, and kings of all. If I were to set this in the ways of war, I would call men warriors and women civilians. Both have a place, there might be some overlap by needs, but the majority of warriors can and are both actors while civilians are limited to just being that. Few are the civilians who can stand against even a weak warrior in the domain of war and fewer still are the ones who survive unscathed from the effort. Fine fine. And, no, that did not change tonight. But a component of that did.
Women always seem to attempt to 'gain their freedom', go against the machine, fight, debate, rankle, and disagree. The notion came to me when I was fussing with Sassy. Go figure. When I wanted to hold her and cuddle, she wanted to leave and check out something 'over there'. When I wanted to be alone, she wanted to play or cuddle. When I wanted to pet, she wanted to fight. This is the way of it. I realized she could not be intentionally contrarian all of the time. So, what was the problem? Simple, she simply is controlled by a set of parameters, time tables, interests, buttons, tabs, switches, and hormones which I simply cannot fathom. As the leader, it is incumbent upon me to either find a way to get her on my wave lenght, adjust my wave length to fit her's, or to simply leave things well alone. Simply, she does not have the capacity to self adjust easily or happily. More and more, I guess, I am seeing that women are our responsibility more than our enemy, at least most of them. Feminists might not even be to blame, fully, logically, as one might a man. Their estrogen levels are often out of balance with their testosterone, making them a bit odd to deal with in a normal sense. Nearly male by hormones, yet completely female by anatomy... tricky dicky... less. Ha!
That may not go over well with the ladies, but it is as close as I get to altering my dogma there. My beliefs stand. That we live in a world where life is viewed as dispensable, chastity is seen as farcical, propriety is seen as a thing of the past, and everyone is seen as equal, it is no wonder that women have ended up where they are, that men are refusing to go there, and where law and equality in their attempts to merge have only proven the futility of such an action by completely ignoring the fact that the only way to create equality is to suspend justice, meaning that neither exists at this point.
I still hate pink men's shirts, and yellow. I still think mustaches are teh gey. I still think women are far too interesting for my own good. And I still like beef in large supplies, merely flame or heat touched enough to add a sense that something might have been cooked while the inside begs to differ in the same manner a boot to the head might cause pain. So, I can live with my little alterations. Well, back to the main keep to sooth the pain of the possibility I might have been a little wrong. I am not a baby. I am a great big wonking baby. Just setting the record straight.
My fever has broken.
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Something tells me I may once again, truly, be able to begin doing what needs to be done. I am still tired, grumpy, sore, sleepy, and such, but I feel energized. I have forced myself to eat, and plenty, the last few days. I have, in spite of feeling no pain, started taking aspirin today. Yeah, I must have been in pain along with being hungry for a couple of weeks. It is time to get to things, though it is so late! I worry about the roof and a dozen other projects. Still, I will start at the start and get where I can.
I do not know what I can do about my schedule. I do know that even with it being off a full day schedule that I still wake with plenty of sunlight left. I will have to figure a way to shove off and out and get to work, but I think I can at this point. After a healthy sized steak tonight, a shower after a sad lapse in grooming, and being healthily awake and aware, I will go to town. I have emptied much of my larder being stuck at home for so long. Sardines, grains, meats, milk, butter, sour cream... just some of the things I am out of and miss or are nearly gone. Though I have made some rather creative recipes.
I do feel better. I do not know what suddenly released though the pain killers helped, how long it will last, or whether my actions can help or hurt. I only know I am going to try and push on through. I think I am back in the driver's seat but we will see. I hope and I do and will pray. There is so much I want, need, and would like to do! Life is grand, regardless of how this turns out. Best get going...
.
Something tells me I may once again, truly, be able to begin doing what needs to be done. I am still tired, grumpy, sore, sleepy, and such, but I feel energized. I have forced myself to eat, and plenty, the last few days. I have, in spite of feeling no pain, started taking aspirin today. Yeah, I must have been in pain along with being hungry for a couple of weeks. It is time to get to things, though it is so late! I worry about the roof and a dozen other projects. Still, I will start at the start and get where I can.
I do not know what I can do about my schedule. I do know that even with it being off a full day schedule that I still wake with plenty of sunlight left. I will have to figure a way to shove off and out and get to work, but I think I can at this point. After a healthy sized steak tonight, a shower after a sad lapse in grooming, and being healthily awake and aware, I will go to town. I have emptied much of my larder being stuck at home for so long. Sardines, grains, meats, milk, butter, sour cream... just some of the things I am out of and miss or are nearly gone. Though I have made some rather creative recipes.
I do feel better. I do not know what suddenly released though the pain killers helped, how long it will last, or whether my actions can help or hurt. I only know I am going to try and push on through. I think I am back in the driver's seat but we will see. I hope and I do and will pray. There is so much I want, need, and would like to do! Life is grand, regardless of how this turns out. Best get going...
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Coincidence.
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Watching television this evening, I found two channels which I could switch to avoid commercials and still get most of the content. One was a documentary on Jim Jones, the other was "Rambo", the one where he takes missionaries upstream into a war zone. They seem to be very different, and yet they are not. Not at all. I guess the notion struck me so strongly about a quarter of the way through the viewings, something clicked.
Jim Jones, if you do not remember, was a self-styled preacher socialist egalitarian leader of what we would call a cult. He made promises, spouted about a God he could not have believed in, and collected the lost and the weak. He, after either real concerns he would be shut down in the states or merely because he was becoming ever more paranoid from drug use and criminal behavior, moved many of his "parishioners" to Guyana. There, it seems, he did whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted. What all really went on in there will probably never be fully known.
The movie "Rambo", if the victims are more hapless or weak than not, describes a camp of men much like the people who killed those who would not commit suicide for Jim Jones. Only, they were stolen as youth and indoctrinated in the harshest of manners. They murdered, stole, raped, tortured, burned, looted, and did whatever they were told or were "trained" to do. I have no doubt that as they became grizzled veterans they came to enjoy what they had.
It still seems unlikely that the two stories are all that connected. But if you skeletonize the two stories, looking at the initial and final means of getting people to obey, the lengths taken to the ends of those in charge, the promised ends, and the real ends, you begin to see similarities pop out as you would discover similarities in two real skeletons. It is amazing, to me, that whenever socialism, said to be nicer or softer than communism, pops up and power is allowed to accrue, lots of people die.
Why all this? Ah, that. Because last election we handed just such people power. Deny it if you will. Denounce me if you want. That is who holds majority power in this nation at this time. Democrats you say? No. Democrats and at least a third and more like half of Republicans in office. What does that have to do with a couple of shows? What happens when people with certain beliefs believe they are about to lose power? You answer that for yourself, not my job.
All I am saying is that I am glad to live in a place with a low population. I am glad to be living among people who have stocked up, are armed, where I have started to store my own food, water (well, soon), and goods. Our government, right now, is more of a threat than all the terrorists on the planet, foul as they may be. I remember when "our government" put out a terrorist watch list regarding certain citizens. Ah, what was it? Former military personnel, gun owners, Christians, and those who believe in the fundamentals of the Constitution. And still you doubt?
The only question is, are the socialists (truly or in their minds) close enough to enough of the levers of power to try to pull them? Though I must be honest with you, if it does not happen this time, it will next time. American people are failing. Our institutions, from courts to academia to law, have been invaded, subdued, indoctrinated, and armed to do what socialists do. It is obviously working considering who is acting as president.
.
Watching television this evening, I found two channels which I could switch to avoid commercials and still get most of the content. One was a documentary on Jim Jones, the other was "Rambo", the one where he takes missionaries upstream into a war zone. They seem to be very different, and yet they are not. Not at all. I guess the notion struck me so strongly about a quarter of the way through the viewings, something clicked.
Jim Jones, if you do not remember, was a self-styled preacher socialist egalitarian leader of what we would call a cult. He made promises, spouted about a God he could not have believed in, and collected the lost and the weak. He, after either real concerns he would be shut down in the states or merely because he was becoming ever more paranoid from drug use and criminal behavior, moved many of his "parishioners" to Guyana. There, it seems, he did whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted. What all really went on in there will probably never be fully known.
The movie "Rambo", if the victims are more hapless or weak than not, describes a camp of men much like the people who killed those who would not commit suicide for Jim Jones. Only, they were stolen as youth and indoctrinated in the harshest of manners. They murdered, stole, raped, tortured, burned, looted, and did whatever they were told or were "trained" to do. I have no doubt that as they became grizzled veterans they came to enjoy what they had.
It still seems unlikely that the two stories are all that connected. But if you skeletonize the two stories, looking at the initial and final means of getting people to obey, the lengths taken to the ends of those in charge, the promised ends, and the real ends, you begin to see similarities pop out as you would discover similarities in two real skeletons. It is amazing, to me, that whenever socialism, said to be nicer or softer than communism, pops up and power is allowed to accrue, lots of people die.
Why all this? Ah, that. Because last election we handed just such people power. Deny it if you will. Denounce me if you want. That is who holds majority power in this nation at this time. Democrats you say? No. Democrats and at least a third and more like half of Republicans in office. What does that have to do with a couple of shows? What happens when people with certain beliefs believe they are about to lose power? You answer that for yourself, not my job.
All I am saying is that I am glad to live in a place with a low population. I am glad to be living among people who have stocked up, are armed, where I have started to store my own food, water (well, soon), and goods. Our government, right now, is more of a threat than all the terrorists on the planet, foul as they may be. I remember when "our government" put out a terrorist watch list regarding certain citizens. Ah, what was it? Former military personnel, gun owners, Christians, and those who believe in the fundamentals of the Constitution. And still you doubt?
The only question is, are the socialists (truly or in their minds) close enough to enough of the levers of power to try to pull them? Though I must be honest with you, if it does not happen this time, it will next time. American people are failing. Our institutions, from courts to academia to law, have been invaded, subdued, indoctrinated, and armed to do what socialists do. It is obviously working considering who is acting as president.
Not much happening anywhere?
.
.
I am starting to wonder if people have died or if I have become toxic? Yeah, okay, I could see that last. It is difficult to watch a man drown. I get that. Still, just be like me and stop by and chuckle, throw an anchor out to me, or just watch. Then again, I know how it is when someone is less than stellar and is drowning. They are not even worth castigating?
For whatever reason, in the blogging world, when one is already isolated in the real world, isolation here seems both interminable and even colder. Paranoia creeps in and one begins to wonder. You know it cannot be your breath, appearance, so all you are left with is that it must be you. No one else has a life and it is all about you. They really might suddenly all hate you and have decided they do not and never did like you. Or perhaps they never really did like you. Perhaps they were just getting you to write and respond to laugh at you further!11!!!1! Well, it could happen.
Heh! No problems, I have worked it out until I have not, again. I remember thinking I ought to quit this damned blogging stuff. Actually I did, leaving my old blog somewhere back in the dust of time lost. I liked the name too, though this one is more me. Or, more how I would represent me. Or, something. I have not even thought about quitting for... a year or two, at least not seriously. It did run through my head tonight. And probably will a few more times in the next week(s). But this is just one of those things I do.
Good night.
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I am starting to wonder if people have died or if I have become toxic? Yeah, okay, I could see that last. It is difficult to watch a man drown. I get that. Still, just be like me and stop by and chuckle, throw an anchor out to me, or just watch. Then again, I know how it is when someone is less than stellar and is drowning. They are not even worth castigating?
For whatever reason, in the blogging world, when one is already isolated in the real world, isolation here seems both interminable and even colder. Paranoia creeps in and one begins to wonder. You know it cannot be your breath, appearance, so all you are left with is that it must be you. No one else has a life and it is all about you. They really might suddenly all hate you and have decided they do not and never did like you. Or perhaps they never really did like you. Perhaps they were just getting you to write and respond to laugh at you further!11!!!1! Well, it could happen.
Heh! No problems, I have worked it out until I have not, again. I remember thinking I ought to quit this damned blogging stuff. Actually I did, leaving my old blog somewhere back in the dust of time lost. I liked the name too, though this one is more me. Or, more how I would represent me. Or, something. I have not even thought about quitting for... a year or two, at least not seriously. It did run through my head tonight. And probably will a few more times in the next week(s). But this is just one of those things I do.
Good night.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Survival.
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I watch survival shows as often as I can. I am not sure why, precisely. I will explain that in a bit. The first one was Survivor Man, I think, then the others followed after a few years. The original star now seems to do a show concerned more with getting high with various aboriginals than anything else. There is one I will not watch, the one that appears to be a survivor and his male queen. Are they gay? Close enough, or actually too close, for me to find any interest in watching.
In spite of watching, I see the shows as almost completely useless. Much of what they purport to use, do, or eat most people either already know, would figure out, or would be lost on people who could not or would not use the ideas. As well, many of the ideas they propose require specialized skills which could not be obtained by watching then doing at all safely, are inherently too dangerous in almost any case, or are so specialized that most people would never be able to use them. As well, many of the times they use these things, they have put themselves in situations most people trying to survive an accidental stint in the wild would never consider putting themselves in. Frat boys with gps, in a group, with satellite phones experience and an adrenalin addiction, sure... but not Joe 'lost in the woods' Schmo. As well, much of what they propose to eat, especially with regards to plants, is outright dangerous. Even people regionally trained to pick wild plants have and do poison themselves and their students. Some plants which look exactly like edible plants are anywhere from sickening to lethally poisonous.
There is a reason to watch, if it is weak. The shows offer an opening up of the field of possibilities. Well, that and it is or was interesting. I think the first one was better as the main character actually took risks. He was alone, he only had a set number of items with him so the chance of danger was much more present. Taking risks with real consequences, possibly fatal consequences, is interesting. Now, however, you will see plainly that the main character(s) will not take risks beyond what U.S. employment departments and laws allow. They may do something seemingly dangerous, if only to show how to do something. Further, they have a studio sized group of cameramen and whoever with them. Huh? It does kill half of the reason to watch. Which, considering the first paragraph, does not offer much of a reason to watch.
Not based on these shows, merely on the fact that I need to do grocery shopping, I created an interesting dinner tonight. I cooked millet, with garlic and salt, last night. I had some remaining and I was hungry. Another bowl of just millet butter and salt, however, did not sound good. I also had a few cans of tuna and mayonnaise. I mixed a few tablespoons of the mayo, a can of tuna, and the millet. Planning on at best a neuter tasting meal, at worst a fishy mush, I dug in. Actually it was not that bad. I might even say it was actually tasty. I do not, however, wish to feast on such too often or for long so I must get to the store.
