Month: January 2021

January 27, 2021 – We Didn’t Start the Fire… But We Are Fanning the Flames

January 27, 2021 /

Hello world. This is a famous introduction in programming where the output of running a program displays text on the screen with the words ‘Hello World’. It is pretty universal, no matter the language and I the syntax on how you do it.

As you all can tell, I have been pretty busy. I am still delivering for Amazon and when I do, it is an all day affair. I leave the house at 9:30AM and I usually get home between 8:30 and 10:00PM. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things. I have also picked up another handyman client which leaves me working that around my days off.

In some ways, I have been holding back writing because I am resisting jumping into what is clearly a mess and it is counter to my mission here which is teaching skills with a little commentary. The heat is getting turned up from different sources on exposing the ‘Great Reset’. ‘Cancel Culture’ is becoming an often used and successful strategy to further divide our population. It feels like we have yet to see the big event because tension is building on both sides.

This song ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ by Billy Joel was released in 1989. It was the very end of the Cold War but I think that it was really relatable at the time to my generation (X) and I think that it was targeted to the Baby Boomers. It was an homage to this very scary era where we believed nuclear war was possible and we were inheriting a mess that we weren’t even sure that we wanted to participate.

The song was mostly a list of events in history that describe the Cold War. If I represent my generation, to me the song resonated because I had the ability to look at the facts without prejudice and form my own opinions of the validity of the current political beliefs. Obviously with hindsight, we can see what we thought to be true in 1985 and what we know to be true in 2021 were two different things.

If we take a look at the culture of today, we might get a pass to claim that we didn’t start the fire, but boy do we like to watch it burn. My father is one of the earliest Baby Boomers at seventy-four. If we look at leadership of business and politics, the who is leading the charge are the Baby Boomers followed by Generation X.

Traditionally, a generation would lead and enact policy to influence culture based on the events that shaped their experience. It seems a likely A to B connection that the people who fought in World War II would have strong, global military to prevent another repeat of the same circumstances. Even the Vietnam conflict, which was a misguided attempt to rebuke Communism is understandable under the World War II generation of leadership but the Baby Boomers who predominantly fought in the war seem to be just as hawkish today.

For some reason, we have lost the ability to be objective. No longer do we question our adherence to dogma. Once we are jumped into our gang, we become ‘lifers’ and there is no escaping no matter what our gang does.

Take for instance, former President Trump as a really good case study. I am pretty sure that most people (on both sides) never realized how masterful he was at manipulation. I do not believe for a minute that he ever intended to incite a mob storming of the capitol, resulting in at least two deaths. I also don’t believe that he was not stirring the pot of his supporters which indirectly lead to this happening. This incident went in a direction that nobody ever thought possible. Both sides are right and wrong at the same time.

Where does that leave us in the middle? You can’t or won’t as easily be manipulated if you don’t pick a side. Once you have figured out that the game is rigged and there is no way to win, you cannot play.

How do you get out of the gang? For me, it has been a slow evolution. I guess that it started with being repeatedly disappointed with my side of the electorate. Then, I got disgusted by my media of choice defending that group to the end, so much so that I turned it off. Then I started looking for choices that interested me which turned out to be more anti-establishment.

I am sure that most people are like me. There are issues that are important and those that are not. For instance, I still get suckered into the drama of defending the second amendment. I struggle because I see the writing on the wall for standard capacity magazines, semi-automatic firearms and such. I know that one party is better on those issues than the other but they are so bad at everything else including their platform issues. I cannot support the totality of loss of freedom despite my second amendment opinions.

But you see, I am being manipulated in that argument. My pull is to want to vote for the lessor of two evils because it will temporarily stave off what I now see as inevitable. So, I have to fight the urge to participate in a system that doesn’t care about me or represent me. It makes you feel used and disgusted. All of my programming through the years makes my stance feel wrong, but it is the way it has to be.

I think that if we boil it all down, we like the idea of Freedom more than we like the actual application. It is clearly evident in my routes delivering for Amazon. There are neighborhoods where freedom is embraced. I know that because I see the lifestyle choices. I see the houses that don’t have trash service, who own as many dogs/animals/cars/boats as they want. I see houses with Christmas trees still up and houses where Halloween decorations still up, believe or not.

I also see the neighborhoods where order is more important than freedom. Nearly every single one of those houses has a garage packed to the gills with stuff. That is a sign that they can’t or won’t ever be as free as their nature would permit.

With that, I will wrap it up. I will not make anyone submit to my way of thinking, that would be against my principles of supporting freedom. When I look at how much we have lost in my lifetime, I cannot help but worry for my kids experience and belief on what freedom means as they inherit the world in the next twenty years. Twenty years ago, I was throwing wood on the fire, but now I realize participating in that is a fools errand.

