Category: Review

December 8, 2021 – Review: Husky 36″, 11 Drawer Toolbox Combo

December 8, 2021 /

It’s been a long time since I did a review. This was supposed to be one of the cornerstones of my work so that at some point I could gain a business advantage buying, using and reviewing items. It’s not that I haven’t bought things since 2020, I suppose that it is I kind of forgot about reviews.

This is one of those items that I always wanted.  I imagined that I would have a bright red, Craftsman toolbox with everything organized and accessible.  It is not just that, but also I would have space to add more tools, if needed.  It sounds a little fruity, but another thing I could accessorize.  

When I moved to South Carolina, I built a bench in the garage that had custom slider drawers.  I could see all of my wrenches in order so I could easily find what I wanted.  When we moved here in 2005, the shop already had cabinets so I stashed stuff where it would fit.  It wasn’t my ideal, but it worked well enough that I couldn’t justify the cost.  

About a year ago, the plastic container that organized all of my sockets started to fail.  That meant that every time I was pulling out my sockets, I was having to reorganize them because they would fall all over the place.  To top it off, my son started ‘borrowing’ tools and leaving them in his car.  I repeatedly asked him to return them when done and because they weren’t too organized, I really couldn’t tell what was missing. Plus, with my sometime working on cars, I find that I was constantly going back and forth to the shop when I could have what I need right next to me.

I finally decided to make the plunge and buy a tool chest.   I had some experience with a Craftsman tool chest in the lab and I knew that weight can quickly add up and then things don’t work so well.  I suppose some of the difference between the consumer chests like Kobalt, Craftsman, Husky, etc. is the real amount of weight each drawer could hold.  I don’t know for sure, but I think the Snap-On ones can really handle the load which is why they are 10 times more expensive, even the used ones.

I knew that I wanted ball bearing drawers.  They just work better.  I also looked at the total weight capacity.  In this case, the 36″ chest  castors were rated for 1500 pounds.  The 40″ chest was rated for 1200 pounds.  Even though I wanted the larger size, overall weight capacity was more important to me.  I also liked the price better at $400 versus $600 and I got 10% coupon, I was sold on my choice.

I looked at the different brands.  I know that Stanley bought Craftsman so DeWalt and Craftsman in theory are the same.  The truth is, I couldn’t find much difference between any of the brands based on specs including US General at Harbor Freight or Stack-On at Napa.  Unless you are going to pony up for Snap-On, it boils down to color, drawer layout and price.  

I probably overanalyzed every detail because I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, but I saw this blue color and I really liked it.  I knew that I really would have no practical opinion without actually putting tools in it and using it. The price was good, the need was there and it was a good project to work on while my wife was in Texas and I was spending all of my time organizing junk in the garage going through my in-laws estate.

Thin drawers are good because everything can be laid out in a way that each can be seen and extra stuff cant be put in the drawers.   When the drawers start getting deeper, then it feels like there is room to add an organizer.  What I have learned about those is that the cost starts to really add up and they add a lot of bulk to the overall use of the chest.  But again, one of the main goals was to organize tools.

With organizers in the drawer, they take up a lot of space.  That means that there is a lot less weight in each drawer (at least for now).  I found that Harbor Freight has a number of inexpensive options, in stock.  Of course online you can easily start having more cost in the organizers than in the actual chest.  

Here is my analysis.

  Score Advantages Disadvantages
Value 5/5 This was the most inexpensive choices I have seen with the features I wanted Still $400
Quality 3/5   The locks  and latch are really flimsy.  Top lid could easily be pried open to access the rest of the top
      I am not a fan of soft close drawer runners.  They offer artificial resistance and causes the drawer to operate stiffly when cold
Performance 4/5 I got all of my tools in the chest.  I have been able to roll it to the vehicle to work on things rather than running back and forth to the shop. I wish there were more thin drawers.  My optimum design would be 80%, 1 1/2 inch drawers with maybe two larger drawers.

End Your Programming Routine:  It is like most things for me.  I dreamed of one day having a nice chest with everything organized. Now that I have it, it is anti-climactic.  I will say rolling it next to my work has been nice and it is so much less frustrating to be able to easily find the tools without sorting through the pile of wrenches.  I have seen nothing that would make me say “buy that, not this”.  

November 19, 2021 – Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil

November 19, 2021 /

I have been taking my time with this one. It was the September 2021 selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. As part of our gettogether, we did olive oil tasting and made dishes where olive oil was the main or standout component. In contrast to the August selection, I was fascinated with this one. I had some high level knowledge of the problems with the industry but this book really gets into the ring with them.