I have not been doing as much as I would like. I am doing more. The kitchen has been hit, but I cannot prepare beans until I have more storage devices. But I want to be ready. I have started on the bedroom, laundry and some prep for a fuller clean are ongoing. I have set up my soda siphons. Wow does that taste sweet after drinking diet soda for so long. I have been floating along without much direction for a while and drinking soda is 'automatic'. I will, eventually, come back, slow as that goes. At least I am doing more, I am taking care of the felines, and I am creating goals.
Actually, I have been thinking about the cats. If I die, what would happen to them? I know no one who would take them in. This disturbs me far more than the notion that I will die. I can only imagine how people worry about this regarding their children.
.
I watch survival shows as often as I can. I am not sure why, precisely. I will explain that in a bit. The first one was Survivor Man, I think, then the others followed after a few years. The original star now seems to do a show concerned more with getting high with various aboriginals than anything else. There is one I will not watch, the one that appears to be a survivor and his male queen. Are they gay? Close enough, or actually too close, for me to find any interest in watching.
In spite of watching, I see the shows as almost completely useless. Much of what they purport to use, do, or eat most people either already know, would figure out, or would be lost on people who could not or would not use the ideas. As well, many of the ideas they propose require specialized skills which could not be obtained by watching then doing at all safely, are inherently too dangerous in almost any case, or are so specialized that most people would never be able to use them. As well, many of the times they use these things, they have put themselves in situations most people trying to survive an accidental stint in the wild would never consider putting themselves in. Frat boys with gps, in a group, with satellite phones experience and an adrenalin addiction, sure... but not Joe 'lost in the woods' Schmo. As well, much of what they propose to eat, especially with regards to plants, is outright dangerous. Even people regionally trained to pick wild plants have and do poison themselves and their students. Some plants which look exactly like edible plants are anywhere from sickening to lethally poisonous.
There is a reason to watch, if it is weak. The shows offer an opening up of the field of possibilities. Well, that and it is or was interesting. I think the first one was better as the main character actually took risks. He was alone, he only had a set number of items with him so the chance of danger was much more present. Taking risks with real consequences, possibly fatal consequences, is interesting. Now, however, you will see plainly that the main character(s) will not take risks beyond what U.S. employment departments and laws allow. They may do something seemingly dangerous, if only to show how to do something. Further, they have a studio sized group of cameramen and whoever with them. Huh? It does kill half of the reason to watch. Which, considering the first paragraph, does not offer much of a reason to watch.
Not based on these shows, merely on the fact that I need to do grocery shopping, I created an interesting dinner tonight. I cooked millet, with garlic and salt, last night. I had some remaining and I was hungry. Another bowl of just millet butter and salt, however, did not sound good. I also had a few cans of tuna and mayonnaise. I mixed a few tablespoons of the mayo, a can of tuna, and the millet. Planning on at best a neuter tasting meal, at worst a fishy mush, I dug in. Actually it was not that bad. I might even say it was actually tasty. I do not, however, wish to feast on such too often or for long so I must get to the store.
I have not been doing as much as I would like. I am doing more. The kitchen has been hit, but I cannot prepare beans until I have more storage devices. But I want to be ready. I have started on the bedroom, laundry and some prep for a fuller clean are ongoing. I have set up my soda siphons. Wow does that taste sweet after drinking diet soda for so long. I have been floating along without much direction for a while and drinking soda is 'automatic'. I will, eventually, come back, slow as that goes. At least I am doing more, I am taking care of the felines, and I am creating goals.
Actually, I have been thinking about the cats. If I die, what would happen to them? I know no one who would take them in. This disturbs me far more than the notion that I will die. I can only imagine how people worry about this regarding their children.
Troubled thoughts.
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When considering things which cause me intellectual flatulence or constipation my mind naturally seeks wisdom with which to relieve, sooth, understand, cope, or otherwise manage the situation. To those ends, my mind wanders toward God. Usually, quickly or slowly, this does solve the problem in my mind if not the problems which cause the binding or other embarrassing factors. Working with a blueprint, however, can allow for me to be more surely actionable regarding those problems, as I may. But that is not what this is about, or only tangentially.
While considering some things that were on my mind, I took them to God. And I dealt with them in my own mind and in my life as I could. As my time there was winding down I was considering God in a general manner. I began to think of the miracles performed by Christ and the things God had done otherwise.
Oh, I know, the naysayers are always lurking about somewhere. For me that is not really a problem, they remind me of the people who denigrated a birthday present mostly from jealousy or because all of the love they know was given to them in extraordinary gifts given to them to avoid their parents actually having to, well, love the child. I have plenty of room for sympathy to the unloved, even if that is because of their recalcitrance. Then my mind wandered back to miracles.
Turning water to wine, walking on water, even feeding the many with little, while rather impressive from my current human understanding and ability, these are not impressive. What? Correct, these things do not incur incredulity in me. They are, in a perfected world, how things work. Actually, they are how things work, they are physics, we are simply incapable of making that engine function in our current state. Christ rising from the dead poses a serious strain on my metaphysical physics model until one thinks a bit. Man was not meant for the grave. If this is true and it is true that Christ was perfect then my model stands uncorrected, whole, and literally.
I had to think then, what is it that God does which impresses me. What do I find miraculous.
Ah, that would be His patience. It could be argued He built this into Who He Is, that it is merely mechanical, or even that since He exists outside of the constraints of time, that patience is not actually needed. However, being beyond the constraints of time after having created all He loves and wants within it would desperately make Him a subject to time for our sake. Yes, indeed, patience. That, absolutely, impresses me. Even as Christ suffered the lash, the cross, death, and hell, He suffered for less than a day in those in flesh and three days in spirit. the Father and the Holy Spirit suffer our sin for as long as we exist (for there are no other actors of evil, Satan and the others only influence us toward sin).
Then again, perhaps I am too easily entertained. I never really know these things.
Today's lessons.
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Your brain, your brain on 'roids. If men jump off a cliff, will women follow? If this is any indication, all it takes is a few men and most women will follow. They do not call it divorce medicine for nothing. How long does it take being on the stuff to permanently shrink the lining of the uterus to make conception a near virtual impossibility? If it is my problem, it really is not.
Wet dreams of the typical Democrat politician, and quite often their electorate. Watch the video, if nothing else. Even without sound on my machine, I know what is happening. I am split between whether this is simply wishful thinking or a veiled threat, though with the left using double entendres with and without intent, my guess is that it is both. Of course they have the numbers wrong. Their real intent IS to eliminate a class of that size down to two, as an example. Lots of fodder there, in all the meanings and notions, no pun intended.
Bits and pieces. No pun there, either. I was going to write something else starting with those words. My mind just cannot seem to escape the horror the left represents. I may be harsh, violent, dreadful, and a means of death (in my virtual sense) but there are things far worse than I can ever be. I am simply mechanical, those things are spiritual, eternal, filthy, crude... evil. I have my limits. What they will do will sink your spirit, flesh, and soul into the abyss and in a terrorist manner so as to maintain power. I am amazed they let this out, though I hear they are quite busy trying to bury their intentions.
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Your brain, your brain on 'roids. If men jump off a cliff, will women follow? If this is any indication, all it takes is a few men and most women will follow. They do not call it divorce medicine for nothing. How long does it take being on the stuff to permanently shrink the lining of the uterus to make conception a near virtual impossibility? If it is my problem, it really is not.
Wet dreams of the typical Democrat politician, and quite often their electorate. Watch the video, if nothing else. Even without sound on my machine, I know what is happening. I am split between whether this is simply wishful thinking or a veiled threat, though with the left using double entendres with and without intent, my guess is that it is both. Of course they have the numbers wrong. Their real intent IS to eliminate a class of that size down to two, as an example. Lots of fodder there, in all the meanings and notions, no pun intended.
Bits and pieces. No pun there, either. I was going to write something else starting with those words. My mind just cannot seem to escape the horror the left represents. I may be harsh, violent, dreadful, and a means of death (in my virtual sense) but there are things far worse than I can ever be. I am simply mechanical, those things are spiritual, eternal, filthy, crude... evil. I have my limits. What they will do will sink your spirit, flesh, and soul into the abyss and in a terrorist manner so as to maintain power. I am amazed they let this out, though I hear they are quite busy trying to bury their intentions.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Our education system and unions going after hearts and minds, again.
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I read this story, even if it is creepy. I often ignore such stories but the numbers had to be wrong. I sort of picked what to read and ignore, until the end. Paid administrative leave, really! REALLY?
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I read this story, even if it is creepy. I often ignore such stories but the numbers had to be wrong. I sort of picked what to read and ignore, until the end. Paid administrative leave, really! REALLY?
Killing Ameican citizens involved in terrorism is not conservative?
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Hmm, well, some seem to say that and believe it. The fact is, not only does our nation kill errant Americans to preserve itself, and has done so since the nation's inception, states do it! They even kill *gasp* women! Not only is this not (supposed to be) a political issue, being more a judicial or military issue, it should be neither conservative, liberal, or libertarian. If the libertarian notion is libertine, that would far from preclude the notion it would suggest that no state even need be involved... roll your own, regardless of whether a lethal threat is offered or not.
I am not sure what goes on in some people's heads. But everyone seems to have their own particular spooks and flaws. I know some, perhaps most, of my own. Not that this helps, but knowing allows me opportunities to avoid awkward situations. Some people simply do not know. The king who wears no clothing, ignoring his own eyes to seeming wear the finest clothing? It is insane to think we would not only allow, but sanction, actions such as this. Actually, regardless of national status, anyone involved in murder and mass murder have as much right to their life, legal council, or other rights as a man who urinates on the steps of Capital Hill has of privacy.
My only issue with the need to sign off on the a death warrant, at least while the suspect is still alive, is the fact that it needs to be signed off on in the first place. Will police next need to get a court order to defend themselves or us? Further, if someone attacks me, should I call the police and ask permission to pull the attackers knife out of my gut and shoot him? Idiocy is extraordinary. Extraordinary idiocy is breathtaking.
If anything, conservativism supports my right to defend myself using any methods which are reasonable, even allowing for a state of the mind overreaction. That is not a right which is limited to citizens, either. I EXPECT my government to do this on larger issues and in places I cannot go. I expect them to protect me, mine, my neighbors, and even the socialists in big cities. As for justice, I expect that to be done. We did not simply go to Iraq for no reason. We did not go to Afghanistan for no reason. We were called out by mass murder. Justice demanded action and action has been taken. I expect them to do their jobs. Further, and actually, I would rather our forces focus specifically on Americans who are in the enemies camp. Take off the gloves and take these out. These are the greatest risk we face. They know too much and how things work here. *thumbs up*
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Hmm, well, some seem to say that and believe it. The fact is, not only does our nation kill errant Americans to preserve itself, and has done so since the nation's inception, states do it! They even kill *gasp* women! Not only is this not (supposed to be) a political issue, being more a judicial or military issue, it should be neither conservative, liberal, or libertarian. If the libertarian notion is libertine, that would far from preclude the notion it would suggest that no state even need be involved... roll your own, regardless of whether a lethal threat is offered or not.
I am not sure what goes on in some people's heads. But everyone seems to have their own particular spooks and flaws. I know some, perhaps most, of my own. Not that this helps, but knowing allows me opportunities to avoid awkward situations. Some people simply do not know. The king who wears no clothing, ignoring his own eyes to seeming wear the finest clothing? It is insane to think we would not only allow, but sanction, actions such as this. Actually, regardless of national status, anyone involved in murder and mass murder have as much right to their life, legal council, or other rights as a man who urinates on the steps of Capital Hill has of privacy.
My only issue with the need to sign off on the a death warrant, at least while the suspect is still alive, is the fact that it needs to be signed off on in the first place. Will police next need to get a court order to defend themselves or us? Further, if someone attacks me, should I call the police and ask permission to pull the attackers knife out of my gut and shoot him? Idiocy is extraordinary. Extraordinary idiocy is breathtaking.
If anything, conservativism supports my right to defend myself using any methods which are reasonable, even allowing for a state of the mind overreaction. That is not a right which is limited to citizens, either. I EXPECT my government to do this on larger issues and in places I cannot go. I expect them to protect me, mine, my neighbors, and even the socialists in big cities. As for justice, I expect that to be done. We did not simply go to Iraq for no reason. We did not go to Afghanistan for no reason. We were called out by mass murder. Justice demanded action and action has been taken. I expect them to do their jobs. Further, and actually, I would rather our forces focus specifically on Americans who are in the enemies camp. Take off the gloves and take these out. These are the greatest risk we face. They know too much and how things work here. *thumbs up*
Electric cars and getting to it.
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A tough time waking up, that is true. Grumpy at teh kittehs and not too interested in doing much but looking for a way to step off the transcendental super highway. But it is happening. I should be able to figure things out a bit before too long.
In spite of my spite and fury, Sam has braved my incessant rejections and taken up a forward post on my lap. Her begging becomes annoying and I was not in the mood for it today. If she has her way, she will often bother me to sit on my lap, shuffle around here and there, and then leave moments later only to come back and do it all over again just moments after that. No! Not today! After a good deal of that she has, as I said, settled in my lap. I cannot pet her all of the time, and she, it seems, has become satisfied to just sit, mostly, and be with pops. Of course, when I do not pet her, she has tricks to get a little more attention. She will be standing in my lap and just... go slack so that I worry she will fall. Ah but I needed a laugh. It is endearing and earned her a good minute more of attention. She does this every 5 to 10 minutes and I fall for it every time.
I happened upon an article regarding electric cars today. It can be difficult for me to read long essays, at times, even about things which interest me. But today seems to be a good day for reading. Whether I like all of the notions in the article, I actually think it is rather on target. It is, summed up, the practical economic and industrial guide to making electric cars and handling the issues which surround it. Mostly, however, I think the idea is that electric cars are to saving the middle class about as well as huge tax increases are saving businesses and jobs. But if we have to, here is the way. I am not sure if I actually saw a snark, heard a funny, or such, but I come away from the article just a little tickled. It is in there, somehow.
