See you on Friday

I'm going to take a week off and try to adjust to the post-equinox lack of light.  I will still be writing, I am hoping to crank out some longe pieces in the A.M. while getting light from my spiffy new anti-SAD light.  I will try to keep you up to date while I am working.

I am going to try and put up a longer piece on Friday morning, but don't get too married to the idea, I am hoping this will work out the way I am planning.

Why I left in the first damn place

I used to love Apple.  In the days of the mighty Woz and the uber-shill, they were amazing.  Jeez, I even had a Mac SE.

But starting about ten years ago, they changed.  The shiny took pride of place over the purpose.  The trip really started to get traction about the same time that they switched over to Intel and trotted out the IPhone.  It seemed at that time that the focus changed from making cool shit to making lots.of.money.  The IPhone turned Apple from a manufacturer of computers to a manufacturer of status.

With this change came their current attitude of "what have you done for me lately"?  Of perhaps more accurate "How much money have you given me lately"?  If you have the temerity to not buy something from them in the recent past, they cut you adrift with the simple "not supported" and then they let your shiny, expensive toy die on the vine.

I went over to my local recycling store "FreeGeek". I impulse bought an old Ipad 2 with a spiffy bluetooth keyboard for $60.00.  I still think that it is going to be useful for reading and surfing the net while loafing and as a music machine, but other than that it is as useless as tits on a boar hog.

But it does suit a purpose.  I will get some fine use out of it as a connection and a pictureframe, but it is truly a shame to create such a overpowered burden on the environment for nothing other than Apple's unvarnished greed.

Pipes

You might remember that truth has little to do with the acts and decisions of most folks.

This little nugget is especially important around election time.

That's all.

Mario Savio, Where are you now

And these machines become in their forms less and ever less human, more ascetic, mystic, esoteric. They weave the earth over with an infinite web of subtle forces, currents, and tensions. Their bodies become ever more and more immaterial, ever less noisy. The wheels, rollers, and levers are vocal no more. All that matters withdraws itself into the interior. Man has felt the machine to be devilish, and rightly. It signifies in the eyes of the believer the deposition of God. It delivers sacred Causality over to man and by him, with a sort of foreseeing omniscience is set in motion, silent and irresistible.

Quote from: Spengler vol II p.504-505 

I wonder what Mario would have thought about Twitter and Facebook and Google?  Would he recognize the ascetic, mystic, esoteric webs that these have created?  How would he approach it?  You can't stand on the steps of Sproul Hall anymore and say things without someone pointing out their feelings are hurt.  God forbid there should be any mention of personal sacrifice.

The really hard part for Mario would be the fact that his ideals ended up on the losing side.  The folks who listened to him sold out, aged badly, and were then discarded

Ideas without work

Pushing Upwards

Dealing with the self-annointed muckedy-mucks at the FedGuv ranch is probably not that much different that working with the would-be Napoleons (the pig, not the human) at any large corporation.

Useless.

Meetings are their job, rising and joining is their passion.  The actual work is beneath them, as a matter of fact, it seems that actually doing work is considered somewhat an insult, an unworthy task fit only for deplorables.  

They perceive their jobs as "Thinking" and coming up with "Ideas".  The thinking done and the ideas thus generated usually involve screwing around with the way that the job is done so that the important manager can take credit for work performed by those who are beneath him in status.  The only work that is done at this level is the generation of tasks, mostly unrelated to the actual job needing to be accomplished, mostly related to the ambition of the middle management.

I have to keep my head down and my mouth shut and keep working.  I don't have that long to make good my escape.  

Good riddance

Between Cult and Myth

 
It's is always about power. When men or nations talk about honor, what they mean is how other men or nations perceive their power.   Speeches and comments about honor are status signalling at the highest levels.  Speeches about "soft power" are usually a joke.

When a person makes claim of honor being challenged, what he is saying is that a rival's actions, if left unchallenged, may diminish their power in the eyes of others. Probably more so than any other verbal tic made by politicians, mentions of honor diminished is in reality merely seeking to have an increase that politician's power or, failing that, diminish the power of another.