The book starts out with the historical references to olive oil in lore such as in Homer’s Odyssey, to the growth of culture via the Mediterranean people, it’s historical uses and importance to society. Then it travels into the scandalous world and wanders around into the new world and the push for a cleaner industry.

I have to say, this is definitely a fascinating book. Apparently, the Romans developed a welfare system whereby olive oil was distributed to the population. As a result, one entire hill in Rome is the remnants of the clay vessels that were cast aside when empty. In another fact, oil was stored in basements under buildings and when the cities were invaded and burned, so did the oil. Apparently, that act is what preserved writing on clay tablets by making them hard.

I never realized that there was a distinction in culture between the olive eating culture and the animal fat culture. That line was precisely where olive trees stopped growing. This section gets into the politics of propaganda and the regional developed tastes by proximity to the raw ingredients.

The book talks about how olive oil is made, all grades. It talks about the economics of olive growing and the distribution industry. It talks about the chemistry of olive oil, why it is good and what is wrong with the industry. It is something that I never thought I was that interested in and makes me want to consider doing something in that field.

If you are to believe the book, and I do then I think it is a forgone conclusion that nearly all oil that the non-Mediterranean person can obtain is poor quality at least and likely adulterated with other oils. That in of itself is not the end of the world, but it does mean that there are less associated benefits to that type of oil. What makes it special are the anti-oxidants present in the oil which rapidly degrade and make it equivalent to all the other oils out there.

On that note, the more flavors present the more likely it is fresh. So, if you taste the oil and it has some life in it, then it is more likely it is a good one. According to the book, over fifty percent of the oil in this country is not pure extra virgin and that was ten years ago. In contrast, over 90% of the European oils are not pure. It was also noted that nearly every oil at the supermarket this was the case as well as being rancid.

I am not sure what to do at this point. For sure, I am not going to dump what I already have. According to figures in the book, it costs 9 euros per liter to produce. With mark-up (and conversion), I would expect $20/quart is a bare minimum number to be looking for the real stuff. I will be keeping an eye out for a better solution and product. Most likely, the best way to get fresh and quality is to buy direct from the source. Look for single source producers in the US or Australia. There are additional resources in the book.

End Your Programming Routine: Hopefully my exuberance came through, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The characters are complicated: rich one day and convicts the next. Government comes off as impartial yet graft runs amok. Everyone knows a little to a lot but no one is willing to speak on total authority as it is always the other guy. If you are interested in food, history, true crime or just something different, I would recommend this book.

September 30, 2021 – Blood, Bones and Butter

September 30, 2021 /

It’s been a long time coming, but today I am going to review the Left Coast Cellars’ Culinary Book Club August 2021 selection. The book was “Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef” by Gabrielle Hamilton.

I think that I have been pretty clear that it has been a challenging period in my life. Most nights, I am hitting the pillow and passing out to be up at 4AM the next day. So, while this book is short, it took me probably ten weeks to read. I was reading concurrently with 1984 as well, that is how long this has taken me.

If you are like me, then you have never heard of Gabrielle Hamilton. She is the owner and chef at a New York Restaurant called Prune. Again, this is another establishment that I don’t know anything about. But, I trust that companions at the book club to make choices that are interesting and worthy.

I am going to be blunt, I thought that this book was a train wreck. The writing style was neurotic and the story ends on a cliffhanger. Gabrielle obtained a MFA in Fiction and is an accomplished columnist and non-fiction writer as well as being a chef. However, I found the sentence structure overly flowery; like every noun needed two or three adjectives.

I have no reason to believe that the memoir was not truthful, it is the way she went about her life that was bothersome. For instance, she married an Italian because he needed help with his green card. There was never any real love in the relationship and in fact they lived apart for a number of years. Yet, much of the later part of the book was angled at the tortuous relationship and regret that it wasn’t better.

Prior to marrying the Italian, she was a lesbian for several years whom she abruptly left to get married after having a short, secret affair. I am not into judging lifestyles but the ‘in your face’ decision making definitely makes me think that there is no plan, no thought and no self reflection. What I am ultimately saying is that is just because you make a lifetime of poor decisions, I don’t think that is necessarily worthy of celebration. I think I would have liked it better if there was some sort of lessons learned from these things.

What I took from this was Gabrielle was trying to impart that hard work supersedes all of the missteps and misfortune in her life. I do believe that there is a large component of success that requires hard work. I do not believe that is the only ingredient. Another theme I can endorse is that relative career success does not translate into happiness.