My notion is thus. If the greens say to do it, do pretty much just the opposite being careful not to do it blindly as it might actually be a trick or trap. If they say something will save the planet, it will not. If they suggest something is good for you, or humans in general, it almost certainly will end up killing millions, perhaps billions of people. If they think you are dumb you are probably correct. If they want this politician or that policy, vote against it. The only time to listen to them, and only as a starting point, is if you are planning to live in a world which becomes permanently defunct of every mass resource we currently have available. But, only as a starting point. I guarantee, if I knew that type of scenario was going to happen tomorrow and I had the resources, I would stockpile everything from bleach to fertilizer to the most potent pesticides, including DDT, I could lay my hands on. Oh, and fuels as well. I would even attempt to build a chemical plant which could produce these things. Hell, I would build a mini-nuke plant! But, I would look at alternative sources for when those ran out, or as a way to extend those, saving the goodies for more critical items or as a last resort. If it is green it might as well be red. And as me and mine liked to say, better dead than red (or read). Pick your poison.
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A tough time waking up, that is true. Grumpy at teh kittehs and not too interested in doing much but looking for a way to step off the transcendental super highway. But it is happening. I should be able to figure things out a bit before too long.
In spite of my spite and fury, Sam has braved my incessant rejections and taken up a forward post on my lap. Her begging becomes annoying and I was not in the mood for it today. If she has her way, she will often bother me to sit on my lap, shuffle around here and there, and then leave moments later only to come back and do it all over again just moments after that. No! Not today! After a good deal of that she has, as I said, settled in my lap. I cannot pet her all of the time, and she, it seems, has become satisfied to just sit, mostly, and be with pops. Of course, when I do not pet her, she has tricks to get a little more attention. She will be standing in my lap and just... go slack so that I worry she will fall. Ah but I needed a laugh. It is endearing and earned her a good minute more of attention. She does this every 5 to 10 minutes and I fall for it every time.
I happened upon an article regarding electric cars today. It can be difficult for me to read long essays, at times, even about things which interest me. But today seems to be a good day for reading. Whether I like all of the notions in the article, I actually think it is rather on target. It is, summed up, the practical economic and industrial guide to making electric cars and handling the issues which surround it. Mostly, however, I think the idea is that electric cars are to saving the middle class about as well as huge tax increases are saving businesses and jobs. But if we have to, here is the way. I am not sure if I actually saw a snark, heard a funny, or such, but I come away from the article just a little tickled. It is in there, somehow.
My notion is thus. If the greens say to do it, do pretty much just the opposite being careful not to do it blindly as it might actually be a trick or trap. If they say something will save the planet, it will not. If they suggest something is good for you, or humans in general, it almost certainly will end up killing millions, perhaps billions of people. If they think you are dumb you are probably correct. If they want this politician or that policy, vote against it. The only time to listen to them, and only as a starting point, is if you are planning to live in a world which becomes permanently defunct of every mass resource we currently have available. But, only as a starting point. I guarantee, if I knew that type of scenario was going to happen tomorrow and I had the resources, I would stockpile everything from bleach to fertilizer to the most potent pesticides, including DDT, I could lay my hands on. Oh, and fuels as well. I would even attempt to build a chemical plant which could produce these things. Hell, I would build a mini-nuke plant! But, I would look at alternative sources for when those ran out, or as a way to extend those, saving the goodies for more critical items or as a last resort. If it is green it might as well be red. And as me and mine liked to say, better dead than red (or read). Pick your poison.
That did not work so well.
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Since I like to make larger amounts of beans I purchased larger containers than what I had. Beside needing more containers since two or three of my larger containers were continually being used for bean and rice and or other grain storage, I purchased a couple of very large containers. They had flaps on the side, supposedly to guarantee a sure close. Not only did these flap locking containers not hold fluids, since I like to keep the bean juice, the beans AND rice soured very quickly. They were stored in separate and similar containers. No, no, I soak beans for only about 12 hours. No, no, I put the foods up as soon as they were cool enough to (in my estimation) go into plastic, or well above room temperature but well below boiling, or about an hour or two after cooking. No, no, in spite of my troubles of recent, I keep my refrigerator rather clean. Like your Mother? No, but I doubt if SHE keeps it that clean anymore (I have reviewed my own mother's refrigerator and, ick!), that was most likely a nesting thing if even more likely a false childhood perception, or maybe just seeming appearances?
The foods have gone bad twice, now. One might think one should learn the first time. However, I did not remember how I did things the first time and so I took the blame. Usually, in well sealed containers from the past and at least since I started cooking here, beans and rice lasted about 2 weeks as I ate them down. Some of the tricks are to put the foods up very freshly after cooking, using some salt while cooking the beans, and only taking the containers out long enough to remove whatever portion I desired and then returning the rest to the refrigerator immediately. I am not a germaphobe, mostly. I just like efficiency, I would rather not cook batch after batch of foods, and I am trying to save money.
Okay, fine, I am a little hot. Sure, beans ARE cheap (so far and still). Rice, really, is not that expensive. But the work involved, to me, recently, has been onerous. First a day soak of the beans (no more or they will go bad right there, 8 to 12 hours optimal for soaking). But that is forethought with a required endtime, and on my whacky schedule, it is a bit of a chore. Then there is the 3 hours of tending the pot while the beans cook. I can cook the rice off to the side, so it is not too much additional work. And, no matter how close I watch the cooking it seems I always end up with boilover. With large portions, that is almost inevitable. Which means on top of cleaning these very large pots, I have to scrape the flat top, then scrub it, and often soak it and hit it a number of times. Further, I am disappointed in Rubbermaid. They usually offer some of the best containers, at least for the home market. I went to my favorite shops online and they no longer offer the large (6x5x2 is NOT large) commercial containers I once owned and loved. Probably something to do with the hard plastic scare. I got rid of them when moving, assuming if I needed them here I could simply buy them here.
Blast it all. I suppose I will simply have to look at a few of the local stores and see what I can find. I simply threw the wing snap lock units away. Oh, I am sure they could be good for Something. But with the incapacity to be water tight, let alone really seal at all, I could not think of a thing I would really trust them to do. As well, I simply did not wish to contend with a gallon and a half of stinking beans and three quarters of a gallon of stinking rice on top of cleaning these behemoth nasties. I guess my warning is to not buy these products. I tried to find them on the web to show you but could not find them in a quick couple of searches. And, yes, they are still on store shelves.
Another thing I wish to complain about is this state. In spite of being quite Republican, it seems to consist more of the Repugnant part of that party. Laws and rules abound. As an example, they just outlawed the good dishwashing formulas, along with 16 other states. People are quite unhappy with how these new legal and moral formulas work, or really do not work. The dish washer repairmen have been busy since it started, doing nothing of course but showing up to look, charging some filthy huge fee for the visit, and... telling them they can thank their government. Ah, more jobs created! Why would that matter, since I do not have a dishwasher? It is not how government affects me personally that is at issue. If it were, I would be all for big government. It is about what the government was and should be, at least here in the U.S. Utah is just about as socialist as Iowa, if I doubt gay marriage will get in. Then again, with the courts being stacked as they are by leftists for leftists with seemingly no action by Repugnants on that front, I will not even guarantee that. Do not move to Utah in the hopes of finding less government. The Repugnants and Demonrats seem to rule the place. Move here if you want to find a place, perhaps, in which to attempt to ignore the government as much as possible, have generally good neighbors some of whom are prepared for a downturn, but do not move here under the false pretense that this is a state which is freer from government. Oh, and a little girl had her lemonade stand shut down this summer, she had not paid $150 for a license or permit or some such. Yeah, sweet bureaucracy, red tape, and tax issues abound.
(side note: While I do not care for the notion of dishwashers, these have become a fact because of other government influence* in other matters, to wit, egalitarian employment through the most anti-business rules and laws feminists can develop, layered on thickly, over several generations. So, unless the insanity is stopped through unmandating insanity, we have what we have. Dishwashers, in other words, and much like obesity, crime, poverty, and many other things, are a side effect of government interference. *I believe it is said only God has actual power. It is Satan who uses influence.
Rants off.
.
Since I like to make larger amounts of beans I purchased larger containers than what I had. Beside needing more containers since two or three of my larger containers were continually being used for bean and rice and or other grain storage, I purchased a couple of very large containers. They had flaps on the side, supposedly to guarantee a sure close. Not only did these flap locking containers not hold fluids, since I like to keep the bean juice, the beans AND rice soured very quickly. They were stored in separate and similar containers. No, no, I soak beans for only about 12 hours. No, no, I put the foods up as soon as they were cool enough to (in my estimation) go into plastic, or well above room temperature but well below boiling, or about an hour or two after cooking. No, no, in spite of my troubles of recent, I keep my refrigerator rather clean. Like your Mother? No, but I doubt if SHE keeps it that clean anymore (I have reviewed my own mother's refrigerator and, ick!), that was most likely a nesting thing if even more likely a false childhood perception, or maybe just seeming appearances?
The foods have gone bad twice, now. One might think one should learn the first time. However, I did not remember how I did things the first time and so I took the blame. Usually, in well sealed containers from the past and at least since I started cooking here, beans and rice lasted about 2 weeks as I ate them down. Some of the tricks are to put the foods up very freshly after cooking, using some salt while cooking the beans, and only taking the containers out long enough to remove whatever portion I desired and then returning the rest to the refrigerator immediately. I am not a germaphobe, mostly. I just like efficiency, I would rather not cook batch after batch of foods, and I am trying to save money.
Okay, fine, I am a little hot. Sure, beans ARE cheap (so far and still). Rice, really, is not that expensive. But the work involved, to me, recently, has been onerous. First a day soak of the beans (no more or they will go bad right there, 8 to 12 hours optimal for soaking). But that is forethought with a required endtime, and on my whacky schedule, it is a bit of a chore. Then there is the 3 hours of tending the pot while the beans cook. I can cook the rice off to the side, so it is not too much additional work. And, no matter how close I watch the cooking it seems I always end up with boilover. With large portions, that is almost inevitable. Which means on top of cleaning these very large pots, I have to scrape the flat top, then scrub it, and often soak it and hit it a number of times. Further, I am disappointed in Rubbermaid. They usually offer some of the best containers, at least for the home market. I went to my favorite shops online and they no longer offer the large (6x5x2 is NOT large) commercial containers I once owned and loved. Probably something to do with the hard plastic scare. I got rid of them when moving, assuming if I needed them here I could simply buy them here.
Blast it all. I suppose I will simply have to look at a few of the local stores and see what I can find. I simply threw the wing snap lock units away. Oh, I am sure they could be good for Something. But with the incapacity to be water tight, let alone really seal at all, I could not think of a thing I would really trust them to do. As well, I simply did not wish to contend with a gallon and a half of stinking beans and three quarters of a gallon of stinking rice on top of cleaning these behemoth nasties. I guess my warning is to not buy these products. I tried to find them on the web to show you but could not find them in a quick couple of searches. And, yes, they are still on store shelves.
Another thing I wish to complain about is this state. In spite of being quite Republican, it seems to consist more of the Repugnant part of that party. Laws and rules abound. As an example, they just outlawed the good dishwashing formulas, along with 16 other states. People are quite unhappy with how these new legal and moral formulas work, or really do not work. The dish washer repairmen have been busy since it started, doing nothing of course but showing up to look, charging some filthy huge fee for the visit, and... telling them they can thank their government. Ah, more jobs created! Why would that matter, since I do not have a dishwasher? It is not how government affects me personally that is at issue. If it were, I would be all for big government. It is about what the government was and should be, at least here in the U.S. Utah is just about as socialist as Iowa, if I doubt gay marriage will get in. Then again, with the courts being stacked as they are by leftists for leftists with seemingly no action by Repugnants on that front, I will not even guarantee that. Do not move to Utah in the hopes of finding less government. The Repugnants and Demonrats seem to rule the place. Move here if you want to find a place, perhaps, in which to attempt to ignore the government as much as possible, have generally good neighbors some of whom are prepared for a downturn, but do not move here under the false pretense that this is a state which is freer from government. Oh, and a little girl had her lemonade stand shut down this summer, she had not paid $150 for a license or permit or some such. Yeah, sweet bureaucracy, red tape, and tax issues abound.
(side note: While I do not care for the notion of dishwashers, these have become a fact because of other government influence* in other matters, to wit, egalitarian employment through the most anti-business rules and laws feminists can develop, layered on thickly, over several generations. So, unless the insanity is stopped through unmandating insanity, we have what we have. Dishwashers, in other words, and much like obesity, crime, poverty, and many other things, are a side effect of government interference. *I believe it is said only God has actual power. It is Satan who uses influence.
Rants off.
Tomorrow.
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Life is rather odd lately. Sure, I can think about things, and read and do math, but functioning much beyond that is limited. Waking up has been difficult, mostly not making it up before 14:00. Try as I may, that is pretty much the way of it without more effort than it is worth. Things around the place are looking a little shabby. Some tasks are halfway completed and just sitting there, dishes were stacking up though I did get to those this evening, and as personal spaces tend to do my personal spaces have become cluttered and visually noisy.
I may not be able to get up early, or do a lot, or even go outside much, but I have decided to put my mind to the interior of the house tomorrow and for as long as it takes. I would like to start in my bedroom, again. I did get most of what I had wanted done there. However, this time I would like to take most portable items out, save clothes, the bed, and the dresser then vacuum, wash the walls, and restore the room to a neat appearance. I think I can do that. The hope is that I can do this with every room. I like to add a little bleach in my wash water. It is surprising how well that additive both helps to clean and prevents buildup. I am not talking about enough bleach to take the paint off the walls, what I add is barely enough to smell. And yet it has an incredible way of keeping even spiders from building webs.
Over the next week, doing one room at a time, I would like to get this place back in order and a little further, finish unpacking the last of the boxes. Some of what is in those boxes will remain stored. Unpacking what I want out, however, will leave enough empty and partially emptied boxes that consolidating those and breaking down what empty boxes remain would be a simple matter. Further, I would like to get the "gun closet" sorted out and ready to begin reloading ammunition. I do not know how fast this will go, only that it is a goal I can handle if I do it when I can as I can. With nothing else seemingly possible, this might be the shovel I need to dig out of the hole I am in.