Cognative dissonance of our current situation.  We have repeatedly told ourselves that what we have here in America is a reward for our virtue and our exceptional goodness.  What we are beginning to become aware of is our loss of relative power in the world.  With this loss of power, we are progressively losing access to the rewards that we have been told is our due.

The rewards are what we feel are our just desserts.  The rewards are what defines us in our own minds, the status conferred by the physical rewards are what we use to define our personal and societal worth.

I genuinely fear that the loss or diminution of our status symbols will make us into something ...... well, something a lot less than how we perceive ourselves in our odd self image.  We have built a society and a belief system where we can only tolerate being "the bestest ever" and I think that we might turn nasty when the challenges mounting take away this certainty.

Journeys

Always gotta hand it to Raul over at "The Automatic Earth" for giving me grist for this particular mill.  I can't much give him as much money as I would like to.  The not-quite-shabby lifestyle that I have settled upon disallows much in the way of non-requisite costs, so I will need to give him dribs and drabs as I can and mostly rely on his kindness and understanding to allow me to continue reading.

Today's lead, oddly enough, led back to near where I was raised, the Fishlake National Forest.   Where what some scientists have claimed to be the largest and oldest life form on the planet is dying.

Now, I don't disagree with the theory that the Pando is not doing well, not one bit.  What I do disagree with is the breathless and somewhat histrionic reportage.  Let's spend a moment to unpack these statements.

'Largest living thing' on Earth is dying after decades of human interference, scientists say'

'Thought to be thousands of years old, cloned forest in Utah is ‘collapsing on our watch’

So, what may be the oldest thing in the world (estimate is at 80,000 Years) is dying.  Think hard about that.  Is it really that hard to comprehend?  Maybe the reason that the Pando is doing badly is that clones go bad.  Ask any biologist worth his salt about the viability of multi-generational passages of a clone and you will get an earful.

The longest journeys are the ones where one fears the destination.

The author claims that mankind is killing the Pando (us unschooled types just call them "Quakies").  He writes as though the change in the environment wrought by humankind is the sole reason for the decline.   While this might be true, I feel that the emotions of the report tend to show an attitude toward death that is at the basis of the issue.

Everyone loves old things that still work.  a good example of this nauseating misdirection is the Madison Avenue types and the medical profession both of which dote on 100 year olds still being fit and active.  The unnoticed implication is that being old is just dandy if you are of the 1% or so that have the good fortune to inherit a killer set of genes and a degree of wealth to leverage those genes.

But everyone dies, and there is nothing that folks like better than thinking that if, just if, they play the game right and follow the magic spells, they will live longer than what is their due.  The Pando and any individual that dies out cause folks to freak out because it reminds them of mortality and that is not a story that anyone likes hearing.

Look, it isn't bad.  Everyone dies.  Pando has had a good run.  But deer coming in and eating yummy shoots and droughts happening are a part of nature too.

Look, this society of ours loves to ignore the idea of change when it suits them.  But to think that change only happens for the good is the mark of immaturity.  Which, come to think of it, is the best description of our current mass culture.

Shock

Looking back at the past is a very useful thing to do.  We don't do it nearly enough.  By looking back at the past, we can't get templates or checklists to allow us to predict, but we can get grand vistas to allow us to better guess what come next.

But the world is a complex place.  Looking back over a sweep of history in order to attempt a better understanding of the world we live in is like looking into a simmering pot of stew.  The top looks fairly simple and straightforward.  The ingredients that one sees are identifiable.  What lies below is still there, and is unknown.

Give the pot a stir, and let it settle down again.  You get a surface that kind-of looks like what you had before, but the details are different.  You might want to announce the pot of stew is different post-stir, and on the surface, that is certainly so, but the truth is is is the same pot of stew.

Welcome to complexity.  The difficulty faced by many claim the ability to understand the surface phenomenon equate this supposed knowledge of intricacy and complexity with intelligence.  It is because they only see the surface.

