I did quite a bit of reading on this one. I knew in my head, from trusted sources that things weren’t exactly what they seemed. All that being said, everyone still needs to do their own research. Just because a source is trusted, doesn’t mean that it is always right.
I think that intuitively, we can all see the Ukrainian flag as a symbol of virtue signaling. It is a sign of the times. We have become a society of icons and false bravado when we perceive an injustice. Just like the ‘drop the mic’ podcast, unfortunately I think that society has turned. We have moved into a decadence phase like ancient Rome where we have more interest in other people’s problems than our own. But, that is a story for another day.
End Your Programming Routine: Virtue signaling is certainly a form of programming. The concept implies a level of ignorance or blind faith. Now, is this something that is a major problem? Only when you are concerned with liberty and individual thought.
To understand Fahrenheit 451 is to understand the backstory to how it was written. Of course, none of this is written in the book but it was part of mine as an appendix. Fahrenheit 451 is an evolution and combination of several short stories and an ongoing effort to get published. Unlike Orwell, Bradbury was alive for many decades after it’s publishing and indeed had some words to say in confirmation of what I am about to write.
The inspiration for the story came from a book called “Darkness at Noon” by Arthur Koestler. This is not a book that I have read or am familiar with, but the description seems worthy of going on the reading list especially if it inspired Bradbury. It is a story of persecution in a totalitarian regime. It was at that time that Bradbury decided that science fiction was the genre of literature the permitted the most leeway for his beliefs and story. All that being said, I don’t think that this was a protest story as much as it was a warning.
Though not formally educated, you could probably say that Bradbury had a desire to write. One of the precursor stories to Fahrenheit 451 was a short story called “The Pedestrian”. Essentially, this was based on an encounter with police that Bradbury thought he was wrongfully accused. This interaction pissed him off enough to write a story about it.
Later, Bradbury developed another short story titled “The Fireman” as a science fiction magazine submission. This was the true basis of Fahrenheit 451 with the portions of “The Pedestrian” weaved in. That part of the story was Montag’s interaction with Clarisse whereas most of the rest of it was “The Fireman”. This was all done in an attempt to make a book length story for publishing.
On an interesting note, as Bradbury’s work got critical acclaim it began to be read in schools in the 1960s. The publishers took it upon themselves to sanitize the book from the largest adult themes such as language unbeknownst to Bradbury. It was some years before it was brought to his attention and Bradbury immediately demanded that be stopped, which they did. I think that you can say that he walked the walk.
In the grand scheme of things, Bradbury was no slouch. He could read the tea leaves on the way things were going and the subject manner of banning books was no coincidence. With the age of new media coming, and I mean TV he could anticipate that books being passed over. The reason the subject matter was banning books was because it was more palatable considering TV was quickly surpassing reading for entertainment. It was also Bradbury’s belief (and mine) that there was more to lose banning them. You see, with books you have to think about what is being said and interpret what is happening. Thinking is what makes them “dangerous”.
I realize that this has been a little different than some of my other wrap-ups because I have a lot of information on and from Bradbury himself. With that, I think I will leave the analysis there. This is a short book that can easily be read in a couple sessions. The story is easy to follow and I think that it is approachable science fiction. In today’s world, it doesn’t even seem too far out there. That was probably different when it was written in the 1950s.
You can probably tell from my complimentary tone that I hold a high opinion of the book. I think a lot of factors come together between the story, the length and the approachability to make that happen. If I had one criticism, I would say that the ending was a little unbelievable. I am not totally convinced that after multiple nuclear detonations that it would be possible to go back to the city. I imagine that the radiation and fallout would be off the charts.
But, in Bradbury’s defense the first nuclear bomb was tested in 1952 which was one year before the book was published. We know so much more about the effects of nuclear detonation now the at that time. Plus, we have the benefit of almost instantaneous and comprehensive information with the internet. I am sure his depiction of nuclear war was was colored by the perception what the public thought about war at the time with the information that was available.