By the way, I have finally enjoyed some of my own tomatoes. I had, a few weeks ago, given up on them. They had been refusing to turn red so I simply began to ignore them. About a week ago I noticed several red tomatoes. Upon inspection two came off in my hand. Though they were tasty they were also quite dry. I started watering them again and low and behold the last two I picked were better. Juicier, if still on the dry side, and tastier to be sure. I made tuna salad and thought tomatoes add with that to make for a fine sandwich. Unfortunately my bread had gone to mold. So, tomatoes and tuna salad was it. Good enough, I suppose. I hope to get a few more tomatoes off the vines before a freeze. I might even talk myself into finding a recipe for fried green tomatoes and try some of those. I am not sure I really learned anything with this process, but I do have garden hose, a sprinkler, several connection fittings, a timer, some tools, and a stronger interest for next year. Well, one thing I did learn is to not plant tomato plants a foot apart! What do these things need, 2 or even 3 perhaps 4 feet? Wow. Anyway.
Good night.
.
Life is rather odd lately. Sure, I can think about things, and read and do math, but functioning much beyond that is limited. Waking up has been difficult, mostly not making it up before 14:00. Try as I may, that is pretty much the way of it without more effort than it is worth. Things around the place are looking a little shabby. Some tasks are halfway completed and just sitting there, dishes were stacking up though I did get to those this evening, and as personal spaces tend to do my personal spaces have become cluttered and visually noisy.
I may not be able to get up early, or do a lot, or even go outside much, but I have decided to put my mind to the interior of the house tomorrow and for as long as it takes. I would like to start in my bedroom, again. I did get most of what I had wanted done there. However, this time I would like to take most portable items out, save clothes, the bed, and the dresser then vacuum, wash the walls, and restore the room to a neat appearance. I think I can do that. The hope is that I can do this with every room. I like to add a little bleach in my wash water. It is surprising how well that additive both helps to clean and prevents buildup. I am not talking about enough bleach to take the paint off the walls, what I add is barely enough to smell. And yet it has an incredible way of keeping even spiders from building webs.
Over the next week, doing one room at a time, I would like to get this place back in order and a little further, finish unpacking the last of the boxes. Some of what is in those boxes will remain stored. Unpacking what I want out, however, will leave enough empty and partially emptied boxes that consolidating those and breaking down what empty boxes remain would be a simple matter. Further, I would like to get the "gun closet" sorted out and ready to begin reloading ammunition. I do not know how fast this will go, only that it is a goal I can handle if I do it when I can as I can. With nothing else seemingly possible, this might be the shovel I need to dig out of the hole I am in.
By the way, I have finally enjoyed some of my own tomatoes. I had, a few weeks ago, given up on them. They had been refusing to turn red so I simply began to ignore them. About a week ago I noticed several red tomatoes. Upon inspection two came off in my hand. Though they were tasty they were also quite dry. I started watering them again and low and behold the last two I picked were better. Juicier, if still on the dry side, and tastier to be sure. I made tuna salad and thought tomatoes add with that to make for a fine sandwich. Unfortunately my bread had gone to mold. So, tomatoes and tuna salad was it. Good enough, I suppose. I hope to get a few more tomatoes off the vines before a freeze. I might even talk myself into finding a recipe for fried green tomatoes and try some of those. I am not sure I really learned anything with this process, but I do have garden hose, a sprinkler, several connection fittings, a timer, some tools, and a stronger interest for next year. Well, one thing I did learn is to not plant tomato plants a foot apart! What do these things need, 2 or even 3 perhaps 4 feet? Wow. Anyway.
Good night.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Reading.
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.
Just reading. I have been thinking of the last few weeks. It is frustrating. It suddenly, earlier this afternoon, reminded me of when I was sick as a child. I would be put in pajamas, allowed to lounge and watch the stupid television, and was brought foods I usually did not eat like chicken soup, jello, custard once in a while, and had someone fussing about my temperature, oral and anal excretions, and such. Though it was, to some degree, a pleasant thing it was more of a hassle overall than what it was worth. Being cooped up was the worst part of it. The difference now is I have no one to nurse me and I am not really sick in the traditional sense. Still, the parallels are uncanny. And, I still would rather be outside, though working instead of playing. It will happen.
I have continued reading the math problem solving book. I have been doing very well, so far, in solving the problems. I will admit, however, that my solutions have been instinct rather than logical. I did miss one, so far. It concerned finding the most efficient way to solve a problem, or finding the method in the fewest steps. That I solved it at all actually made me happy and I may have learned more by being wrong than I would have if I had simply gotten it correct. I am learning much, as well, from my instinctual answers. I am seeing the logic behind my instincts.
One of the problems has already lead to some thoughts concerning real life. The particular problem concerned a nation where all people are either truars or liars. The truars always tell the truth and the liars always, you guessed it, lie. I am to suppose that I have been sent as the ambassador from the U.S., and while at an embassy party, through casual conversations, I am to investigate how many of the 3 I am to speak with are liars. The first, A, tells me that the other two are definitely liars. One of the others, we will call him B, says is he is not a liar. While the last, C, suggests B is a liar. If you try to solve who is a liar, you will fail, I saw this and so avoided that if I did use some reasoning regarding who as a 'branches of a tree', but only to get at the root. A had to be a liar, and only one of the other two could be if there is not enough information to clarify. So, the answer was 2.
How does this fit into real life? Simple. And, though I have suggested as much before, the logic helps me explain how I come to my conclusion. I have had 3 doctors, two public so immune to litigation, and one private who was quite prone to lawsuits, offer me medication which my current doctor (public so no litigation possible) has discontinued, a medication she suggests is a prescription of malpractice form to offer me. If the first three doctors were liars, then they were knowingly or unwittingly attempting to harm me (it was not my idea to take this medicine). This is unlikely, but possible. If my current doctor is lying, or ignorant, then she is either wittingly or unwittingly attempting to harm me. Of course, the tree is rather branched as to possibilities regarding both right and wrong and as far as the intent of the doctors. However, the possibilities are quite limited. Probability plays a part, but it can only offer a more plausible solution set. The same goes with statistics.
The probability, of course, is that my current doctor is incorrect. She may not be trying to harm me, though her sensibilities, or those of her lead doctor, may be quite against stimulants based on religious affiliations. This, actually, is the most likely scenario. Some religions go so far as to eliminate all medical intervention, though in this case, that is the end result. All I am saying, I suppose, is that I hope they do not work in a trauma situation. Morphine, who needs morphine. Hold him down while I sew his legs back on. *chuckles* That, my friends, is several fields of math coming together to offer stronger solution sets in the real world environment. It still stinks, but thar she blows!
Anyway. The book is turning out to be okay. In either case, I will finish it. Sometimes even books that seem to come at you under the radar as to seemingly learning anything have a way of... producing. Though I would guess, sometimes, there are more fruitful offerings. The trick is finding those. I may actually have found a decently presented book, mostly. Well, good day.
.
Just reading. I have been thinking of the last few weeks. It is frustrating. It suddenly, earlier this afternoon, reminded me of when I was sick as a child. I would be put in pajamas, allowed to lounge and watch the stupid television, and was brought foods I usually did not eat like chicken soup, jello, custard once in a while, and had someone fussing about my temperature, oral and anal excretions, and such. Though it was, to some degree, a pleasant thing it was more of a hassle overall than what it was worth. Being cooped up was the worst part of it. The difference now is I have no one to nurse me and I am not really sick in the traditional sense. Still, the parallels are uncanny. And, I still would rather be outside, though working instead of playing. It will happen.
I have continued reading the math problem solving book. I have been doing very well, so far, in solving the problems. I will admit, however, that my solutions have been instinct rather than logical. I did miss one, so far. It concerned finding the most efficient way to solve a problem, or finding the method in the fewest steps. That I solved it at all actually made me happy and I may have learned more by being wrong than I would have if I had simply gotten it correct. I am learning much, as well, from my instinctual answers. I am seeing the logic behind my instincts.
One of the problems has already lead to some thoughts concerning real life. The particular problem concerned a nation where all people are either truars or liars. The truars always tell the truth and the liars always, you guessed it, lie. I am to suppose that I have been sent as the ambassador from the U.S., and while at an embassy party, through casual conversations, I am to investigate how many of the 3 I am to speak with are liars. The first, A, tells me that the other two are definitely liars. One of the others, we will call him B, says is he is not a liar. While the last, C, suggests B is a liar. If you try to solve who is a liar, you will fail, I saw this and so avoided that if I did use some reasoning regarding who as a 'branches of a tree', but only to get at the root. A had to be a liar, and only one of the other two could be if there is not enough information to clarify. So, the answer was 2.
How does this fit into real life? Simple. And, though I have suggested as much before, the logic helps me explain how I come to my conclusion. I have had 3 doctors, two public so immune to litigation, and one private who was quite prone to lawsuits, offer me medication which my current doctor (public so no litigation possible) has discontinued, a medication she suggests is a prescription of malpractice form to offer me. If the first three doctors were liars, then they were knowingly or unwittingly attempting to harm me (it was not my idea to take this medicine). This is unlikely, but possible. If my current doctor is lying, or ignorant, then she is either wittingly or unwittingly attempting to harm me. Of course, the tree is rather branched as to possibilities regarding both right and wrong and as far as the intent of the doctors. However, the possibilities are quite limited. Probability plays a part, but it can only offer a more plausible solution set. The same goes with statistics.
The probability, of course, is that my current doctor is incorrect. She may not be trying to harm me, though her sensibilities, or those of her lead doctor, may be quite against stimulants based on religious affiliations. This, actually, is the most likely scenario. Some religions go so far as to eliminate all medical intervention, though in this case, that is the end result. All I am saying, I suppose, is that I hope they do not work in a trauma situation. Morphine, who needs morphine. Hold him down while I sew his legs back on. *chuckles* That, my friends, is several fields of math coming together to offer stronger solution sets in the real world environment. It still stinks, but thar she blows!
Anyway. The book is turning out to be okay. In either case, I will finish it. Sometimes even books that seem to come at you under the radar as to seemingly learning anything have a way of... producing. Though I would guess, sometimes, there are more fruitful offerings. The trick is finding those. I may actually have found a decently presented book, mostly. Well, good day.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Through the muck.
.
.
I did end up staying awake. I could say, obviously, but with the weird way my sleep patterns can track, that is not necessarily the case. It was a tough haul, sitting around stupid tubing mostly. Sounds easy enough. It is amazing, however, how much eye lids can weigh. Sleep will be easy. What seems to be the problem lately is staying asleep. My days seem to be splitting as I work my way toward daytime wake periods. Still, I keep chugging along in fits and starts.
I saw an article I had to chuckle at, if a little sadly and oddly. They almost have it. The authors are either optimists, a little ignorant, or simply lying. My guess is that they simply cannot bring themselves to grasp the reality that the economic (supposed) boom that has been the last 40 to 80 years in America is over. Then again, with the way statistics and data has been manipulated, the boom was never what it seemed and what of it we have had has been over for a very long time. Debt has maintained the illusion of wealth, inflation has been much higher than reported, and other factors have added to the economic misconceptions. What has hit the endpoint is the availability of anyone willing, perhaps able, to buy more debt. Or, it was a ponzi scheme and then when that failed it became a shell game. I cannot really knock them though, sometimes I find it very difficult to believe, fully, let alone in the completeness I am certain that the failing is.
D.C. thinks wealth can move to China, or Taiwan, or other emerging economies. The problem with China, is, well it is China. They already do precisely what our government has started to do. That is, it allows the grapes to grow large (only able to do that with a seeming freedom to be profited from) and then they steal the grapes, the land it is grown on, the implements with which to grow it, kill or jail the owner, and... promptly run the business into the ground. As well, China and many of those markets are just as vulnerable to debt (which they are hiding even better and to a worse outcome then our government(s)). Taiwan and the other markets simply cannot absorb that much wealth without almost immediate decline. Essentially, if money comes in too fast, wages rise, other costs rise, and the proposition becomes untenable. Even spreading out the wealth among all of the emerging markets, assuming the governments do abide by laws, there is still not enough emerging markets to take it all, all of those places will burn out far too quickly, and there will be no market for those products. That is not even considering the problem of a skilled work force. Global cooling, but in an economic environment, is what is left. And it is what the left meant.
I do wonder how far back in time we will travel. I have dallied with a complete permanent melt-down. Now I suspect this will happen, I do not believe it will be systemic and perpetual. How bad of a melt down I will not guess. Whether it is for weeks, months (my guess), or years I will not speculate. Some areas of the world and the U.S. will come back much more quickly if never to the levels previously known. A lot of capital will simply be lost, trillions, hundreds, of trillions, will simply blink out of existence (world-wide). Middle class people will not be buying two and a half autos, second homes, motor homes, 30' speed or fishing boats, atvs, and 50" televisions. I am guessing life will settle, after several severe bounces in both directions, at between the 1930's and the 1950's socially and economically, with a lot of scars no one will forget. Assuming the economic melt down is not allowed to become a governmental one as well. If we become truly "socialist", we will be lost, we will no longer be the nation we ever have been. That is the one risk, though I think it is a slight one perhaps 30% chance?, which is more concerning that most others.
For me, riding out a number of bumpy years is the key. Frustrating as it is, though, I still have to live in the world as it is. I cannot simply diverge completely from the mainstream realities, fiction though they most likely are, and amass foodstuffs and gear in a cave on the side of a mountain. Trying to balance the differences is complicated. Neither my health, sanity, income, or need to be a part of society allow me to go that way even if I wanted too. At least I am in a place, an area, where I think I could make do and would have neighbors and potential friends with whom to work collectively. Trading work for a goat, or carrots for peas, or this for that, in my estimate, might already be happening hereabouts. Much like how my acre is being used, hopefully in trade for some manure and discing. Which reminds me, I need to talk to that fellow.
Further, I do have some gear and some food stowed. If that list is still incomplete, it is a work in progress. I do believe water containers are next. I need a bunch of 5 gallons jugs, though a 55 gallon drum would be nice as well. With my finances being hairy, until I get them sorted out, I am guessing that 4 x 5 gallon jugs, a couple of deflating canteens, a 25 to 50 pound portion of beans and a grain will be all I buy this coming month in that area. I will look over my finances on the first and get on that. I should sit down and do a budget. Now that my bills have settled down I think it is time. Before now that was impossible as different start up costs were all over the board.