Most everyone tries to see into the future.  Above any other super-power, I do believe that this is the one that people would choose first if they were offered a menu of choices.

Everyone want to know where the river goes.  There are few who want to study how it flows.  There are even fewer who do not only look for that which wish or even that which they can accept or believe.  There’s much to be seen, if you only look. Most people don’t see things that are right before them because it goes against what they believe or what they want to believe.

Limitations

Yesterdays entry was a bit of a ramble.  Sorry about that.  But if your time management skills are such that dropping by here to read this screed is something you do, you must also by now realize that I won't be going to Oslo to pick up my Nobel for literature anytime soon.

So after yesterdays inchoate rant about the nature of a fractured society and the moral and intellectual roots of the fracture, today I want to talk about a subject anathema in out post-whatever world.

Limitations is an ugly word in our lexicon.  But on the whole, the limitations that we place upon ourselves, either spoken or unspoken, define our success within the society that we are a part.  What we are seeing is a push against the limitations/rules of an older society.  What the people doing this pushback do not realize is that changing the limitations of the society changes the world around them in a manner that they might not like in the long run.

Here in America, we have a group that has decided that the rules that brought us here to this point in time are not appropriate.  That is probably true.  What they have also decided that since the rules are not appropriate, there should not be a set of societal rules at all.  This is not true.

People seem to innately understand that these limitations exist in the groups that they are a part of, but people cannot seem to accept that other groups have sets of limitations and that the limitations of the other groups may well be greatly different from the limitations of the groups that they are a part.

Flitting About

Staying the course is a problem here in the west.

I have a personal problem with it, because I always want to try to "improve on the fly" which as a general rule doesn't work all that well.  I have to concentrate hard on just doing things according to the plan and then revisit after completion to see if I can modify the finished product or change the process for next time.

Now, this is a not a problem for me as a personal issue, as I am not wedded to the results.  I have enough to eat, a warm place to sleep, and a moderately active personal life.  I have it pretty good.

But the problems with the society and the approach to change by the society isn't more successful by this method (also known as "flying by the seat of your pants").  As a matter of fact, we are seeing the results

I think that there are three components to this phenomenon.  The first is a societal tendency toward ADHD.  The second is an overblown image of the power of the individual to make a difference, the third is a constant nattering by EVERYONE about the power of change and the wonderfulness of the magic word "new and improved".

Tie these three things together and you have an unstable system.

Look, whether one likes it or not, societies are not the reflections of the individuals within them, if anything, the individuals are are reflection of the society.   What we are doing in the West is crazy.  We are attempting to create a society where there are no standards, no accountability, and no cohesion.  This attempt comes with a systematic looting of the populace.  The ongoing instability of this "society" finds it Fons et Origo in the insatiable drive for change and novelty.

The real problem is that somehow the ideas of the individual and the society and their infinite number of interactions have appeared to be fully separated and it even appears that their two complimentary natures have been placed into opposition with each other.

I can't imagine a society based on such a construct to be viable.  

Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir

Now that it is getting to be winterish and the sun is leaving, I need to re-evaluate my sleeping habits in order to get everything done.

I tend to be a morning person, something which appears to disgust my family and friends.   During the summer, I think that this makes things easier for me.  But during the winter, my opinions about the early AM progressively re-align with the thoughts of others.

I now am switching over to getting up even earlier.  The reason for this is simple, it really does give me more productive time during the day.  If I wake up early and hit it, I can have all the work done in the morning and that offers two uninterrupted hours after I get home and decompress.

I really don't want to be productive in any way, shape, or form after I get home from work.   This is my time to have a bite to eat and to do some recreational reading.  But I really don't want to get into the habit of watching the boob-tube either.  It appears to me that recreational reading  at worst doesn't detract from one's intelligence, watching the boob-tube appears to do just that.

So, wake up early, get writing and consulting work knocked out, go to work, get home, kick back and chill.  I am thinking that this rut sounds good.