Before I go off the deep end with criticism, Gabrielle is a human and it takes courage to be honest. Unfortunately, I didn’t see a lot of remorse to try and do things better. So, while I think sharing your life is gutsy, I feel a bit of pity for her because it seems like a lonely existence.

End Your Programming Routine: If you can’t stand my point of view most times, then this might be the story for you. This might be the most harsh review that I have ever written. I am looking forward to next months selection ‘Extra Virginity’.

September 10, 2021 – 1984, the Finale

September 10, 2021 /

I am sure that everyone has been sitting on pins and needles waiting for this day. Today, I am going to discuss my opinion and analysis of 1984. I have spilled a few drops along the way so my opinion shouldn’t be a complete surprise. I will caution that this post is not going to be an academic thesis. Let us first get into my motivations in the first place.

Hopefully, you realize that freedom is one of my anchor tenants of this blog. I picked 1984 to read and analyze because I thought that it did a pretty good job of forecasting the future when it was published in 1948. When I say pretty good job, I really mean scarily accurate. What I didn’t realize until halfway through the book that this book is not really about freedom.

Now, before everyone gets too carried away, remember what I said in my very first post of 1984. It is not my intent to speak for Orwell, he could have done that himself. It is my attempt to analyze what I read and provide an opinion. And my opinion is that this is not a book about freedom. So, let us unwind that some more.

First we need to look at the origins of the story and the author. Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blane) was born in India in 1903. He was born in imperial India under British rule but the family soon after moved to Great Britain. That did mean that he travelled the world under a favored passport. I would say his formative years were were forming the opinions that come out in 1984.

I think from reading Orwell’s biographical information, there is no doubt that geo-socioeconomic politics have colored his thoughts and opinions. This was a very tumultuous time with the Bolshevik revolution, Spanish Revolution, World War 1,2 and the pinnacle of the British Empire all occurring in his lifetime. Also coinciding with that was the prominence of psychological research along with Eugenics and progressive thought.

I think that this book is a story about Freudian theory of psychoanalysis. Orwell uses his beliefs about politics to support the story and develop Winston as the representative of the three types of personalities. In case you are not familiar with these, they are simply defined as the following.

  • Id – Subconscious thought
  • Ego – Conscious thought
  • Super Ego – Values and morals

Clues started coming to me with the dreams, the verbal out lashes, the mother issues, the seeking of erotic pleasure. Those things could have been interpreted as the repression as they were portrayed or something larger. To me, I could not make another connection to those events to the story line without going straight to Freud. Throughout the book, all three personalities were clashing, particularly in section 3.

I am by no means an expert in this area, but I started questioning my beliefs that this was a story about freedom when the book got into section 3. My limited research into psychoanalysis has caused me to understand that there is a personality progression. It seems to be tied largely to age, but I didn’t see anything strictly limiting to such. In fact, some sources supported the idea that not progressing through the stages leads to neurosis, clearly a trait that Winston exhibited at times.

While the Freudian theories were first introduced in 1890, Great Britain created the Psychological society in 1913 which was right before World War 1. It was expanded in 1919 after the war. I think that it is highly plausible that Orwell as a student was not only exposed to these theories but was highly impressionable at that young age.

The story just doesn’t go with the flow that I would expect. In fact, very little of section 3 makes much sense. Yes, there is a societal warning in 1984 but the reprogramming of Winston to accept Big Brother doesn’t make much sense without Freud. Orwell could have ended 1984 shortly after Section 2 if he just wanted a warning or he could have made Winston and Julia heroes if he wanted to go the other direction.

My point is that this story went on way too long or at least not in the correct direction if this was simply a story warning about totalitarian governments. As of right now, my belief is that Animal Farm is a story more in line with the freedom vein by Orwell. I also think that the notoriety of that earlier work has blinded people into pigeon holing Orwell into social commentary rather than being more broad which is where I am falling on the spectrum.

End Your Programming Routine: Orwell died in 1950 not long after 1984 was published. It is unfortunate that he did not get to see the juggernaut that he created and then maybe I wouldn’t even be discussing this. I also looked around and there doesn’t seem to be any commentary from Orwell about it. There is plenty of other’s opinions out there, but again it is just that which of course you know by now that I am taking a different direction.