I somehow doubt if there is time to add a solar power source. I keep looking those over, and really I have been looking at the sort which acts as a power backup as well as a secondary source. I simply am not sure how much power I would need, though I will look at my next bill. I doubt if I personally need all that much, but as much as possible would be better. The thing is, of course, the cost. I highly doubt I would be able to install the equipment. Even if I could (I have seen no prices for everything needed, they just do not offer prices openly on much of the equipment), I would guess the price would be way beyond my means. Then again, not knowing is a major bother. I am not going to email 5 to 10 companies about a dozen components for a price list and a ton of junk mail or email, or both! What would a 3 kw rig really cost, one that could act as an on-call power backup? Even one that could not? What about a 2.5 kw system? Is that enough? Without actually seeing prices I have found it difficult to get into the project. Frustrating. Like the well, solar energy seems to be as crooked a street to attempt to travel as water rights, zoning ordinances, state laws, federal laws, and building codes, permits, and such. Which reminds me why I am even considering any of this. BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS IN TO TOO MANY THINGS, BOTH PERSONAL AND BUSINESS. Ah, right.
Another thing... While putting Republicans in office, even with so many Tea Party candidates potentially spoiling the mainstream, the truth is very little will change. The nation, like a gigantic ship, does not turn on a dime. Not only was it not designed to do so, it was specifically created to prevent that. And, for the most part, this is a good thing. Our problem is we have been going so long and so fast in the wrong direction that turning and slowing down are issues all on their own and both prone to being "corrected" themselves by a bored citizenry. However, Republican, especially Tea Party types, is the only real option. Further, we have to hit that, hit it hard, hit it often, and keep the Tea Party's influence viable and separated from the Republican party itself long enough to actually begin making real changes.
Everything a, hopefully, Republican congress would do, even if we get a Republican president next cycle, is surface, cosmetic. Until we begin shredding the bureaucracy, cutting spending in other areas, eliminating public sector jobs, tamping down those costs, eliminating unGodly public pension plans, reducing "educational" spending from k-grad, and even cutting military and intelligence budgets, then eliminating regulations (if wisely), and eliminating debt (not just yearly budget deficits), we are in serious trouble. To be honest with you, even that will not help. Beyond removing the illusion of wealth and the fictitious "boom", we are going down beyond those by as much as double. That, as I mentioned the other day, does not include the infrastructure crash.
So, are Republicans going to find a couple hundred trillion stashed away and buy us all cake and candy for our birthdays, pull skittles for all out of the asses of unicorns, or make American workers worth the dollars they used to think they were getting? No. If they do it absolutely correctly, in time, they will allow us to lead a humble, relatively free, simple life. You might get a metal fishing boat, a 12' type, but then you will not be able to afford a motorcycle. That is all. But do not even hold your breath for that or consider the thing over. After, if we should succeed, driving a stake through the Democratic party's heart, we will then have to move on to the Republican party. I suppose that will need silver bullets though, chameleon as it is. But, for now, that is the only way.
.
I did end up staying awake. I could say, obviously, but with the weird way my sleep patterns can track, that is not necessarily the case. It was a tough haul, sitting around stupid tubing mostly. Sounds easy enough. It is amazing, however, how much eye lids can weigh. Sleep will be easy. What seems to be the problem lately is staying asleep. My days seem to be splitting as I work my way toward daytime wake periods. Still, I keep chugging along in fits and starts.
I saw an article I had to chuckle at, if a little sadly and oddly. They almost have it. The authors are either optimists, a little ignorant, or simply lying. My guess is that they simply cannot bring themselves to grasp the reality that the economic (supposed) boom that has been the last 40 to 80 years in America is over. Then again, with the way statistics and data has been manipulated, the boom was never what it seemed and what of it we have had has been over for a very long time. Debt has maintained the illusion of wealth, inflation has been much higher than reported, and other factors have added to the economic misconceptions. What has hit the endpoint is the availability of anyone willing, perhaps able, to buy more debt. Or, it was a ponzi scheme and then when that failed it became a shell game. I cannot really knock them though, sometimes I find it very difficult to believe, fully, let alone in the completeness I am certain that the failing is.
D.C. thinks wealth can move to China, or Taiwan, or other emerging economies. The problem with China, is, well it is China. They already do precisely what our government has started to do. That is, it allows the grapes to grow large (only able to do that with a seeming freedom to be profited from) and then they steal the grapes, the land it is grown on, the implements with which to grow it, kill or jail the owner, and... promptly run the business into the ground. As well, China and many of those markets are just as vulnerable to debt (which they are hiding even better and to a worse outcome then our government(s)). Taiwan and the other markets simply cannot absorb that much wealth without almost immediate decline. Essentially, if money comes in too fast, wages rise, other costs rise, and the proposition becomes untenable. Even spreading out the wealth among all of the emerging markets, assuming the governments do abide by laws, there is still not enough emerging markets to take it all, all of those places will burn out far too quickly, and there will be no market for those products. That is not even considering the problem of a skilled work force. Global cooling, but in an economic environment, is what is left. And it is what the left meant.
I do wonder how far back in time we will travel. I have dallied with a complete permanent melt-down. Now I suspect this will happen, I do not believe it will be systemic and perpetual. How bad of a melt down I will not guess. Whether it is for weeks, months (my guess), or years I will not speculate. Some areas of the world and the U.S. will come back much more quickly if never to the levels previously known. A lot of capital will simply be lost, trillions, hundreds, of trillions, will simply blink out of existence (world-wide). Middle class people will not be buying two and a half autos, second homes, motor homes, 30' speed or fishing boats, atvs, and 50" televisions. I am guessing life will settle, after several severe bounces in both directions, at between the 1930's and the 1950's socially and economically, with a lot of scars no one will forget. Assuming the economic melt down is not allowed to become a governmental one as well. If we become truly "socialist", we will be lost, we will no longer be the nation we ever have been. That is the one risk, though I think it is a slight one perhaps 30% chance?, which is more concerning that most others.
For me, riding out a number of bumpy years is the key. Frustrating as it is, though, I still have to live in the world as it is. I cannot simply diverge completely from the mainstream realities, fiction though they most likely are, and amass foodstuffs and gear in a cave on the side of a mountain. Trying to balance the differences is complicated. Neither my health, sanity, income, or need to be a part of society allow me to go that way even if I wanted too. At least I am in a place, an area, where I think I could make do and would have neighbors and potential friends with whom to work collectively. Trading work for a goat, or carrots for peas, or this for that, in my estimate, might already be happening hereabouts. Much like how my acre is being used, hopefully in trade for some manure and discing. Which reminds me, I need to talk to that fellow.
Further, I do have some gear and some food stowed. If that list is still incomplete, it is a work in progress. I do believe water containers are next. I need a bunch of 5 gallons jugs, though a 55 gallon drum would be nice as well. With my finances being hairy, until I get them sorted out, I am guessing that 4 x 5 gallon jugs, a couple of deflating canteens, a 25 to 50 pound portion of beans and a grain will be all I buy this coming month in that area. I will look over my finances on the first and get on that. I should sit down and do a budget. Now that my bills have settled down I think it is time. Before now that was impossible as different start up costs were all over the board.
I somehow doubt if there is time to add a solar power source. I keep looking those over, and really I have been looking at the sort which acts as a power backup as well as a secondary source. I simply am not sure how much power I would need, though I will look at my next bill. I doubt if I personally need all that much, but as much as possible would be better. The thing is, of course, the cost. I highly doubt I would be able to install the equipment. Even if I could (I have seen no prices for everything needed, they just do not offer prices openly on much of the equipment), I would guess the price would be way beyond my means. Then again, not knowing is a major bother. I am not going to email 5 to 10 companies about a dozen components for a price list and a ton of junk mail or email, or both! What would a 3 kw rig really cost, one that could act as an on-call power backup? Even one that could not? What about a 2.5 kw system? Is that enough? Without actually seeing prices I have found it difficult to get into the project. Frustrating. Like the well, solar energy seems to be as crooked a street to attempt to travel as water rights, zoning ordinances, state laws, federal laws, and building codes, permits, and such. Which reminds me why I am even considering any of this. BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS IN TO TOO MANY THINGS, BOTH PERSONAL AND BUSINESS. Ah, right.
Another thing... While putting Republicans in office, even with so many Tea Party candidates potentially spoiling the mainstream, the truth is very little will change. The nation, like a gigantic ship, does not turn on a dime. Not only was it not designed to do so, it was specifically created to prevent that. And, for the most part, this is a good thing. Our problem is we have been going so long and so fast in the wrong direction that turning and slowing down are issues all on their own and both prone to being "corrected" themselves by a bored citizenry. However, Republican, especially Tea Party types, is the only real option. Further, we have to hit that, hit it hard, hit it often, and keep the Tea Party's influence viable and separated from the Republican party itself long enough to actually begin making real changes.
Everything a, hopefully, Republican congress would do, even if we get a Republican president next cycle, is surface, cosmetic. Until we begin shredding the bureaucracy, cutting spending in other areas, eliminating public sector jobs, tamping down those costs, eliminating unGodly public pension plans, reducing "educational" spending from k-grad, and even cutting military and intelligence budgets, then eliminating regulations (if wisely), and eliminating debt (not just yearly budget deficits), we are in serious trouble. To be honest with you, even that will not help. Beyond removing the illusion of wealth and the fictitious "boom", we are going down beyond those by as much as double. That, as I mentioned the other day, does not include the infrastructure crash.
So, are Republicans going to find a couple hundred trillion stashed away and buy us all cake and candy for our birthdays, pull skittles for all out of the asses of unicorns, or make American workers worth the dollars they used to think they were getting? No. If they do it absolutely correctly, in time, they will allow us to lead a humble, relatively free, simple life. You might get a metal fishing boat, a 12' type, but then you will not be able to afford a motorcycle. That is all. But do not even hold your breath for that or consider the thing over. After, if we should succeed, driving a stake through the Democratic party's heart, we will then have to move on to the Republican party. I suppose that will need silver bullets though, chameleon as it is. But, for now, that is the only way.
Tight.
.
.
That ended up being a lot closer to not happening than I would have thought possible. I showered, got my paperwork ready and... almost did not make it. Something inside of me dropped, clicked, or stopped. I will not say I nearly passed out, I will say I nearly blanked out. I have not seen this thing so closely or so well before. I suppose that is a good sign. Now I know first hand what it is I am up against. I can see, very plainly, why if it happens before I can fully wake up that I never really end up waking up. Imagine, especially if you are a guy, the results of a larger than average lunch on a warm to hot day after a bottle or two of beer and then getting horney... all at once. BAM! A psychic brownout. I do not believe it has anything to do with blood sugar, but it seemed rather physical. *click*
After spending an hour or three nursing that hit, and working my way up to getting up and going, I did make it to town. My tax abatement does not kick in until after the first year regarding the house. But I was able to get my tags and a new license plate today. I tried to call my friend after that though I was a bit relieved he did not answer. I was and am absolutely bushed. A meal has not helped. Wow. I really want to sleep. I sort of hope I make it to early evening but I am not sure that is possible. Of course, that means doing almost anything else is off the docket.
On another topic, I have noticed quite a few incidents where veterans are being brutalized by the police. I have heard a disturbing number of incidents nationally, but more disturbingly in Utah. It mostly involves police forces, and the larger cities, but some of the incidents have been brutal. The latest that I heard, if I only found out about it because of a settlement, was a wheelchair bound veteran of the Korean War, who could not physically raise his hands and told the police he could not, being thrown to the ground, dragged across gravel and concrete most likely cuffed, for having had an argument with someone about them having their dog off the leash in a leash only park. He never displayed a weapon or aggravated the situation with whoever he had argued with or the police. That is one of many I have been hearing about. I do wonder if veterans are not, currently, considered an enemy of the state as a class. And, yes, I think the police know who we are. I know I have had a lot of difficulty in this state, dealing with the bureaucracy, and truly wonder if that is not part of the problem.
.
That ended up being a lot closer to not happening than I would have thought possible. I showered, got my paperwork ready and... almost did not make it. Something inside of me dropped, clicked, or stopped. I will not say I nearly passed out, I will say I nearly blanked out. I have not seen this thing so closely or so well before. I suppose that is a good sign. Now I know first hand what it is I am up against. I can see, very plainly, why if it happens before I can fully wake up that I never really end up waking up. Imagine, especially if you are a guy, the results of a larger than average lunch on a warm to hot day after a bottle or two of beer and then getting horney... all at once. BAM! A psychic brownout. I do not believe it has anything to do with blood sugar, but it seemed rather physical. *click*
After spending an hour or three nursing that hit, and working my way up to getting up and going, I did make it to town. My tax abatement does not kick in until after the first year regarding the house. But I was able to get my tags and a new license plate today. I tried to call my friend after that though I was a bit relieved he did not answer. I was and am absolutely bushed. A meal has not helped. Wow. I really want to sleep. I sort of hope I make it to early evening but I am not sure that is possible. Of course, that means doing almost anything else is off the docket.
On another topic, I have noticed quite a few incidents where veterans are being brutalized by the police. I have heard a disturbing number of incidents nationally, but more disturbingly in Utah. It mostly involves police forces, and the larger cities, but some of the incidents have been brutal. The latest that I heard, if I only found out about it because of a settlement, was a wheelchair bound veteran of the Korean War, who could not physically raise his hands and told the police he could not, being thrown to the ground, dragged across gravel and concrete most likely cuffed, for having had an argument with someone about them having their dog off the leash in a leash only park. He never displayed a weapon or aggravated the situation with whoever he had argued with or the police. That is one of many I have been hearing about. I do wonder if veterans are not, currently, considered an enemy of the state as a class. And, yes, I think the police know who we are. I know I have had a lot of difficulty in this state, dealing with the bureaucracy, and truly wonder if that is not part of the problem.
Woot!
.
.
Up by 10:00, or maybe just a couple of snooze like time periods after. I did not hear the alarm until a bit after. I have not let Sam sleep in my bedroom since she disgorged on one of my blankets. The vomit itself, gross as it was, is not the problem. I do not have another cover blanket to lay until I get this one washed, all my work is backed up, and I will not negotiate until I get to the laundry (of course the vomit has been removed, but the blanket has to be washed to satisfy my hebee-jebee factor). Anyway, her and Sassy were banging at the door on top of the alarm. Sam knows she gets to go out if she can get popo's butt out of teh sleepiz. The alarm is her call to action... I love that. See, cats can be helpful.