End Your Programming Routine: The warning that I am referring to in the first paragraph is the warning about taking in your surroundings or some people use the phrase being in the moment, that is living. With your earbuds in, driving around at 200mph to get home and watch TV people are losing touch with reality. I feel like that is just as relevant today as it was in 1953. And maybe even a little more so as we approach that era of life in a four-screen environment.
February 24, 2023 The Survival Podcast ended with a bang. I mean, the punch in the face. When I heard it on Friday, I immediately thought I should cut out that audio. Low and behold, Jack did it for me (at least he put a clip on mewe which prompted me to get it before I lost it).
Right for the wrong reasons is that you don’t get a say on how things go. You are promoting ‘dangerous misinformation’ by disputing the status quo. You don’t get a vote, opinion/facts/truth doesn’t matter.
This is the link to the audio for the show that he refers to as being banned from YouTube for dangerous information. By the way, each of the thirty points is source cited.
End Your Programming Routine: You know that I am not about believing unsupported conspiracies. But when the preponderance of the facts are on your side, we as humans (should) know when right is right. We are in real trouble if we don’t get this concept. I would say one of the most profound presentations I have ever heard.
As with anything personal and a situation involves more than myself, I don’t think that it is appropriate to go deep into the details. It’s not that I am scared to reveal some deep, dark secrets, but it is a matter of respect and decency for all parties involved. I certainly wouldn’t appreciate it if someone wrote publicly about my perceived issues.
That being said, my wife and I are trying to do a weekly, Christian based bible study. As strange as this sounds, it has led to a lot of intense conflict. If I try to summarize it, I suppose that an exuberance to implement new changes or techniques. This is difficult for me and could be construed as abrasive and confrontational as well as feeling of inadequacy. Both sides have feelings about what is, what could be and how to approach that.
The main passage for the week is Ephesians 5: 31-33 (NIV).
31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
The premises of the week are
Marriage is God’s gift for me
My spouse is not my enemy
I must renew my commitment to the permanency of marriage
The purpose of marriage is to glorify God
Due to the week we have had, I have some doubts that I need to resolve. How can every marriage be a gift from God? Is it really only marriages rooted in faith or truly all of them? I think that we have all known people that married for the wrong reasons. And if so, how do you reconcile the word of God versus reality?
This is my problem with the church at large. They are great a highlighting these things we should do and preaching about how to conduct ourselves in the situation but they never reconcile the real tough issues. As and example, when is turning the cheek or loving your neighbor to all extremes really putting up with abuse? It is those kinds of inflection points that I never get out of sermons.
Maybe I am just a bad follower and I should always put my faith in God. But, then I think about those extreme ‘faith healer’ type stories and I just have to believe that proper faith requires us to action, not just pray that ‘God will fix it’. You see what I mean?
I woke up early on Sunday, 3AM. My first thought was that it was really raining and I had unplugged the sump pump because we had significant freezing weather. That always causes the remaining water in the drain pipe to freeze and then when the pump comes on it deadheads, often blowing the flex connection and spraying water everywhere. Once I was up, I knew that I needed to deal with my issues through faith and internally. I did what I am often doing on the weekends, head out to the shop. This time, there was no TV or radio or podcasts. It was my woodworking and myself, thinking and praying.
Some would say that to have a clear and proper prayer time, it needs to be quiet and focused. I always find myself at least pacing when there are heavy things to resolve. I find for myself some menial, physical activity is best. I wasn’t operating machinery or anything but chopping and chiseling (for hours). I don’t know if I got it all out, but it was time to come in and shower for my son’s birthday party.
I actually didn’t think about the fact that it was Sunday and I turned on the radio. The AM station I have it tuned to plays six or so hours of different sermons and one was on. I knew immediately that God was answering my prayer. The sermon was on how doubt, properly researched to the end actually builds faith using the story of Doubting Thomas and the resurrection of Christ.