September 3, 2021 – 1984 3:6

September 3, 2021 /

This is the end my friends and Winston loves big brother. How did this happen? The truth is I don’t really know. In the previous chapters, Winston was threatened with his greatest fear which caused him to renounce his love to Julia. Somehow, he was forever changed both mentally and emotionally to being ambivalent towards her and the switch was flipped to his current thoughts and beliefs.

Because Winton now has a love for big brother, he got a new job and it seems a degree of new freedom. He even had the freedom to meet with Julia again. From the description in the book, it may be that she got some sort of lobotomy to change her behavior as he said that she had a big scar. For all we know, Winston did as well.

Belief is Reality – This is not a new concept in my ongoing review but it is one that Orwell keeps driving. It is the only way I can explain Winston’s behavior. Once he decides that he loves Big Brother all of his other beliefs fall into line. I suppose that it is the scientist in me that wants a root cause analysis of how did this happen and why it is true. I am probably lacking the psychological background to understand the effect of fear or maybe it is post traumatic stress?

I am going to cut Orwell some slack as this was written in the late 1940s. PTSD was recognized as psychiatric disorder in 1980. It seems like he got so much right in Parts One and Two. Maybe it was pure chance and possibly he had some clairvoyant capability, I am not sure. We know from the Nazis and the other Eugenics experiments of the early century that medical establishments were doing research on the brain and behavior. This is not a subject that I have put much effort into learning. I have to believe that information of the day colored Orwell’s presentation of Part Three.

I am the most important thing in my life – I think that this is probably the biggest and most often missed concept in this book. There are many connections to the Freudian School of psychology throughout the book. When Winston and Julia meet, the discussion was primarily around the betrayal of each to the other. Both are quoted as “You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.”

I am going to talk extensively about the Freudian connection in my final analysis next week. So, I am going to hit the surface today. The more that I have researched the Freudian school and Orwell’s biography, the more I am convinced that 1984 is not the book that I was expecting or was written as the tome of liberty that most believe that it is. I suppose we will see if I can make a convincing argument next week.

End Your Programming Routine: This has been an interesting experiment. I first read 1984 about four or five years ago. When I read it, I read it as a novel. This time reading it, I paused for a week at least on each chapter. Despite the fact that I knew what was coming next, I really thought about what was happening each week. I even looked back on my previous weekly analysis to see if I had conflicting opinions as the weeks progressed. This process had definitely given me a new outlook on the book, the process and hopefully it was enjoyed.

August 27, 2021 – 1984 3:4-5

August 27, 2021 /

Technically, there is one chapter remaining . In my book at least, there is an appendix the talks about ‘Newspeak’ as well as an afterward which is someone else’s opinion. I think I will probably skip talking about those things unless a bombshell comes up. For now, I am not reading ahead so that my thoughts are not influenced unduly by someone else.

These two chapters are more rehabilitation. Winston still knows everything is wrong on a subconscious level but has accepted that there is nothing that he can do about it. He is able to repeat the ‘facts’ as truth but still balks at believing those facts.

We finally got to the answer of what happens in Room 101. It seems that this is the final stage in rehabilitation. When Obrien says you know what Room 101 is he means that you know your greatest fear. Apparently, so does Obrien.

I think that I will skip the concepts today. Partly because I could try to make a thinly veiled comparison between your greatest fear and compliance. But also partly because I really don’t buy it. I believe what I said previously that torture could elicit any kind of answer be it true or false. I am not sure why this particular method or encounter would be any different.

The second reason is that I really didn’t see anything new. Maybe I should have combined the last three chapters together… moving on. I did see one thing that I thought stuck out. Winston is re-enforcing what he knows as facts on a tablet. The last thing that he wrote was “God is Power”.

That was puzzling to me. I thought that this world like most totalitarian regimes was agnostic. In fact in the last chapter, Winston proclaimed that he believed in the spirit of man and not in God. I suppose that this statement was written to prove that he has accepted the facts. But why choose that particular statement when there are so many others throughout the book?

I do not want to speculate why Orwell chose this phrase at this point, but my opinion is that it was deliberate. I think that we will possibly come back to this in the overall analysis of the book.

End Your Programming Routine: As we are nearly to the end of the book, I find myself less dogmatic on the world of 1984. I am struggling with where the ending is going in context of Parts One and Two. It very well be that the message is the game is rigged and individualism cannot coexist with power. But if that were really the case, then why even have a Part 3? This seems to suggest that once we accept the reality then things will better. I guess I will continue to try and reconcile in the next couple of weeks.