Anyway, up and ready. I have not felt this good in some time. I know I suggested I was in recovery. And I still believe that. It is just that recovery is only marginally faster than the fall. It is the physics, you see, of the illness. One cannot expect someone who has been bed ridden for a week or three to suddenly pop up to full function in a few days. Considering my full function is less than optimal to start with, and recovery is what it is. I will take it. Yesterday was a 15:00, or slightly after, wake up. With alarms and some other things. Rather than worry, I just kept plugging.
Nothing was done yesterday, but that is the way of it. Well, I did cook a nice supper (might have been what got me up?) and I started reading a more intense tome, or so I thought, regarding problem solving. The problem with it is it borders on the inanely obvious to over-the-top. Asking for a solution to a 5 or 6 piece end-game chess set? Well, uhrm, I could manually maneuver the solution... but mathematically? Then asking for a proof? Well, I can see the proof, it just is not in my math blood if I could wrangle through this one, sort of. But nearly a page describing, as a politician might, minor details of the problem, from "givens" to "goal", which I have pretty much known since my first word problem? Still, I will hang with it for a bit. I am hoping to find 'trade secrets', if I am dubious and becoming more so. I would love to find a serious mathematics logic treatise which is at once eminently functional in shortcutting the solution processes using both logic and known insta-paths and yet is approachable from a reading standpoint. Yeah, I know, good luck with that!
Today I must get to the county seat and deal with taxes. Auto and home are on the slate. With this letter, there are other things I can do but I will worry about those options at another time. For now just taxes. While in town, since it is still before payday, I will do little else. I may call my friend, however, and see if he wants to go for a sandwich, window shopping a television, and do some grocery shopping. There is a shop that makes excellent beef sandwiches. They also offer fresh baked bread of several types. Further, their whole grain no additive breads are not much more expensive than store bought and taste a whole lot better. Add in that they make a half and half white to wheat bread, much along the lines of my 2:1 white to wheat, and I am there. Bread is food, food I can afford. I may do some other minimal shopping as well. Adding a few cans of this, a bag of flour, cooking oil, or other item(s), and something tasty as a current treat to whatever else I buy when grocery shopping and my short term larder does build more quickly than I had thought. Buying it all at once, while tempting, just has not been possible.
Oh, something I thought I would mention. In spite of my diabetes being well and truly under control, at least at the last check and that being my A1C, I should admit that I continue to eat sugar and other sweets. I do not do this daily. I try to keep my treats to a weekly event, though often I slip and make it twice or even three times a week. I also drink a few beers a week or every other week. I eat potatoes and beans, both of which are starch heavy. Starch, of course, is supposed to translate to sugar in less time than it takes a doctor to drop a stethoscope, or figure something out on there own, which of course must all be false. All I am saying is... I think neither doctors nor dietitians know a thing about either diabetes or nutrition. Just a thought.
Have a great day. If you cannot do that, then at least figure out one thing, do something on your sometimes forgotten little list, smile at one total stranger and not just a pretty one, and mean it when you say something nice to one other human. Then return to your grumpy cynical ways and avoid work again. Ha! Actually, I try to be rather decent most of the time, and succeed easily. I make up for it by not doing a damn thing. *sigh* Hrmm? Yep, my doom and gloom is all mostly mine and to some extent yours. Go figure? Anyway, have a good day.
.
Up by 10:00, or maybe just a couple of snooze like time periods after. I did not hear the alarm until a bit after. I have not let Sam sleep in my bedroom since she disgorged on one of my blankets. The vomit itself, gross as it was, is not the problem. I do not have another cover blanket to lay until I get this one washed, all my work is backed up, and I will not negotiate until I get to the laundry (of course the vomit has been removed, but the blanket has to be washed to satisfy my hebee-jebee factor). Anyway, her and Sassy were banging at the door on top of the alarm. Sam knows she gets to go out if she can get popo's butt out of teh sleepiz. The alarm is her call to action... I love that. See, cats can be helpful.
Anyway, up and ready. I have not felt this good in some time. I know I suggested I was in recovery. And I still believe that. It is just that recovery is only marginally faster than the fall. It is the physics, you see, of the illness. One cannot expect someone who has been bed ridden for a week or three to suddenly pop up to full function in a few days. Considering my full function is less than optimal to start with, and recovery is what it is. I will take it. Yesterday was a 15:00, or slightly after, wake up. With alarms and some other things. Rather than worry, I just kept plugging.
Nothing was done yesterday, but that is the way of it. Well, I did cook a nice supper (might have been what got me up?) and I started reading a more intense tome, or so I thought, regarding problem solving. The problem with it is it borders on the inanely obvious to over-the-top. Asking for a solution to a 5 or 6 piece end-game chess set? Well, uhrm, I could manually maneuver the solution... but mathematically? Then asking for a proof? Well, I can see the proof, it just is not in my math blood if I could wrangle through this one, sort of. But nearly a page describing, as a politician might, minor details of the problem, from "givens" to "goal", which I have pretty much known since my first word problem? Still, I will hang with it for a bit. I am hoping to find 'trade secrets', if I am dubious and becoming more so. I would love to find a serious mathematics logic treatise which is at once eminently functional in shortcutting the solution processes using both logic and known insta-paths and yet is approachable from a reading standpoint. Yeah, I know, good luck with that!
Today I must get to the county seat and deal with taxes. Auto and home are on the slate. With this letter, there are other things I can do but I will worry about those options at another time. For now just taxes. While in town, since it is still before payday, I will do little else. I may call my friend, however, and see if he wants to go for a sandwich, window shopping a television, and do some grocery shopping. There is a shop that makes excellent beef sandwiches. They also offer fresh baked bread of several types. Further, their whole grain no additive breads are not much more expensive than store bought and taste a whole lot better. Add in that they make a half and half white to wheat bread, much along the lines of my 2:1 white to wheat, and I am there. Bread is food, food I can afford. I may do some other minimal shopping as well. Adding a few cans of this, a bag of flour, cooking oil, or other item(s), and something tasty as a current treat to whatever else I buy when grocery shopping and my short term larder does build more quickly than I had thought. Buying it all at once, while tempting, just has not been possible.
Oh, something I thought I would mention. In spite of my diabetes being well and truly under control, at least at the last check and that being my A1C, I should admit that I continue to eat sugar and other sweets. I do not do this daily. I try to keep my treats to a weekly event, though often I slip and make it twice or even three times a week. I also drink a few beers a week or every other week. I eat potatoes and beans, both of which are starch heavy. Starch, of course, is supposed to translate to sugar in less time than it takes a doctor to drop a stethoscope, or figure something out on there own, which of course must all be false. All I am saying is... I think neither doctors nor dietitians know a thing about either diabetes or nutrition. Just a thought.
Have a great day. If you cannot do that, then at least figure out one thing, do something on your sometimes forgotten little list, smile at one total stranger and not just a pretty one, and mean it when you say something nice to one other human. Then return to your grumpy cynical ways and avoid work again. Ha! Actually, I try to be rather decent most of the time, and succeed easily. I make up for it by not doing a damn thing. *sigh* Hrmm? Yep, my doom and gloom is all mostly mine and to some extent yours. Go figure? Anyway, have a good day.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Alpha, beta, and ltr.
.
.
LTR means long term relationship. I have been thinking about this a bit as I gear up for wife shopping. There is always the notion about how I am classified, really. There is the fear of failure. There is the realization that I have not been involved with a woman for more than half a decade. Now there is Game as a possible, or to me probable, situational device.
I suppose every man considers whether he is alpha, beta, or as some say gamma. The tests available indicate that I am a weak alpha, or even that I am a bit too strong of one. The difference between those two positions is nil when results are considered. The positions are slightly different, one is too independent to allow room for a woman while the other might have, for example, a tendency to slip into beta 'beg-for-sex'ism or passive-aggressive stances like whining. Betas tend to be, say, secure but not leaders. I almost think of betas as playing cogs in a machine rather than the initiator of engines or actions. Well, those are my takes so I will run with examining those.
I have no doubt, at all, that I have, do, and will play all three roles. I believe I am stronger in alpha, mostly because I can easily be singular and will only take a mate if it suits my interests or needs. That I have been singular for 6 years, and celibate as completely as may be possible, could be weighed as weakness, or strength. But, no, I will not enter a relationship where I do not lead. Even with my last hen pecking woman, I lead. She would have hen pecked either way, but I think for my leadership she felt her role was to naysay, test, and push. Oddly, I enjoyed it most of the time. It was, sort of cute. And I did lay down rules. I suggested very plainly that she never strike me in anger. She almost pouted but she kept her very emotional and violent hands to herself. She, in spite of her independent streak, did fear. A spanking though, is all she would have received but I did not want to spoil the surprise. I was almost hoping she had hit me, I was looking forward to a spanking.
I choose my relationships, if I have allowed women to choose me rather than chasing. I am not sure how that fits in, but it simplified things at times. The wooer is at a disadvantage, though that is not really why I allowed that. Simply put, there was no woman I was terribly interested and yet some warm and fuzzy is a sore thing to miss. The advantage part is merely a second hand review understanding. I do think that romances, for me, have been logic based save for a very few. And, I have at times pursued, or at least calculated, my way to what I wanted, or thought I did. I found that rarely what I wanted was indeed what I had thought or hoped. Still youth breeds hope eternal and every 'other side of the hill' seemed to have greener grass. Bah! It is mostly all the same. I did learn one other thing, the relationships, other than her initial acceptance and that only to a minor degree, was completely up to me. Take em', shake em', bake em'. Men, regardless of the notions that surround, are absolutely in charge. And, yes, that does suck in a world were men are not trained. Here is where Game would fit in nicely.
I have had and still have some concern about my function after six years in hiatus. These are actually minor, but there. Simply how to get 'in the saddle' seems long forgotten. Then I realize, it all still works and well. I also understand that no one actually knows this stuff well. Some have enough practice with a single partner to make it work with just a little effort or find it easier to release with 'strange', but none have it altogether all the time. If that is unusual it is because at least one of the partners wants it all to "just happen" (can you guess which one). Then again, if a man is not getting what he wants or his woman is not, then he needs to take her in and play for a couple of weeks or months. Teach her how her fidgets, bobbles, and such work. Ours are simple. Just do not call it practice or such. Of course I know that first time is going to be fast. There is no way around that. Been there, done that, as I was celibate for two years between my second and third to last love.
The rules for my life have changed. I am no longer interested in simply having a woman. I would like to think religion played a role in it, but experience has as well. Having a kept woman, a wife, is no easy chore. And yet not having one is a more difficult life. I realize, beyond my lack of ability to make a modern home function properly, there is something about women which is worth selling your worldly goods to own. Sex is not it, that can be had for by getting out of the house, a bottle of something inebriating, some disdain colored interest, or a number of other small activities in combination or alone. Fiddle and sing, never pay, that was my motto. And it was empty if functional in a nihilistic manner. Experience brought me to religion, and a calling, only then did religion take the roughed figure and add details, details which offer only clarification or understanding, at least much more than religion created form. Then again, that argument becomes much the vaunted chicken or egg first debate at times.
I suppose my greatest worry is that much that I have written belongs to the notion that every man in the world is the greatest lover in his own mind, with little to show in real terms. Every one who is single has to contemplate that what has gone before was not as it seemed, things always seem larger in the rear view mirror. And yet, I am confident that should I leave my abode and seriously begin pursuing women, I will be able to find one. Yes, yes, my list of demands. Stringent, harsh, tight, and absolute? Of course, all I want is a solid Catholic woman who has never been married and is preferably a virgin, who is a domestic diva, wants to have many children, and can pole dance for me on Fridays, Saturdays, and for my birthday (and, well, who I would WANT to poll dance). That is it in a nutshell. The realities, of course, might allow a little more flexibility than might seem apparent. Not a lot, but some. Never price low, offer high and negotiate. Do not go looking for the cheapest product, pick a product in your price range then look for sales or a vendor who will negotiate the price.
I actually worry less about finding a woman or wife than I do about what to do with her when I find her. That my friends, if such happens, will be an experiment in frustration and joy and a thousand other things combined to make life much more interesting for the rest of my life miserable or happy life. I do not even see marriage in the way many do, as a relationship. I have a relationship with my cat, my friends, my associates, and my Mom. A family is a vocation. It is a calling. I fear this just as much as I feared, when I contemplated it, going into the priesthood. The costs are only everything I own and more. And, as I discussed with a friend who is starting to think he does not like women, liking women is not the point. He is where I have been. I think, in time, with a little help, he will come around. But from a secular point of view, there is no reason on earth to marry a woman. He will have to come around to a less than secular view of the deal before he will ever understand the fruits that women bear, aside from children. They are God sends, but God does not send flowers merely decorate, nor purely as a utilitarian environmental device, they are both and neither. They are their own, just as women are, too. Or, something like that. the term "like" has no place in the warfare that is love. Or, actually, most relationships.
Yes, it is up to me to create an environment in which a woman can do her thing. It is up to me to provide leadership in everything from maintaining the house to the bedroom. The smoother that control, the less bulky or overbearing and inconsistent the methods, the better the outcome. And, I will fail. Many times and in many ways. Patching and mending, versus the disposable modern (or more mechanical secular) methods of today, is one area where choosing the right woman is key. Look to her parents. Still married? Siblings, married and committed? Has she been married before? How many lovers has she known (multiply by 2, perhaps three depending on her lifestyle as you see it)? And, does she "look" or 'seem' good, is she very attractive? Will she be satisfied with your station in life, can she be satisfied? After those are answered in a way that is conducive to signing off and selling out, as much internally and unasked as openly questioned, then it all falls to me. Now this is what bothers me. And, it is why I sit here instead of out looking over the fleet of availables, and there is a fleet. At my age, even women 10 and 15 years younger are quite... numerous in comparison. Game, my friend, it is the way of the banded warrior.
Bah! Women! Love em' or steal their panties and have a field day. I did not just write that.
.
LTR means long term relationship. I have been thinking about this a bit as I gear up for wife shopping. There is always the notion about how I am classified, really. There is the fear of failure. There is the realization that I have not been involved with a woman for more than half a decade. Now there is Game as a possible, or to me probable, situational device.