John 20: 27-29 (NIV)
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
I didn’t note the pastor speaking because I am a casual Sunday listener, but I listened intently to the whole half an hour. Formaldehyde Christianity is the result of growing up in the church and being around faith your whole life without really being tested. It is faith that is always there preserved but not alive. Not doubting and not questioning leads us to blind faith which is probably just as dangerous as zealous faith.
It was very clear that the message for me is that I need to keep asking questions and working on my faith and my marriage. I also have no doubt that God was telling me that he heard me and that sermon at that moment was for me to feel good that it is OK to pursue the answers. But, I think that he was also telling me that I need to trust the process, not to get hung up in grammar or syntax.
End Your Programming Routine: Ultimately, I didn’t resolve my fundamental question but the truth is, it doesn’t matter. I now know re-reading what I wrote and re-reading what the course said that I missed the two words “for me” in the in the first premise. It doesn’t matter whether the dogma is accurate or said another way, all marriages are a gift from God; mine should be treated as such because this is the gift for me. Regardless of whether I perceive some injustice, I also need to own that I am not perfect here either. Because I was erroneously hung up on premise 1, I failed 2-4 this week when we were struggling to effectively communicate. Thanks God for the reminder of humility and ultimately I owe my spouse an apology.
Sometimes I get lazy and put up books that I have read because it is convenient not necessarily because I thought that it was interesting. This is not one of those times, I was fascinated with the concept from the title through the end.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage proposes a world view of history through six different drinks. I don’t think I am giving away too much by listing them as beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola. It isn’t a long or difficult read by any means. The book is 250 pages and takes the position of reader as a novice.
If you were looking for an anti-racist approach, you will be sorely disappointed. This really takes the approach of history through the drink. For instance, I think that tea gets a little short shrift. The book is the western perspective about the tea trade and proliferation of tea through the British Empire with only a handful of pages before that. So, it is not totally ignored but what a fascinating perspective that the British Empire was fueled on tea.
I think part of the fascination of this book for me is the transition of one drink to another. This is the explanation of how one drink overtook the other. A lot of it had to do with rise and fall of empires but what a unique take to frame them through drink. I thought that it was particularly interesting about how the political decisions drove economic activity and made or broke empires.
Another wildcard for me was how a brand came to represent an empire. I don’t know if I totally buy the premise however I certainly understand how the brand represented a philosophy and the philosophy symbolized a way of thinking and a way of doing. It was that thinking and doing that was novel and therefore the empire grew as a result of a better idea.
Since the book is short and the it is all about history which of course is already known, I don’t want to spoil the remaining secrets that are within. I definitely had no problems keeping up and reading the book. I didn’t find it dry in the least. For that, I would say that if you run across a copy, it is definitely worth reading.
End Your Programming Routine: It isn’t that often that someone gives you a book that they haven’t read that actually turns out to be good. From that standpoint, I wouldn’t have taken it if I didn’t think that it looked interesting from reading the jacket. For me, the programming is looking at things the same way, over and over. This is not that. This is looking at history by aggregating events through the perspective of a drink. What a novel concept.
Today I cheated a little bit and you will be able to tell. At one point, I had figured out how to strip audio from Youtube. This particular clip was on Rumble. My point is, I would like to take video from any source so that I could embed in a podcast format. That would require more than ten minutes of looking and research. For now, just playing over the speakers works but not the best audio quality.
I just happened to run across this video (link below). It immediately spurred me to talk about this because I have had a tickle that something wasn’t right. I was actually talking to a friend about this very subject but didn’t really look into it. Low and behold, one I had an idea about where to look, it didn’t take long to find something.
End Your Programming Routine: What do we do about this? To be sure, I don’t think that we are going to stop it. It is way too late for that. In my opinion, the best we can do is get away from the system. The best way to get away is to not participate, but getting away could also be leaving. So, be warned this is everywhere now it is our move.