August 20, 2021 – 1984 3:3

August 21, 2021 /

So we are to another Friday; at least this one is a little less dramatic than the last. And we are through another chapter in 1984, I think that there are four more to go. I might even combine a couple short ones, we will see.

In this chapter we see more of the torture process with Winston and are revealed some of the slogans and their meanings, at least to Obrien. I am going to surmise that the purpose of this chapter is for Orwell to explain his intent to using these these slogans throughout the book.

Early on in the chapter one of the first lines are the three stages to the process Winston is undergoing. They are learning, understanding and accepting. The last chapter was about learning and this one will be accepting.

The use of power: I think by far and away that this is the ‘how’ of all of this world that Orwell has conceived. There are so many intersecting ideas with slogans and quotes to re-enforce the idea that power is the most important mechanisms to perpetuate the party. Here are a couple to support what I am saying.

  • The party seeks power for its own sake
  • Power is inflicting pain and humiliation
  • Power is not a means but an end

What more can you say about this? It seems obvious that any regime is going to exert power to propagate its values. I don’t have any doubts that China uses power when it deems necessary. The State of Oregon is going to exert power over businesses to enforce the new mask mandates, as they stated so.

I have heard it another way and that is power is force. Winston states that he believes in humanity and that they will somehow eventually overthrow the Party. The only card that really hasn’t been addressed in this entire 1984 scenario is that absolute exertion of power can never be exercised otherwise it will likely fail. The counterpart to power is compliance. Either appropriate force must be exerted for compliance or there will be no one left to have power over or the system itself will become corrupt and fail within.

I think the idea that all the high party members are complete and exact ideologues is extremely unlikely. But, this is a story after all. Once we extrapolate the concepts and overlay them into our own world today, we can still get a lot of good insight into human nature.

Ideas are eternal: Orwell makes a point to that highlight humanity’s ultimate finiteness. We finally hear the definition of ‘Slavery is Freedom’ and that is to say that by keeping everyone working for the party (slavery) the idea will live on forever (freedom).

I think the enlightened reader might have a problem with how this concept is play out. We can all agree that the human body has a limited lifespan. We also can agree that ideas and concepts can be useful way beyond our lifespan. I am proclaiming to have the same beliefs as people over 2000 years ago with names Peter, Paul, Luke, Matthew and John.

Where we balk is the value of those beliefs. First of all, mine are personal not enforced on an entire civilization. But, second what if I am wrong? What would it hurt to try and live a better life, be better to fellow humans and strive for a cleaner existence? What am I really missing, the opportunity to prove survival of the fittest?

So while I 100% agree with Orwell’s portrayal of the concepts, I am not solidly in the camp that this is just a foreboding tale of the future, more to come on this as I wrap of the book.

End Your Programming Routine: What I got out of this chapter is more supporting information for my conclusion (so sorry you will have to wait). I think that is going to be exiting to come all the way back around to the beginning and look at where I am at now versus where I was when I started. I think that it is going to reveal a lot about me and how I think and I hope that I can do this series justice. I guess that we will see.

August 13, 2021 – 1984 3:2

August 13, 2021 /

I am going to try my best not to make this a grief or Covid blog. I still have a lot more to say on the two subjects. However, some things we have to keep in perspective. And that is it is Friday. We have 1984 to get to.

This chapter is about Winston’s experience in captivity. You could say that it is torture. We don’t exactly know what the end goal is yet. According to Obrien, it is rehabilitation. Future chapters will reveal more.

I am having a bit of an supernatural experience lately. I guess that because of all that is going on. Maybe it is some sort of hypersensitivity or mind tricks or maybe it is real. Let me try to describe more. On August 11, for some reason I woke up at 3:30AM. I was worried that I was late for something but of course I wasn’t so I went back to sleep. Then at 4AM, I got the call from my wife. I don’t know for sure but I kind of think that was the moment that Frank passed. Then I get these moments that I am just not myself but those are stories for later.

I get the feeling that Winston is going through a similar process. Winston is questioning his reality. In his case, Obrien is trying to convince him of the complete dominance of Big Brother. He makes a statement ‘Who controls the past controls the future, Who controls the present controls the past.’ Obrien is trying to gain absolute obedience from Winston by using torture. Winston is fighting the reality of the situation. It is not clearly explained, but somehow Obrien knows all of Winston’s thoughts and actions that were seemingly private.