It's Such a Crock

So, MBS and his oil-rich assholes decide to snuff a journalist and the world comes unglued.

Really?

The Saudi's attacked the world trade center, have been stirring up trouble in Iraq and Syria ever since, and have been killing Yemeni children at an alarming clip for a couple of years now.  It is not like we haven't known for years that they were bastards.

So what made the difference now.  Why, they killed a journalist!!  

Doesn't that say everything about how we think.  The folks who run Saudi Arabia are fucking scum.  But since they are oil-producing scum, we have been giving them a free pass for years as long as they keep the oil spigots open.

At a minimum tens of thousands of people have been killed.  The bastards even manage to throw missiles into school buses full of children and we ignore them.

But now they have committed a true crime.  They have killed a journalist.  A hellfire and a school bus are page-seven news but a Saudi journalist being killed (I would guess that since he was coming out of the embassy, he was shaking down the "kingdom" for coins not to publish) the world is turned upside down.

There are not that many "journalists" anymore.  We only have people who try and control what we think.  The idea of presenting facts in a greater context is a thing of the long ago.  It is all about controlling the narrative now, making certain that your own views and those of your corporate masters control the information that the masses use in their attempts to think.  This is all so that corporate profits can be higher.

So, when the son of a famous arms dealer, who was a stooge for the Saudi royalty for years, who late in life started laying the groundwork for another "color" revolution by becoming a "journalist" the media has a snit because he killed one of them.  Why the media never had a snit when the misbehavior in the past was probably worse than what happened in this case is an exercise left to the reader.

When I am my most cynical, I wonder if the corporate media's current epiphany that the Saudis are a bunch of bastards is in any way connected to the ever increasing water cut at Gwahar

Maundering regarding retirement

Talking with Samyukta yesterday about the exigencies of retirement.  My basic problem is that I have none.  My core is remarkably content.  I have some unreasonable desires around the edges, but being human, this doesn't bother me terribly as I realize that they will never be fulfilled.

But my wisdom of the stairs after the talk was that the folks who make a big deal out of making deluxe retirement plans tend toward being the folks who are least able to just relax and enjoy.  This may sound contrary, but hear me out.

Usually retiring deluxe takes a plan and a goal.  People who believe in the plan and goal have to start early with a firm goal in mind.  This is classic.  But truth be told, early retirement begins and ends with the goal of amassing money. 

So retirement in this system requires nothing more and nothing less than chasing the golden calf.  But what happens when the drive and focus for the goal vanishes with the attainment of the goal?  What fills the life then?

If you have spent your life planning and focused, is it truly possible to just kick back and relax after spending thirty some odd years chasing the goal?

What Really Matters

And it ain't the asshat watching FOX in the White House.

Look, liberal assholes have to get off the "I hate Trump because he is the worstest person ever" meme.  All it does is make you look like the manipulative whiners that you are.

The organization once known as the Democratic Party has lost its moral compass.  The Republican Party hasn't had one for sixty years.  The Democratic party  has created a integrated set of malcontents who want a bigger piece of a soon-to-be-shrinking pie.  The Republican party wants to make certain that "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer".  So these two clown cars spend time throwing feces at each other and addressing issues not central to the survival of the country in order to get people to forget about the issues that need addressed.

The things that matter are things that everyone hates to have brought up.  Overpopulation, pollution, insane levels of debt, insane levels of military spending, the gas tank at less than half and falling fast......I could go on.

Instead, we worry about Asshat and the little preppie douchebag driving over to check out his new office in the supreme court building might not be the bestest persons ever.   No politician is.  Look folks, neither of them will ever do anything other than further the goals of the two classes that they represent:

1. Rich assholes
2. Power hungry Washington-area creeps

The rest of us need to organize and create something new.  Something new and that will represent us.  The only thing that I have seen in politics that even slightly encourages me is the Democratic Socialists.  But unless they start getting some traction and getting some people voted in, they will be absorbed by the Democratic Borg.