This week, I am looking at the concepts of chapter 3, the last chapter in Fahrenheit 451. As the second time reading it, I can honestly say that I don’t remember a single thing about this book. I had a slight hope that maybe it would come back to me as I went along, but – nope. That is OK, because now I can come at it with a fresh and unbiased prospective.
If you read the book, then you know where the chapter starts. I’ll just say that there was a lot of burning of things. This translated into a failed manhunt and ending with nuclear war. And when once over, it was time to rebuild society. A little simplistic and abrupt if you ask me.
I have to be careful that I keep things in line as I write today. I am simultaneously thinking about this chapter and the overall wrap-up next week. While they are related, they are most definitely not the same. It has more to do with the origin story of the book rather than what is happening in this particular chapter.
Enough flowery non-sense and platitudes, let’s get into it. What I wanted to talk about today was a particular incident in the book. After Montag escaped from the scene of his troubles and his pursuers lost the trail something happened. What happened was that a fill-in for Montag was identified. The mechanical hound pursued, attacked and executed that person. All the while the event was filmed for TV and the action was conveniently abstract by camera angle, action and distance.
I definitely shouldn’t admit this but I will anyway. You see, I believe that people are stupid, until they are not. What I am saying is that people will believe almost anything reasonable until proven otherwise. Generally speaking this is related to issue that never effected me until they did and then they were real or wrong.
A political response to covid was believed and accepted by all sides because all sides were pretty much saying the same thing. Until your job was deemed ’essential’ or your job required a vaccine card or your dentist made you wear a mask in the lobby. It was then people said “wait a minute, this isn’t right. We are all in this together, or are we?”
You see, for propaganda to be effective, it has to be seen as accurate or true. When the mechanical hound killed the stand in for Montag, it was for show. It was to prove that a renegade’s actions has consequences and justice was served. As long as the greater population believed that there was no escape or no hope of resistance, there actually wasn’t.
An artificial society where friends and relatives are TV images, reality is built on whatever is seen. We all know that TV is staged and scripted. So the saying that perception is reality clearly germane to the topic. All my friends are on Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok. You catch what I am saying? I a saying that we are halfway there to living in an artificial society.
How many times have you heard about people that beat a disease are the ones that fight it at every turn? When my wife was going through cancer treatment, I read case studies provided for support members that spoke to the very situation. Of course, this is not everyone’s destiny but certainly when the stars align and the person has the right attitude, sometimes the seemingly impossible can happen.
End Your Programming Routine: I am certainly not advocating for doing something crazy or life threatening by fighting a tyrannical entity with deadly consequences. The definition of changing your programming is challenging the status quo. You must observe and question what you see versus what you know. A worthy fight is one that is worth the risks.
Way back in college, I wanted to purchase a .357 magnum revolver. Things are a little bit different now then they were back then. With the proliferation of plastic frames and Metal Injected Molding (MIM) along with Computer Numeric Controlled machining, some firearms have have gotten a lot cheaper. The truth is, there are a lot of models that can be purchased for less than what I did in the middle 1990s.
I really wanted to purchase a Ruger GP-100 but I was $50 short, so I ended up buying a Rossi M971 for $450 instead of a Ruger at $499. I really have only had two complaints. One is that the same Rugers are selling for $800 now whereas my Rossi is selling for $300-400 used (read bad investment) and the second is that parts and accessories are far and few between.
Recently, I was at the range and the rear sight broke off. I have no idea how that happened. I don’t think it was dropped, I speculate that the plastic just became brittle over time. My replacement is metal, I am hoping that this is the last time it has to be replaced because it may not be replaceable in the future.
Don’t take this as gospel but Rossi is a Brazilian brand. It is now owned by a Brazilian conglomerate Taurus Armas which owns brands like Taurus, Rossi and Heritage. They got their start copying Smith and Wesson and Beretta handguns (originally under license). Once those patents expired and agreements ended, Brazilian copies started appearing in the US markets, hence there are a lot of similarities of a Rossi and a Smith and Wesson revolver.