Reality is What We Make of It– I have said to myself this statement many times but I don’t always listen. In this context and using the example from the book 2 + 2 = 3 or 2 + 2 = 5 or it could be 2 + 2 = 4. What I am saying here is that absolute truth does not really matter. If we are going to be happy in this world, we have to accept that sometimes reality is whatever it is regardless to rather it makes sense or not. This is a very difficult thing for me to accept because I believe in right and wrong. And when wrong is right I don’t know how to apply my other assessment or coping strategies.

Using a simple example, take fashion. I think that it is silly and misguided but here is a 2 + 2 = 5 scenario. Two years ago, some garments from the early 1990’s would have been shunned. Now, I see rather frequently two colored pant legs or other such articles of clothing that came straight out of that era. Fine enough, maybe the person wasn’t around during the trend and they think that it is new. It is the ‘industry’ and media that declared yesterday 2 + 2 = 3 and now 2 + 2 = 5. It was the same with turtlenecks in the 80s or bell bottoms in the early 2000s.

I personally have an aversion to that kind of thought. It makes me want to go the other way deliberately or even cause conflict to try and justify right and wrong. You might say that this is part of what this forum is. I know that too much stewing is counterproductive and I have to fight the urge frequently.

End Your Programming Routine: I am mentally exhausted at this point. I had to have meetings starting at 4AM this morning and after the week I had I am not really motivated to do much more. My reality is that I need to take a break. Hopefully, it will be a nice weekend.

August 6, 2021 – 1984 3:1

August 6, 2021 /

This chapter was kind of interesting. It is about Winston’s preliminary stint in Jail. I say that because there has been no sort of adjudication or sentencing. There is a parade of minor characters throughout the book that suddenly appear as well but we have no indication of Julia’s disposition.

I would also say that there is a bit of foreshadowing into Winston’s future. With the extreme, no holds barred violence I suspect that his future is going to be pretty nasty.

We continue to see the same themes built upon in the recent chapters. Winston had made his choices and has accepted his fate to some degree. I think that we have all had those moments where we have done something that has a consequence that we really didn’t want to suffer. When caught, we have already accepted that there will be a degree of pain or discomfort but we knew it was coming.

Seeing is Believing- Remember back in 2:8 when I said that it was hard to believe that Obrien lived as a high party member but was also a high level traitor? There is an old saying that “If it looks to good to be true, then it probably is” is pretty applicable. It appears that Obrien was playing Winston so that he would eventually reach a point of no return, which he did.

No Regrets- I think that Winston is understandably worried about his future. I suspect it is the fear of the unknown like how long is this going to take and how much pain am I going to have to endure. Once the truth is internalized and accepted, I am talking about human freedom here, then I don’t think that it really matters about going back to the old life even as good as it was at the end. So said another way, Winston has no desire to not accept the punishment understanding that there is no hope or freedom in his prior way.

I know that today’s concepts are a little cliché. But, I think put into context of the story, they make sense at this point in the analysis. Also, there isn’t a lot more to take out of the revolving door of character in, gets roughed up, character leaves. It just re-enforces that this is really happening and it seems to happen to most people.

End Your Programming Routine: We are about to see what happens when someone fights the system using the rules of the system. Just like I talked about on Tuesday with the five monkeys, this is a no win situation. I am not sure if I would have done anything different than Winston did. Here I am writing about these kinds of things routinely and in a public way. Who knows, maybe some day they will come for me?

July 23, 2021 – 1984 2:10

July 23, 2021 /

This is the last chapter in section 2. That also means that we are moving into section 3 which will be a tone change and the consequences to all of Winston’s actions. In fact, this chapter has Julia and Winston caught by the Thought Police.

Did you think that Winston was going to get away with his treason? I guess the question that I have is why did they wait so long before they arrested the pair? I suppose that it was to build suspense in the book as well as a chance to explain a lot of the whys for the 1984 society. It is ironic that the moment Winston figures everything out that it is immediately over.

This chapter was pretty light on concepts. If I was going to be pushed into giving away the book, what I would say is the following.

Freedom is found when you are not attached to ideology. Winston’s revelation is that the future is the Proles. That is because they are not spending all of their thoughts and energy defending the system that they have created. When we look at the application of that idea in our own lives, we can probably find aspects that would overlay this type of concept particularly politics but also other beliefs like religion.

End Your Programming Routine: I am keeping it short today. In fact I am going to be gone a couple of days next week as it is birthday week. I broke my political dichotomy a number of years ago. So, Winston’s statement rings pretty true to me. If you are reading this, you probably think more like me than not but it is a good reminder to not get wrapped up in this stuff.