The current two party system in America is the problem.  If you don't think so, just ask yourself honestly how much of your vote in 2016 was accompanied by thought of "lesser of two evils, and how much did you want to wash your hands after the voting process was over.

Look.  I voted for Dickhead.  He was only marginally less repulsive than the bitch.

My feeling is that if the two parties that control the electoral process in the country can only come up with these two shitty, shitty choices, it is well past time to come up with something new.

That something new will have to directly address the problems we face.  It is only then we will have a chance.

Seriously.  read about Brazil and the way their politics are swinging.  We could very easily go down that path unless something new comes and routs out the poison that is killing our system and the country.

It is time to get rid of the Republican and the Democratic Parties.

Back to the Grind

Note:  The last three casts of the I Ching all came up with Hexagram 27.  I think that I will be spending a lot of time thinking about this today.

It is kinda nice being back.  Rent is paid through December, pantry is stocked, bills are paid, so right now it is time to chop wood and carry water and keep on keepin' on.

I think that folks miss the importance of just being.  Getting stuff done that is important to your life in the right-here, right-now is so much more important than watching the antics of a group of paid liars thousands of miles away.   Getting wrapped up in the antics of a bunch of ass-hats back on the other coast gets  people nowhere fast.  I am beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, Donald Trump and all the stupid that he brings to the table is a better reflection of the country than any sane person put into that position.

What Donald gives us is an obvious way to take sides and hate the "others".  The cold reality is that he hasn't really done that much since he has been in D.C.  His record of accomplishments consist mainly of a blowhard trying desperately hard to get in front of the parade.

So, since he just hasn't done all that much, the hatred isn't because of the supposed march to dictatorship that the left envisions.  Truth be told, most of the time, I think that the left just heaps the sum of all its fears onto Donald as a convenience for their money-raising operation.

Look.  Folks are missing the point.  Donald isn't going to make things worse or make things better.  The big problems that will break the bank are things that no one wants to discuss.  Because the truth is we have already lost.  Finance, the environment, the end of empire, debt, nothing is being done about what will kill us.

So, the world will spend the next fifty to one-hundred and fifty years becoming smaller.  Folks will have to drop out of the convenience and status game and go back to the simple act of keeping on keepin' on.

What the Donald provides for is a target for peoples fears and desires.  Most of it is centered around people closing their eyes and wanting the party to continue just a little while longer yet.  But the party is pretty much over, all we are waiting for is the game to unravel.

And the Donald is going to be funny as hell to watch, because for all the credit he is trying to take for shit he didn't do, this scene will be him getting the credit for things that weren't his fault.

And that is irony at it's best.

Home Again, Home Again

Hexagram 27

I really gotta stop doing this, but I probably won't.

Cicero, Locutius, and I went off on one of our vision quests.  I did better than usual; I didn't wallow in the dirt like an animal as in prior excursions (though there was a brief interlude of resting on the grass).  

We argued politics as usual.  As usual no one really agreed with the other's point of view, but as we have been doing this long enough now (20+ years) we expected nothing more or nothing less.

Hung out at Cicero's for an evening and ate quite well, the locale is perfect and the weather cooperated.  The next morning, fortified by several cups of coffee we drove to the peninsula and gawked at all the pretty stuff.  We got into the campsite late and set up camp in the rain, but as soon as the tents were set up, the rain stopped.

Next day was perfect.  Blue sky and sunshine.  Walked (I will not try to ennoble the activity as hiking) about 4 miles total.  Lots of coolaroo mushrooms and fungi out. We ate bologna and velveeta and life was good.

Broke camp the next morning, went for breakfast in Forks and beat feet back to the warmth of Cicero's.

I want to do it again

Last Day and Packing

I an going to be gone until next Tuesday.

Have fun.

Season Change

I got nothing. 

I will try harder tomorrow.  Just not really into bad news right now.  Nothing more than that. 

Right now, bad news and petty squabbling is all I see and that just doesn't interest me