Musings

I’ll get it later is the photographer’s worst enemy. We ended up returning via a different route, and I wasn’t able to get the photo I wanted. My first lesson learned: never ever think “I’ll get it later”.

This comes from an article on photographing disaster scenes. In this case he (Neil Creek) was shooting the devastation of the recent fires in Australia, but no matter...

Several days back, Peter Saint-Andre made an excellent point in response to much of the rising concern people have regarding the state of this country and the global economy. In Where Are the Scenarios?, he observes:

... I rather doubt that a new Dark Ages is right around the corner. Sure, it’s possible, but what are the probabilities, based on current evidence, historical extrapolation, and scientific reasoning? Pointers are welcome. :)

At first I was all ready to fire back, emphasizing that even though a worst-case scenario may not happen, it is still a good idea to prepare for some hardship ahead ... but I didn’t. That would have been an aside to his point, and would have suggested I did not grok his point. I do. Survivalism seems to have become a popular angle for the fear-mongers in the media of late; and I have no interest in feeding the trend.

I dunno if he meant it as such, but that’s what came to mind when I began reading an essay brought to my attention by The Endervidual. Let It Die seems a worthy counterpoint to at least some of NonEntity’s Synthesis.

Yesterday's perusal of ideas of the present, in combination with the sum total of all other collected ideas from prior yesterdays, sparked a mind storm of synthesis for me. I've yet to make anything coherent from it in the way of transferable ideation, but rather than let it go to waste I want to share the bits in case they might similarly inspire others, which is the entire idea.

Have fun! (I can suggest that each of these links is well worth pursuing.)

There’s all kinds of good advice available on how to weather economic crises, including variants depending upon one’s circumstances (e.g., urban or rural). I realized yesterday, while conversing with someone regarding stockpiling supplies for oneself as well as possible barter, that I am not only flouting one very good bit of that advice, but I will continue to cheerfully do so for as long as I can.

In reading an article in the March '08 Edition of Liberty Magazine which reviews a book on the life of von Mises, "Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism," by Jorg Guido Hulsmann, I was caught by this quote of Mises, which mirrors my own thoughts exactly.

Political ideas which have dominated the public mind for decades cannot be refuted by rational arguments. They must run their course in life and cannot collapse otherwise than in great catastrophes.

And so I quote a great buffoon: "Bring it ON!"

- NonE

The arrogance we humans have regarding our position as "holders of the light" of intelligence, morality, and general top-of-the-heap stuff quite amazes me at times. This article just blew me away. Read it. It'll tickle you if nothing else.

The female California two-spotted octopus swam to the top of her tank, disassembled a valve with her powerful arm, and released at least 200 gallons (757 liters) of seawater into nearby exhibits and offices.

- NonE

Even though this material is a bit dated, I found the article most interesting. It gives quite a bit of ammunition for those times when one is confronted by "compassionate" liberals who are so convinced that the poor would starve without government programs.

Not that anyone here doubts it, but as much as I've read about this (not to mention living much of it), I was surprised at some of the statistics. We don't always know what we think we know, do we? :)

I’ve been having a mostly-private conversation with my friend Peter, which has skittered across various philosophical issues; one public mention at his place is Daoepicurandistotelianietzscheanism. It has been quite stimulating, in a slo-mo sort of way.

A while back I happened into a show on National Socialist Television. I don't often watch such stuff for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they use force to pay for much of it, they are really "preachy" and guilt mongering, and so much of the stuff you find there is socialist crap or British humor, the latter phrase being oxymoronic to me.

Ya know how it has been said that lotteries are a tax on the mathematically challenged, or something like that? Well I've been having fun in grocery stores lately. Today it was in the fruit aisle where there were 2 pound bags of lemons for $2.99... RIGHT next to open bin lemons at $0.99 per pound. I like lemons, so I contemplated buying several bags. ;-)

- NonE

I don’t recall how I came upon it, but I have spent far too much time mulling the various messages offered by the essay You Weren’t Meant to Have a Boss. In an effort to move on and get something productive done today, I hereby announce my intention to fob off at least a few of them on to you readers.

I have a friend who is into guns in a big way. He has been since before he was old enough to buy one without his mother's permission. He loves to shoot. He also is a computerphobe. He son gave him a computer. He refuses to use it. We were talking the other day and he noted to me that among his shooting friends, almost none of them use the computer. To me, this is mind-boggling. It is like choosing not to read or some such thing. But so it is with this group of people.

Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Kevin Barrett wrote a very interesting article on "ponerology." Last night my mind piped up and asked me if I'd even considered that perhaps sociopathy is a function of one's position in the pecking order rather than the apparently current belief that it is something an individual is either blessed with (sarcasm intended) or not. My experience on this planet leads me to believe that this question may be worthy of consideration.

Within the past month or so, I’ve encountered an astonishing assertion in several places. Not only is the assertion astonishing to me, it’s surprising that individuals whom I know to be intelligent and critical thinkers have offered it. This idea is—to perhaps oversimplify it a bit—that “brains are brains”. That is, absent congenital defect or physical trauma that obliterates part of one’s brain, all normal human brains are roughly equivalent in functionality. I’m going to try to refute this idea in two different ways, because each seems important. They may not appear to be so different to others, however.