I suppose every man considers whether he is alpha, beta, or as some say gamma. The tests available indicate that I am a weak alpha, or even that I am a bit too strong of one. The difference between those two positions is nil when results are considered. The positions are slightly different, one is too independent to allow room for a woman while the other might have, for example, a tendency to slip into beta 'beg-for-sex'ism or passive-aggressive stances like whining. Betas tend to be, say, secure but not leaders. I almost think of betas as playing cogs in a machine rather than the initiator of engines or actions. Well, those are my takes so I will run with examining those.
I have no doubt, at all, that I have, do, and will play all three roles. I believe I am stronger in alpha, mostly because I can easily be singular and will only take a mate if it suits my interests or needs. That I have been singular for 6 years, and celibate as completely as may be possible, could be weighed as weakness, or strength. But, no, I will not enter a relationship where I do not lead. Even with my last hen pecking woman, I lead. She would have hen pecked either way, but I think for my leadership she felt her role was to naysay, test, and push. Oddly, I enjoyed it most of the time. It was, sort of cute. And I did lay down rules. I suggested very plainly that she never strike me in anger. She almost pouted but she kept her very emotional and violent hands to herself. She, in spite of her independent streak, did fear. A spanking though, is all she would have received but I did not want to spoil the surprise. I was almost hoping she had hit me, I was looking forward to a spanking.
I choose my relationships, if I have allowed women to choose me rather than chasing. I am not sure how that fits in, but it simplified things at times. The wooer is at a disadvantage, though that is not really why I allowed that. Simply put, there was no woman I was terribly interested and yet some warm and fuzzy is a sore thing to miss. The advantage part is merely a second hand review understanding. I do think that romances, for me, have been logic based save for a very few. And, I have at times pursued, or at least calculated, my way to what I wanted, or thought I did. I found that rarely what I wanted was indeed what I had thought or hoped. Still youth breeds hope eternal and every 'other side of the hill' seemed to have greener grass. Bah! It is mostly all the same. I did learn one other thing, the relationships, other than her initial acceptance and that only to a minor degree, was completely up to me. Take em', shake em', bake em'. Men, regardless of the notions that surround, are absolutely in charge. And, yes, that does suck in a world were men are not trained. Here is where Game would fit in nicely.
I have had and still have some concern about my function after six years in hiatus. These are actually minor, but there. Simply how to get 'in the saddle' seems long forgotten. Then I realize, it all still works and well. I also understand that no one actually knows this stuff well. Some have enough practice with a single partner to make it work with just a little effort or find it easier to release with 'strange', but none have it altogether all the time. If that is unusual it is because at least one of the partners wants it all to "just happen" (can you guess which one). Then again, if a man is not getting what he wants or his woman is not, then he needs to take her in and play for a couple of weeks or months. Teach her how her fidgets, bobbles, and such work. Ours are simple. Just do not call it practice or such. Of course I know that first time is going to be fast. There is no way around that. Been there, done that, as I was celibate for two years between my second and third to last love.
The rules for my life have changed. I am no longer interested in simply having a woman. I would like to think religion played a role in it, but experience has as well. Having a kept woman, a wife, is no easy chore. And yet not having one is a more difficult life. I realize, beyond my lack of ability to make a modern home function properly, there is something about women which is worth selling your worldly goods to own. Sex is not it, that can be had for by getting out of the house, a bottle of something inebriating, some disdain colored interest, or a number of other small activities in combination or alone. Fiddle and sing, never pay, that was my motto. And it was empty if functional in a nihilistic manner. Experience brought me to religion, and a calling, only then did religion take the roughed figure and add details, details which offer only clarification or understanding, at least much more than religion created form. Then again, that argument becomes much the vaunted chicken or egg first debate at times.
I suppose my greatest worry is that much that I have written belongs to the notion that every man in the world is the greatest lover in his own mind, with little to show in real terms. Every one who is single has to contemplate that what has gone before was not as it seemed, things always seem larger in the rear view mirror. And yet, I am confident that should I leave my abode and seriously begin pursuing women, I will be able to find one. Yes, yes, my list of demands. Stringent, harsh, tight, and absolute? Of course, all I want is a solid Catholic woman who has never been married and is preferably a virgin, who is a domestic diva, wants to have many children, and can pole dance for me on Fridays, Saturdays, and for my birthday (and, well, who I would WANT to poll dance). That is it in a nutshell. The realities, of course, might allow a little more flexibility than might seem apparent. Not a lot, but some. Never price low, offer high and negotiate. Do not go looking for the cheapest product, pick a product in your price range then look for sales or a vendor who will negotiate the price.
I actually worry less about finding a woman or wife than I do about what to do with her when I find her. That my friends, if such happens, will be an experiment in frustration and joy and a thousand other things combined to make life much more interesting for the rest of my life miserable or happy life. I do not even see marriage in the way many do, as a relationship. I have a relationship with my cat, my friends, my associates, and my Mom. A family is a vocation. It is a calling. I fear this just as much as I feared, when I contemplated it, going into the priesthood. The costs are only everything I own and more. And, as I discussed with a friend who is starting to think he does not like women, liking women is not the point. He is where I have been. I think, in time, with a little help, he will come around. But from a secular point of view, there is no reason on earth to marry a woman. He will have to come around to a less than secular view of the deal before he will ever understand the fruits that women bear, aside from children. They are God sends, but God does not send flowers merely decorate, nor purely as a utilitarian environmental device, they are both and neither. They are their own, just as women are, too. Or, something like that. the term "like" has no place in the warfare that is love. Or, actually, most relationships.
Yes, it is up to me to create an environment in which a woman can do her thing. It is up to me to provide leadership in everything from maintaining the house to the bedroom. The smoother that control, the less bulky or overbearing and inconsistent the methods, the better the outcome. And, I will fail. Many times and in many ways. Patching and mending, versus the disposable modern (or more mechanical secular) methods of today, is one area where choosing the right woman is key. Look to her parents. Still married? Siblings, married and committed? Has she been married before? How many lovers has she known (multiply by 2, perhaps three depending on her lifestyle as you see it)? And, does she "look" or 'seem' good, is she very attractive? Will she be satisfied with your station in life, can she be satisfied? After those are answered in a way that is conducive to signing off and selling out, as much internally and unasked as openly questioned, then it all falls to me. Now this is what bothers me. And, it is why I sit here instead of out looking over the fleet of availables, and there is a fleet. At my age, even women 10 and 15 years younger are quite... numerous in comparison. Game, my friend, it is the way of the banded warrior.
Bah! Women! Love em' or steal their panties and have a field day. I did not just write that.
To the store I went.
.
.
Online, of course. I visited Amazon, ostensibly to purchase sleep medication. I, as usual, am reminded of why I hate shopping. I found the medicine and added it to my cart, more so I would not have to dig around for it later after looking at a few books. What kind of books? Gardening books, of course. The search criteria initially investigated was "gardening Utah". I found a few good hits and two books which look to cover the material well enough. I added one new and the other used. I then wanted to see if there were general books about vegetable gardening. Sure enough and ironical too! Anyway, I thought to order one. However, the associated discount books looked good, so I added the set. Something about pairing what you grow and smaller footprint gardening (which I have heard about on a number of sites I visit). Now, after ordering those, the list below it had a book which seemed quite interesting. Then I noted many of these books are available for Kindle, a tease for me to be certain. Although, until Amazon guarantees that if a book is sold incorrectly, that they will simply bear the economic cost and not steal it from me, that no changes to the books can or will be made due to future laws (say, removing the term niger from Mark Twain books), and open up the architecture to all e-book formats, I cannot buy the device. Yeah, quite a wish list but that would be the price. Back to my notion of shopping. Oh, but I forgot to even look at the small wheat harvest book D.C. suggests! Without saying more, you can see where I am going with this, right?
I ended up with $3.95 or so in medicine, which is pretty much all I really wanted, and over $80 in books in my cart. I am not even sure that price will cover the costs of shipping? Probably, but the point is, I get lost in that maze. It is best for me not to go in. I either, like this time, realize my error and do the brave thing... I close the page and run away. Or I end up buying... more stuff. No doubt the books are informative. Would I really read through them and be able or willing to implement that knowledge? I think one of them was more organic based. And though that would be good, sort of, in a garden, it is often very impractical, more so in a TEOTWAWKI situation. At which point we will have to use what we have to use as "contaminated" vegetables are much more satisfying then starvation or huge vitamin and mineral deficiencies. If something is available, it will be used. Anyway... yeah... shopping...
Another thought in another area crossed my mind recently. I cannot say I have explored it fully. But it has presented in a dream, if I do not remember the particulars, and it has been sitting in the back of my mind like cayenne pepper from a really good bowl of chili sits on the back of the throat... not overpowering, not invisible, mostly good, a little disturbing, but certainly there. It follows as such. Though I am certain that education reduces the value of women as wives, mates, mothers, along with their interest in bearing and nurturing children and most other things domestic, does education also impact men in a manner which is negative for families?
My gut initial feeling is that it does, and seriously, impact male interest in the family. The few family men I see in the professorial line seem to be a vast minority. Most, even of these, have small groomed families much like what I have seen in many white collar families. The families almost seem more of a setting or accessory than anything else. And, from some associations, families have also been used as "cover" rather than being an actual family. When I look at blue collar compared to white collar, I also see a family difference. The larger size of the family and the more natural family is with blue collar workers. I sort of think this is the way it has always been, looking back and thinking back to the history I have read. The first modern Western intellectuals were, after all, monks. Then the Church formulated universities. Though if you read the Old Testament, and read into it a bit, you might well come off with a similar sense about scribes and pharisees and such. No, no, I do believe education is a detriment to the family, out and out and wholesale.
So, I suppose, if that is true, I must examine whether it is the education itself or the type of people who wish to attain a modicum of understanding themselves. Is it the process or the person. Is it environment or genetics. Though I favor, as a majority, environment I cannot deny genetics plays some role. If so then the number of people interested in an advanced education is creeping up which means people are changing. Though economic realities and an altered social environment add pressure to achieve an education, is that all of it? Or have we, through soy products, feminism, and some other things ultimately changed who we are as people and as a people? If so, this has been done before. Every gilded age has known this very thing, though I am not sure if they had the sciences with which to really nail the thing. Those nations, forgotten or not but all lost, have also rued the outcome of raising girly men in a terribly rude world. Imagine what even the gayest Caesar would have thought if someone had told him in the future we would have 20 percent of the Legion being... female?
We, just not I, are indeed Doomed. Fie the markets and debt, hie the infrastructure and power production, the social decay is all we ever needed to take us to our knees and shove our noses in what we rightly deserve. Boys, girls, bend and tuck, this is going to hurt.
Anyway, I am off to sleep. I love these delicate little chats. They actually do make me feel better. What was that saying, something about bounces off me and sticks to you? Only you did not instigate. Hmm, I must have been made of glue in some past life. Ah, but I am getting better. Good night, hemorrhagic fever. I may have known you well, still do perhaps?
.
Online, of course. I visited Amazon, ostensibly to purchase sleep medication. I, as usual, am reminded of why I hate shopping. I found the medicine and added it to my cart, more so I would not have to dig around for it later after looking at a few books. What kind of books? Gardening books, of course. The search criteria initially investigated was "gardening Utah". I found a few good hits and two books which look to cover the material well enough. I added one new and the other used. I then wanted to see if there were general books about vegetable gardening. Sure enough and ironical too! Anyway, I thought to order one. However, the associated discount books looked good, so I added the set. Something about pairing what you grow and smaller footprint gardening (which I have heard about on a number of sites I visit). Now, after ordering those, the list below it had a book which seemed quite interesting. Then I noted many of these books are available for Kindle, a tease for me to be certain. Although, until Amazon guarantees that if a book is sold incorrectly, that they will simply bear the economic cost and not steal it from me, that no changes to the books can or will be made due to future laws (say, removing the term niger from Mark Twain books), and open up the architecture to all e-book formats, I cannot buy the device. Yeah, quite a wish list but that would be the price. Back to my notion of shopping. Oh, but I forgot to even look at the small wheat harvest book D.C. suggests! Without saying more, you can see where I am going with this, right?
I ended up with $3.95 or so in medicine, which is pretty much all I really wanted, and over $80 in books in my cart. I am not even sure that price will cover the costs of shipping? Probably, but the point is, I get lost in that maze. It is best for me not to go in. I either, like this time, realize my error and do the brave thing... I close the page and run away. Or I end up buying... more stuff. No doubt the books are informative. Would I really read through them and be able or willing to implement that knowledge? I think one of them was more organic based. And though that would be good, sort of, in a garden, it is often very impractical, more so in a TEOTWAWKI situation. At which point we will have to use what we have to use as "contaminated" vegetables are much more satisfying then starvation or huge vitamin and mineral deficiencies. If something is available, it will be used. Anyway... yeah... shopping...
Another thought in another area crossed my mind recently. I cannot say I have explored it fully. But it has presented in a dream, if I do not remember the particulars, and it has been sitting in the back of my mind like cayenne pepper from a really good bowl of chili sits on the back of the throat... not overpowering, not invisible, mostly good, a little disturbing, but certainly there. It follows as such. Though I am certain that education reduces the value of women as wives, mates, mothers, along with their interest in bearing and nurturing children and most other things domestic, does education also impact men in a manner which is negative for families?
My gut initial feeling is that it does, and seriously, impact male interest in the family. The few family men I see in the professorial line seem to be a vast minority. Most, even of these, have small groomed families much like what I have seen in many white collar families. The families almost seem more of a setting or accessory than anything else. And, from some associations, families have also been used as "cover" rather than being an actual family. When I look at blue collar compared to white collar, I also see a family difference. The larger size of the family and the more natural family is with blue collar workers. I sort of think this is the way it has always been, looking back and thinking back to the history I have read. The first modern Western intellectuals were, after all, monks. Then the Church formulated universities. Though if you read the Old Testament, and read into it a bit, you might well come off with a similar sense about scribes and pharisees and such. No, no, I do believe education is a detriment to the family, out and out and wholesale.
So, I suppose, if that is true, I must examine whether it is the education itself or the type of people who wish to attain a modicum of understanding themselves. Is it the process or the person. Is it environment or genetics. Though I favor, as a majority, environment I cannot deny genetics plays some role. If so then the number of people interested in an advanced education is creeping up which means people are changing. Though economic realities and an altered social environment add pressure to achieve an education, is that all of it? Or have we, through soy products, feminism, and some other things ultimately changed who we are as people and as a people? If so, this has been done before. Every gilded age has known this very thing, though I am not sure if they had the sciences with which to really nail the thing. Those nations, forgotten or not but all lost, have also rued the outcome of raising girly men in a terribly rude world. Imagine what even the gayest Caesar would have thought if someone had told him in the future we would have 20 percent of the Legion being... female?