Finally, if you look at the American Revolution the timeline spanned much longer that our condensed look at history. The ‘Stamp Act’ was enacted in 1765, a full ten years before shots fired at Lexington and Concord. There was discord years before that occurred particularly relating to the end of the French and Indian Wars. Don’t be surprised if we are seeing the warning signs or an irreparable country.


January 20, 2021- An In-depth Study of George Orwell’s 1984

January 20, 2021 /

Wow, I have to knock the cobwebs out. And let me say, since my last entry the truth about what our future will eventually look like has been exposed. The move to silence descent against the establishment outed itself in a big way post the ‘capitol riots’. In no way do I condone or side with with the actions to break into the capitol. But, what a perfect opportunity create a tinderbox, build the fuel and when a spark eventually happens, watch it burn.

I know I have been AWOL in the last couple of weeks. Maybe I will go back to this period sometime in the future. I started writing this post on January 6, stubbing out what I thought I was going to write about January 8 before life got in the way. But for now, I want to look at the future. One of the things that has been on my mind since November of last year was the book 1984. I read it in 2019 for the first time as part of the local library reading program. I didn’t realize how much of an impact that book make in my mind.

When my parents asked what I wanted for Christmas, I said the book. And, I got it. So I have been slowly reading it to really digest what is going on. I plan on writing about some of the real parallels in today’s culture and it’s futuristic relevance for something written seventy years ago.

If you want to read along with me, I would love it. I just want to warn you that this will be a series of articles that talk about the plot and the details within the book. So, consider the spoiler warning now and don’t be mad if we turn everything inside out when you haven’t had a chance to read the book.

This is a book that can be found in the library, audio book and purchased from $0.99 and up. It wouldn’t surprise me if every used book store has a copy. To me it appears that the average price is around $13.50 for paperback. So, if you are cheap like me you can look for a bargain or if you are just ready to get started it wont impact the budget too much. There is also a movie, of which I haven’t seen so I can’t vouch for it or the accuracy but I suppose that if you were just interested in the story and less so the implications you could check that out.

As a child, I spent a lot of time reading. My memory of summer was going to the library once a week and checking out several books. I would sometimes read two or three books a week. That has sort of diminished since college. It is not that I don’t enjoy it, I have lots of other pulls on my time as well. I am also part of the culinary book club so much of my reading time has been devoted to reading in that genre over the last couple of years. It wasn’t until I left my job that I started thinking about reading more.

Because of that, I have been tossing around the idea of an AltF4 reading list. I have been thinking about some of the books that have been really impactful in my life and building something that sort of encapsulates my brand of wackiness.

High school and college almost ruined literature for me. I can think of lists of ‘classic’ titles that I have read that I really would never care to open again. My anti-establishment streak made me suspicious of the designation ‘classic’ and the analysis to the nth degree made me question the author’s intent matched the analysis done in higher level English methodology.

I am open to being wrong here. For instance, my son’s favorite book is Oliver Twist which he has read many times. I have only read it once in AP English and that was enough for me. We both have different reactions to the title. He likes the story, enough said and I can respect that. In school there was a whole level of subtext applied that I never really bought into and wiped out of my mind.

If you really boil it down, not one title that I read in school was ever supported with evidence that a title was written with a deeper meaning in mind. I have a hard time justifying the existence of the analysis. I suppose that it is not to say that it can’t exist, but I haven’t seen evidence of such. This is not that. This isn’t a study into the subtext of 1984 but a comparison of the novel to current activity.

So, enough rambling. Now you know that I like reading and why; what presses my buttons on the subject and that I am starting a series on the analysis of 1984 by George Orwell. I hope that you will join me.

January 6, 2021- A Parable About the State of Freedom

January 6, 2021 /

Hello everybody. I am sorry about not getting a full week in to begin the year. What I am learning is that if I work a full day, I need to begin getting ready at 8:30AM and I get home around 10:00PM. That doesn’t leave a lot of extra time to get other things done.

Political muck is still heavily on our minds as the final election results are being sorted out (the Georgia Senate races). But, today I wanted to talk once again about mindset and freedom. You see something happened yesterday that completely illustrates our lack of the value of freedom and reinforces the fact that we don’t really value it as we say we do.

There is a fledgling business near my small town. I don’t really know much of the story other than to say my family has been doing business with it for about four months now. The owner has done a good job with guerilla style marketing, works like a dog, employs around ten people and has compassion in his business dealings. For instance, he doesn’t demand payment before goods rendered, he offers line of credit and he charitably donates probably more than he should. This business is ‘illegal’.

What you say? Don’t go all half-cocked before you hear the rest of the story. The facility and organization is not licensed to do business. Consequently, a ‘competitor’ found out about the operation and reported him to the state. Now, he is in limbo about the entire organization. From an inside source, there are plans to go legitimate in 2021. He has built a business plan that include five franchises beginning in the second quarter of this year.

