Last weekend, we had a family weekend. There was fourteen of us and we took turns with different meals. My mom made the comment that I am using to cooking for crowds and that is true. What isn’t is that everyone has a lot of experience doing it. With the size and frequency of gathering with my wife’s family, I have cooked for thirty many times, often without much warning.
Probably everyone has thrown a party. In a limited extent, people have some knowledge about what it takes. But, throwing a graduation party is really a different than breakfast for fifteen. I thought that I would take some time to talk about some tips today.
The photo above is not last weekend but a typical night in Spain. The way that they do it, people in attendance all bring something to share. I would say it is kind of ‘pot lucky’ which is a little bit different than a weekend getaway. But, certainly another idea.
Here are some things that I think make a difference.
Don’t expect perfection. It’s not a wedding, just a meal. Relax and go with the flow.
Calculating proportions: take what you eat or your family eats and extrapolate the total count
Keep dishes simple like soup and rolls, chili dogs, scrambled eggs, spaghetti or lasagna.
The oven is your friend. If not cooking in it, it can be used to keep stuff warm so that everything can be served at the same time.
Don’t be afraid to have others contribute, it lightens the load
If you are limited by silverware or table space, people can eat in waves.
Prep as many things as possible before cooking. Have ingredients cut and ready to cook. It is way more important the larger the meal.
A sample menu for our weekend was Friday night: pizza (we cheated), Saturday Morning: frozen cinnamon rolls, sausage links and scrambled eggs, Saturday Evening: build your own tacos and Sunday morning: pancakes and sausage with leftovers thrown in. Notice that we didn’t plan for lunch. There was plenty of leftover pizza and other snacks around to bridge the gap. Truthfully, I wasn’t hungry anyway given that we had a large and late breakfast.
End Your Programming Routine: You can do this. Unless you are running a restaurant or you simply want to spend your time cooking, the point is to get in and get out. That being said, cooking itself can be family time. So, relax and it will be what it is.
I have been thinking about this lately. I feel like my content has been more and more political and opinionated and I want to change that. I am keeping Friday’s book review as is and I want to reserve the right for Monday’s podcast to talk about whatever I want. Otherwise, I want Tuesday through Thursday to be politics free.
This may mean that I post nothing on one or all of the days in the middle of the week. But, that is OK because I never wanted this to become a political endeavor. I would much prefer you change your programming by building something or growing something or creating something rather than picking the proper side of the argument. Part of why I have been doing it is that it is easier to write opinion. It doesn’t require me to be in the shop or the kitchen or documenting whatever I am doing. All that has to be done ahead of time and sometimes life is not like that.
This line of thinking all started when I was discussing with my wife our relationship. See “Formaldehyde Christianity” for more context. She said that I have changed and that I have become more hostile and angry. Now, I don’t really think so but there is no doubt that I have spent time researching topics and preparing rebuttals on topics that I don’t agree with. And once my mind is convinced on an argument, I very rarely change my opinion about it.
I have always believed in the concept “perception is reality”. If that is her perception then it is also reality. So, I started looking about things that I am doing and what could either be influences or things that I could eliminate. I think that it is hypocritical to say that I am apolitical and then write about it three times a week. So, it is time for a change of directions.
I suppose that I believe that I am apolitical because I don’t trust political parties, neither Republican nor Democrat. But, that doesn’t mean that I am not largely diehard conservative and strongly freedom oriented. I do stand for traditional values and a women’s right to choose. I stand with God and your right to marry who you choose. I don’t condone or endorse those contradictory behaviors, God will solve that in the end. In my belief system, you only get to Heaven by free will and it is not my place to judge.
Believe it or not, I stand with your desire to call yourself whatever gender you choose. What I do not stand for is using the school system to promote that there are actually more than biological science has identified. I don’t stand for you forcing me to do things that I don’t agree with but I am all for you living in delusion. Remember “perception is reality”. There is another the old adage “your right to free speech ends before your fist touches my nose”. Be as ridiculous as you like but leave me alone and I will extend the same courtesy.
Before I get carried away with more politics, I am just trying to explain why I am the way I am. So let’s just get back to what I am trying to do. I want to keep the mainline of my work on ideas and solutions, not being mad a bad guys. Hopefully this change will be subtle enough and good for me at the same time.
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?
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