We, just not I, are indeed Doomed. Fie the markets and debt, hie the infrastructure and power production, the social decay is all we ever needed to take us to our knees and shove our noses in what we rightly deserve. Boys, girls, bend and tuck, this is going to hurt.
Anyway, I am off to sleep. I love these delicate little chats. They actually do make me feel better. What was that saying, something about bounces off me and sticks to you? Only you did not instigate. Hmm, I must have been made of glue in some past life. Ah, but I am getting better. Good night, hemorrhagic fever. I may have known you well, still do perhaps?
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The darkness worsens.
.
.
No, not a personal level except in a larger manner than anything about me. This is about our future. While I have been viewing the coming crash of the economy, my eyes have been blinded. I have been looking at the fall from an purely economic point of view. I have also been blinded to viewing only the private sector, seeing only public sector layouts and entitlement spending. These, even if what can be corrected is corrected and the Fed is eliminated and fiddlers are removed from playing with money, the prime rate, and other factors, will lead to an indeterminate period of economic devastation similar to the Great Depression. But when I say indeterminate, I mean a longer, a much longer period of time in severe economic depression. Japan really is an example and she still is not in recovery. Though what I think we are looking at is a good deal below where Japan has fallen. This, by the way, will be global. There is no nation that is insulated, save maybe North Korea. Uhrm, now that right there is funny.
What I have missed is why "money" is leaving America. I am beginning to see things how the wealthy see things. The reason money and corporations are leaving the U.S. has something to do with taxation, with the costs of business, with the risks the government poses, and with other obvious if still convoluted notions. Something I missed in my calculations is the infrastructure. The failing nature of our infrastructure, from roads to bridges to the electric grid to dams is so vast and terrible that it alone would cause a financial decay equal to all that is mentioned above, and perhaps more. Add them together and you find that wealth has no choice, no matter what happens with the government, to leave. If it does not leave it will be consumed whole cloth and to almost no good results for generations.
As an example, the levy system which channels the water for 25 million people in Southern California is beyond the pale. To fix those systems, the cost ranges between $40 and $60 million dollars... per mile. Okay, well, that is just California. Fruits and nuts can hang. Fine, fine, if that is how you see it. Well, let us move on to something you cannot function without, anywhere. Roads. The decay of the highway system, bridges, and all is beyond the scope of the public and private sector to maintain, let alone repair or expand. With a turn of a phrase and a little thought, think of roads having been created by a big bang. Unlike the supposed big bang on a physics level, this big bang is actually collapsing on itself. While, for the average Joe, this merely means more time in traffic. Sure, road rage, increased accidents, and long detours are something to complain regarding, they are not really a huge economic issue, mostly. But for businesses to succeed, they must have the ability to transport goods at great speed. Our roads are one major part of our economic arteries, and they are clogged beyond our "economic doctors'" ability to repair, let alone expand as would be required. And another example of "clogged arteries" is the electric grid. If black outs do not get you, rolling brownouts will. That does not include the rest of the levies, which are just now being collated and cataloged on a national level. Of course, none of this counts in the current economic realities of declining... everything. Right.
Who is to blame? Well, businesses have certainly used these resources to their breaking points. Ah, but they have paid so very dearly that they are, in part, being forced to take their businesses elsewhere if they can afford to do so. They get a pass on blame, seriously. Of course, there are the American people. We use things until they are broken and fail as well. Ah, but here again, we see that citizens have paid quite dearly for our goods. Some more than others of course. And the price those "some" pay is becoming onerous enough that deserting is not so much simply a wise economic choice as it is a choice between staying and being economically salvaged (perhaps worse, as the final solution came about more in hopes (why do socialists always do that hope thing, I do not think they now what that term really means) of covering up Germany's great theft of the fortunes of the few).
So, who is to blame. A minor player has been unions. When I say minor, I mean they represent about 1/3 of the blame. What have unions done? Well, driving up the cost of the maintenance and repair of the infrastructure through an increase of at least 30% of the (direct) cost of those endeavors, while union rules demand inefficiency and waste adding untold amounts to the price that is to be paid. The rest of the cost goes to politicians who have become shrill gold promisers. The most fiscally conservative politician on today's market would be called a fiscal lunatic in the first 150 to 200 years of this nation. When did this begin to change? Two words, feminist emancipation. This, however, was an enactment by men. It goes against logic, it goes against reason, it goes against tradition, and ultimately, it goes against God.
I now understand why many of those I discuss these matters with, read, or see discussing the issue have such a varied opinion about what can be done, what should be done, and what they themselves are doing. Very few people see the whole picture, from the economic to the political to the social. This is not an economic problem. Although, if you stretch the Austrian School of Economics' principles and predictions into the overall equations, you will find that they still hold true. What man has does in all three (the social, political, and economic) areas is to attempt to socially engineer a new world (order). That it is failing is no surprise. But the size of the failing is being so hugely underestimated by even those riding the dark horses of doom because they are not looking at the whole picture. Their 'televisions' are not wide screen enough. They are seeing the middle 3 square inches of a 50" inch 'television'. Most of us were born with blinders on. Those, like myself, who bucked the blinders and are sidelined at least in part for that, are just now expanding our view.
How far will we fall? I do not really know. Is there anything we can do to avoid even some of it? Yes, but you are not going to like the price, some of you will not make it no matter what we do. Is there hope? In God, yes, in man, ourselves, the economy for most of the rest of our lives, no. You really ought to get busy. The clock is ticking. One small cataclysm may well escalate into absolute failure of everything you know and hold dear. What you are wearing and can carry may be all you have left.
The ones I wonder about the most are the ones who are so jacked into cell phones, texting, tweeter, and the rest. I can handle hours, days, weeks, and months, even years without so much as a bit of chat. Can you? There may not even be land line phones except for the wealthy, in Europe or wherever they eventually flee. Though, for them, I fear even more. They will, at some point, be beyond their money to save. Even if they find a safe place, they will be prisoners there with others like themselves. Any army hired to protect them may well become their own masters, and by needs would become so even if not directly. None will be spared. I suppose that is why they enjoy an even higher life now. Drink that wine, for tomorrow it will be vinegar.
Bah! I blather. But lest you think this is simply a tale and you will go on as you do today, or more yesterday, bless your heart and may St. Ambrose help you. Actually, I do believe I will find a prayer which asks for his talents to be shared with the many. Hmm, perhaps St. Raphael, as well. Those are the patron saints of learning and of the blind.
.
No, not a personal level except in a larger manner than anything about me. This is about our future. While I have been viewing the coming crash of the economy, my eyes have been blinded. I have been looking at the fall from an purely economic point of view. I have also been blinded to viewing only the private sector, seeing only public sector layouts and entitlement spending. These, even if what can be corrected is corrected and the Fed is eliminated and fiddlers are removed from playing with money, the prime rate, and other factors, will lead to an indeterminate period of economic devastation similar to the Great Depression. But when I say indeterminate, I mean a longer, a much longer period of time in severe economic depression. Japan really is an example and she still is not in recovery. Though what I think we are looking at is a good deal below where Japan has fallen. This, by the way, will be global. There is no nation that is insulated, save maybe North Korea. Uhrm, now that right there is funny.
What I have missed is why "money" is leaving America. I am beginning to see things how the wealthy see things. The reason money and corporations are leaving the U.S. has something to do with taxation, with the costs of business, with the risks the government poses, and with other obvious if still convoluted notions. Something I missed in my calculations is the infrastructure. The failing nature of our infrastructure, from roads to bridges to the electric grid to dams is so vast and terrible that it alone would cause a financial decay equal to all that is mentioned above, and perhaps more. Add them together and you find that wealth has no choice, no matter what happens with the government, to leave. If it does not leave it will be consumed whole cloth and to almost no good results for generations.
As an example, the levy system which channels the water for 25 million people in Southern California is beyond the pale. To fix those systems, the cost ranges between $40 and $60 million dollars... per mile. Okay, well, that is just California. Fruits and nuts can hang. Fine, fine, if that is how you see it. Well, let us move on to something you cannot function without, anywhere. Roads. The decay of the highway system, bridges, and all is beyond the scope of the public and private sector to maintain, let alone repair or expand. With a turn of a phrase and a little thought, think of roads having been created by a big bang. Unlike the supposed big bang on a physics level, this big bang is actually collapsing on itself. While, for the average Joe, this merely means more time in traffic. Sure, road rage, increased accidents, and long detours are something to complain regarding, they are not really a huge economic issue, mostly. But for businesses to succeed, they must have the ability to transport goods at great speed. Our roads are one major part of our economic arteries, and they are clogged beyond our "economic doctors'" ability to repair, let alone expand as would be required. And another example of "clogged arteries" is the electric grid. If black outs do not get you, rolling brownouts will. That does not include the rest of the levies, which are just now being collated and cataloged on a national level. Of course, none of this counts in the current economic realities of declining... everything. Right.
Who is to blame? Well, businesses have certainly used these resources to their breaking points. Ah, but they have paid so very dearly that they are, in part, being forced to take their businesses elsewhere if they can afford to do so. They get a pass on blame, seriously. Of course, there are the American people. We use things until they are broken and fail as well. Ah, but here again, we see that citizens have paid quite dearly for our goods. Some more than others of course. And the price those "some" pay is becoming onerous enough that deserting is not so much simply a wise economic choice as it is a choice between staying and being economically salvaged (perhaps worse, as the final solution came about more in hopes (why do socialists always do that hope thing, I do not think they now what that term really means) of covering up Germany's great theft of the fortunes of the few).
So, who is to blame. A minor player has been unions. When I say minor, I mean they represent about 1/3 of the blame. What have unions done? Well, driving up the cost of the maintenance and repair of the infrastructure through an increase of at least 30% of the (direct) cost of those endeavors, while union rules demand inefficiency and waste adding untold amounts to the price that is to be paid. The rest of the cost goes to politicians who have become shrill gold promisers. The most fiscally conservative politician on today's market would be called a fiscal lunatic in the first 150 to 200 years of this nation. When did this begin to change? Two words, feminist emancipation. This, however, was an enactment by men. It goes against logic, it goes against reason, it goes against tradition, and ultimately, it goes against God.
I now understand why many of those I discuss these matters with, read, or see discussing the issue have such a varied opinion about what can be done, what should be done, and what they themselves are doing. Very few people see the whole picture, from the economic to the political to the social. This is not an economic problem. Although, if you stretch the Austrian School of Economics' principles and predictions into the overall equations, you will find that they still hold true. What man has does in all three (the social, political, and economic) areas is to attempt to socially engineer a new world (order). That it is failing is no surprise. But the size of the failing is being so hugely underestimated by even those riding the dark horses of doom because they are not looking at the whole picture. Their 'televisions' are not wide screen enough. They are seeing the middle 3 square inches of a 50" inch 'television'. Most of us were born with blinders on. Those, like myself, who bucked the blinders and are sidelined at least in part for that, are just now expanding our view.
How far will we fall? I do not really know. Is there anything we can do to avoid even some of it? Yes, but you are not going to like the price, some of you will not make it no matter what we do. Is there hope? In God, yes, in man, ourselves, the economy for most of the rest of our lives, no. You really ought to get busy. The clock is ticking. One small cataclysm may well escalate into absolute failure of everything you know and hold dear. What you are wearing and can carry may be all you have left.
The ones I wonder about the most are the ones who are so jacked into cell phones, texting, tweeter, and the rest. I can handle hours, days, weeks, and months, even years without so much as a bit of chat. Can you? There may not even be land line phones except for the wealthy, in Europe or wherever they eventually flee. Though, for them, I fear even more. They will, at some point, be beyond their money to save. Even if they find a safe place, they will be prisoners there with others like themselves. Any army hired to protect them may well become their own masters, and by needs would become so even if not directly. None will be spared. I suppose that is why they enjoy an even higher life now. Drink that wine, for tomorrow it will be vinegar.
Bah! I blather. But lest you think this is simply a tale and you will go on as you do today, or more yesterday, bless your heart and may St. Ambrose help you. Actually, I do believe I will find a prayer which asks for his talents to be shared with the many. Hmm, perhaps St. Raphael, as well. Those are the patron saints of learning and of the blind.
Ah well.
.
.
I tried to sleep but that simply was not going to happen. Which, I guess, for now, is fine. I think I have broken through my impasse and might well be heading for better conditions again. I am taking tomorrow off, other than a few chores and neglected duties here in the house. No actual work. Not just because it is a Sunday this time, but because a day of no expectations will give me time to plan a few things, set up my tools for work on the roof when that is possible (I need to make sure both batteries for the drill are charged, for example), and simply set my home back into order. If I do something heavy and difficult, it will be vacuuming.
I found doxylamine succinate, and what it is supposed to be in. The odd thing is is that I looked at some of those brands and this ingredient was not listed. I wonder if something has changed with federal rules, or if this state or region has decided not to offer this medication? I may have to simply order it online, if I hate to do that. A few days wait, postage on top of price, and worrying about it being delivered correctly. I simply despise shopping that way except for items which simply are available no other way.
Since I am up, I might get to some of the cleaning tonight. Who knows.
.
I tried to sleep but that simply was not going to happen. Which, I guess, for now, is fine. I think I have broken through my impasse and might well be heading for better conditions again. I am taking tomorrow off, other than a few chores and neglected duties here in the house. No actual work. Not just because it is a Sunday this time, but because a day of no expectations will give me time to plan a few things, set up my tools for work on the roof when that is possible (I need to make sure both batteries for the drill are charged, for example), and simply set my home back into order. If I do something heavy and difficult, it will be vacuuming.
I found doxylamine succinate, and what it is supposed to be in. The odd thing is is that I looked at some of those brands and this ingredient was not listed. I wonder if something has changed with federal rules, or if this state or region has decided not to offer this medication? I may have to simply order it online, if I hate to do that. A few days wait, postage on top of price, and worrying about it being delivered correctly. I simply despise shopping that way except for items which simply are available no other way.
Since I am up, I might get to some of the cleaning tonight. Who knows.
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