The reason any of the above is relevant is because about a year after I owned the revolver, my roommate was handling it without my knowledge and dropped it an broke the front sight. At that time, Rossi was it’s own brand and the distributor handled all of the parts. They sent a replacement, free of charge. Since the acquisition, the distributor no longer exists and Taurus USA does not sell parts aftermarket. This would be for a product that they no longer make. In fact, Rossi has become a rifle/shotgun brand only. So, I doubt they have parts in the first place.
But, despite the similarities, there are some differences. I am not going to go into that right now, but what it really means is that aftermarket support is really scarce. For instance, I can find replacement sight blades for Smith and Wesson at $13. I found one local manufacturer base in South Dakota. He was selling a replacement sight at $38 plus shipping and I was happy to pay it.
The way it installs is different too. In the Smith and Wesson it is all largely done with a screwdriver. I needed to purchase a 1mm punch to drive a tiny pin out. This of course cost me $35 dollars. The first time I used it, I broke the drive pin because 1mm is tiny and that metal is hard and therefore brittle. So, I purchased replacement drive pins in a six pack at $15.
What I am getting at here is that I am now $100 and two months into this. I suppose I could have taken it to a gunsmith. I doubt that would have saved me any money, maybe some time. Here again, this is probably a quarter of what the firearm is worth. But without it, it is almost worthless so it has to be done.
If we were talking about a domestic brand like Ruger or Smith and Wesson, first of all this probably would have never happened. But, if it did there are parts available. Gunsmiths can do the work or even the factory. This is the argument for buying the F-150 or the Toyota Camry or the Whirlpool. When there are lots of them made then there is future support likely. Of course there was no way of knowing that the Rossi brand would get scarfed up and discontinued. But initial price and reputation have to play a factor in those types of decisions.
End Your Programming Routine: I am super grateful that Jack First Inc is in business to help keep me going. I am not saying that I was pennywise and pound foolish but had I waited and bought what I really wanted, I don’t know that I would be writing about this subject. I certainly would be happier with my investment value and never wondering what-if. I can’t say that the revolver has ever treated my bad, is inaccurate, not reliable or anything like that. It is just cost a lot of time and money to repair. Maybe this is my foreign sports car?
We really have crossed the bridge heading into Spring and Summer. I know, you don’t really believe it but in most parts of the the United States, time is ticking for the garden season. Let me give some examples. It is time to prune fruit trees, grapes, roses etc. It is time to plant bare root plants for optimum summer/fall establishment and survival. It is time to start annual seeds.
At my house, my kids are in high school. That means that winter sports are at the very end and spring sports are about to start. This also means that planning for the schedules of the remainder of the school year. I was looking at the Trap schedule and getting practices/scoring weeks on my calendar. The state event is June 24-25. That means that I am actively looking at my summer calendar right now.
All is not lost if you don’t start seeds, it is not the end of a chance to plant a garden. My point with this is when you start to get in the mind frame of maximum production, that involves planning and it sneaks up on you faster than you think. To be 100% honest, I am not ready. My hangover from this trip has me backed up on things that need to be done first, like taxes.
My biggest problem is that I am already running behind. The things that I wanted to have done, like my sofa table are still not completed. I have to make the decision to either stop where I am at or not. At this point, I know myself and I know that if I stop focusing on my project the next time I think about it will be years later. This is why it took me years to build my fly tying bench.
In years past, I stopped on my winter projects and ultimately failed at finishing my projects and growing a garden. This year, I am going to try and do both, but I am also going to focus on finishing what I started first. At least, if things go well growing, I will be pleasantly surprised and not disappointed on two fronts.
I sound a bit defeatist by expecting that I won’t have a nice garden. The truth is, I believe that I can do almost anything that I want. I guess for me, I have relegated it to a lower priority. Would I delay writing here daily to keep a garden? Probably not. Would I skip going to the range monthly to work in the garden? Again, probably not. And so, knowing myself and my interests, I am likely going to deprioritize it.