So that is the quick story. Now, let’s take some time to analyze the situation.

  1. Tyranny is propagated by those that participate in the system. The people that are vested in the rules and regulations have the most to gain by implementing and maintaining systems that exclude competition.
  2. Licensure is a false prophet for the ideals of quality, safety and sanitation. Sure, periodic audits are helpful to implement better practices and establish a baseline of what should be done. They do very little to make sure that they are followed on a day to day basis.
  3. Everybody loves a rags to riches story… or do they? Would you buy an unpermitted house or go to a non-licensed restaurant or buy products weighed on an non-certified scale? We say that we like these things, but our actions prove otherwise.
  4. Sometimes the barrier for entry is too high, until you have means to get there. As someone that went through an IRS audit last year, every undocumented transaction is income unless it can be documented otherwise. Guilty until proven innocent.
  5. The foundation of this country, based on bootstrap will and tolerance for entrepreneurship is dead. Did George Washington get a permit from the ATF to make whiskey or was Benjamin Franklin licensed to provide insurance? I think that they would have thought this a violation of there fundamental rights as do I.

We claim to be a society that roots for the underdog and values the little guy. Yet the proverbial ‘we’ has little tolerance for rule breaking to claim our stake and make our fortunes as our predecessors did. When people are more concerned about what everyone else is doing, they have lost their ability to be creative and compete on merit. That is the essence of freedom. I figured that this day would come, I was rooting for the guy.

January 4, 2021- AltF4.co Looking Forward

January 4, 2021 /

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I know that I look forward to getting back to the business as usual and that starts today. For us anyway, school starts again tomorrow and my wife is back at work.

There is a lot said about New Years and resolutions. It seems like a thing that people kind of do half-heartedly. I remember reading a newspaper story one time that said something like 50 percent of smokers set quitting as a New Year’s resolution. Of those, ten percent succeed.

This is not a commentary on the validity of peoples desires but I go back to my short series in November with the comment “You have to Want It”. Setting meaningful goals requires effort. It also requires a methodology to succeed. We can call them resolutions if you like, but for the last five years I have set yearly goals in January.

Here is a tip, set goals that you think you can achieve. Also, look for activities that will make you feel good at the same time. For instance, I like to set (rifle) range goals and then I plan out each month. Last year was an abysmal on my success rate because I only got to the range three times instead of the twelve that I would have liked.

My strategy is to pick one personal item, one business item and one hobby item. If the particular item can be done in less than a year, I set more until the year is filled up. Here are some examples of goal that I set in in the past.

  • Learn to reload cartridges
    • Month 1, pick a recipe, watch YouTube videos, read the manual
    • Month 2a, shop and buy components
    • Month 2b, clean and prep brass
    • Month 3, make first cartridges
    • Month 4, test fire at the range

All of that could have probably been done in one week. But by spreading the work out it sort of extends the fun and makes it less likely that it will get dropped by interruption in the one week sprint to do something. For instance, when I started building the reloading bench, I spent a heavy week in the shop only to have the cat have kittens in the shop and it took two years for me to get restarted on that project. When I got back into the work, it probably took me another heavy week to complete. Meanwhile I was moving wood out of the way for years.

Since I was off all of last week, I really didn’t spend the time to formalize my goals yet this year. That is part of what I am doing now. I would have to say that this is a go-no go year for AltF4.co. As much as I enjoy doing this, it takes up to three hours a day to write. That is time that I may or may not have when I have inevitable re-employment. It is sad to say, that I wanted this to be my job but as of now, it makes no money. As much as I like writing, I also like working in the yard and the shop, my son has a car that he would like help with, I like to hunt and fish and all that takes time.

Here are my goals for 2021

  • Q1 – Solidify branding and develop a marketing plan for AltF4.co
  • Q2 – Develop and implement a membership program
  • Q3 – Replace at least one blog post with a podcast a week
  • Q4 – Generate positive revenue

My goals for 2020 were a little less structured.

  • Practice posting routinely, determine if I wanted or liked that sort of commitment.
  • Move from free WordPress to my own domain
  • Don’t get stuck in the Toolbox fallacy

Accountability is part of being successful at goal-setting as well. You guys will be able to see my progress as well as I can throughout this year and then you will be able to judge whether I am going to make it or not. In the end, I may just decide to throw it all out and keep doing things the way I do them because I like it. But then of course, I won’t make this my profession.

A real forward looking and self-aware person knows that failure is part of success. Failure allows us to reassess our skills and desires into the most productive and happy person that we can be. I have to admit, that I thought that I would get traction quicker than I have, that was more about naivete than anything. One of these days I am going to figure it out.