In 2019, when I had all the time possible, I spent a lot of time building irrigation systems and planning to bigger and better. As fortune would have it, 2020 saw my entire summer consumed with remodeling and my beds destroyed. I have been on a downward spiral every since. Questions of long term inhabitation, location and best place have left me paralyzed with analysis paralysis.
With all that said, I think that it makes sense to focus on the things that I am certain I can perform well, like building my table. Ultimately, I also shouldn’t run my life on what might be. There is no guarantee that we will move just as there is no guarantee that a front yard garden is a detriment. But as long as there are other things to focus on, I suppose all these things will remain in the background as convenient excuses.
End Your Programming Routine: I want to say that if you are hoping to do something in the garden, this is the time that things get rolling. That being said, we all have to make choices in life. Just make sure that you understand that we can’t always have our cake and eat it too. So, understand where your limitations and priorities are and march ahead.
It is kind of cheating, but things are not quite right. Due to an unfortunate issue, I missed my flight out of Indianapolis. Consequently, I ended up not getting home until early Sunday morning. That didn’t really help me get re-adjusted and instead of having the majority of Saturday, go to bed early and then Sunday, I was dragging all day Sunday only to get back to work on Monday. All that being said, my creative battery is really low.
A couple of things happened on my trip. The first was that SSL certificate expired last week. Technically, it didn’t expire until mid-April but this happens every couple of months. In fact, it is not suppose to expire but once a year. I don’t understand this at all. I know how to work around it, but that was not something I was really equipped to deal with on the road. It was just too many technical things to handle on an iPad. The second, I was checking on the health of other things due to my SSL problems today and it seems like I am running into some caching issues. What seems to be the problem is that the amount of data is building up and causing slowness of the server painting data, particularly pictures.
There is a actually a third problem as well. This problem is that it seems like MySQL version is out of date. The last two problems seem to be related to me sharing a server with other users. To solve that, it seems logical that the next obvious step is to pay for more space or my own server. That is easier said than done.
It’s not that I can’t get a dedicated server. The question is really should I? This whole thing was an experiment to see if I could build lifestyle/content business. Given that I have made $0 on this, it seems very impractical for me to pay more money just to serve up free content. I guess what I am saying is that as long as things continue at a moderate price, I am more than willing to keep going. There does become a point of diminishing returns.
The first year is always cheap, this is how they get you. The next year the cost is three times as much and then it seems to go up 20% a year from there. I guess that I am seeing that I am not really seeing the return on my investment. Now, I have to own the business plan. That being said, my idea was always to grow a reader base before actually trying to figure out a revenue model. I am not really seeing much growth in my site downloads in three years.
Ultimately, I am saying that I don’t think that there is a lot of desire for my work. And therefore I am in the dichotomy of upgrade to survive or die a slow death. To be clear, I am not saying that I am quitting, but what I am saying that I need to evaluate the future. When I talked about the ‘white hatters’ two weeks ago, I need to put some effort to really measure engagement and how much more effort that I should put into this endeavor.
Last week, I was listening to a podcast overnight and it was about two brothers who literally have built a side business on a Youtube channel about cutting firewood. It was their opinion (as well as many others) that content generation should be confined to a niche subject. The more niche the better. I just don’t want to do that, and I suppose this is my downfall. I guess we will see, I was hoping three years ago that there would be more people like me, interested in lots of different things.
End Your Programming Routine: I don’t think that there is any programming here today. I guess what I am saying is that I am probably not going to do this forever without some sort of return. I’m not even saying that it has to be financial. I cant really complain about not making any money when I haven’t provided any vehicle to do so. I don’t really want to beg. I don’t really want to get hooked into some third party program like Patreon. My first measure was really engagement, which I don’t see much of.
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