Adaptive Curmudgeon

Christmas is that time when people buy useless shit and give it to their loved ones because… well nobody knows. Like bad sweaters, meteor strikes, and eggnog it’s just a thing that happens. Don’t fret though, I’m here to help. If you’re reading my blog you’re probably a bit of an odd duck who wants a gift that doesn’t suck. Or perhaps you want to buy gifts for another odd duck. My blog is a safe space for odd ducks. Welcome everyone!

First of all, this blog is mostly text so I’m going to assume y’all are avid readers. Books are a good place to start. Here are a few books that might appeal to either you or your loved ones. These suggestions aren’t for the mass market types who’d love to wade through another 500 pages of derivative bullshit. If you’re into sparkly vampires, 50 shades of freak, Harry Potter and the eleventh sequel, the Book of the Movie, or Chicken Soup for the Mundane… by all means don’t buy what I’m posting here; there’s plenty of shit out there for you. Have at it. The links below are more for the mind that goes off road:

1. The Curse of the High IQ, Aaron Clarey.

We live in odd times in an odd world. In 2019 it’s socially acceptable to wear a pink boa while walking your significant other on a leash down to the Whole Foods where you’ll meet with a hundred other yoyo’s who organized on Facebook to stage a protest against a Chicken Sandwich restaurant. People do things like this. What isn’t socially acceptable is to say “I am reasonably bright, that guy is dumber than a box of hammers, you are average, and my sister is wicked smart.” We in America in 2019 are forced to pretend that all humans are of equal intelligence. Which is just fucking silly.

There is nothing in this book that you don’t already know. There’s no magic secret to what a bell curve is. There’s no deep realization behind the analogy that basketball players are taller than average and brain surgeons tend to be smarter than janitors. What’s interesting is this a book that needed to be written.

Nobody tells a basketball player he’s an asshole because he’s tall. Anyone smart will have a dozen stories about getting shit because they’re smart. If you’re smart, and especially, if you’re in school or work in an office (where you will be getting shit because you’re smart until you die or leave) you need this book. It doesn’t necessarily harden your heart but it reminds you that things are as they are and it’s not your damn fault. We simply live in a time where minds are forced into “conformity” and if you’re a couple deviations out there you’re in for a bit of hassle. Nobody tells Danny Devito (5′ 0″) that if only he worked harder he’d be as tall as LeBron James (6′ 7″). Nobody, fires LeBron James because he’s a genetic freak who should be the same height as Danny. Nobody tells both of them the average height for males in America is 5’9″ and both of them should shape up and fix their height. Yet we, as a society, have gotten weird enough that variation in humans specifically in mental aptitude is simply not tolerated. That’s simply the nature of things.

This is a big fat hairy deal if you’re up there in IQ. You’ve been told to conform and you suck at it. Maybe you’ve gotten used to it. Maybe you haven’t. Odds are you might feel a bit of relief to read this. If you glance at the cover and instantly recognize the bell curve and instantly recognize the little red icon to the right and think “that poor bastard is fucked”… get this book.

Note: if you buy this book for yourself, keep it to yourself. Everyone around you knows you’re smart but they like to pretend they haven’t noticed. Don’t give them a reason to start bitching that LeBron James is an asshole because he’s tall. If you buy this for a loved one, hand it to them on the sly. You’re probably doing them a favor but it’s best done quietly.

Note: I have no idea if LeBron James is an asshole or a really nice guy. Name came up on a search and I went with it. Devito I remember as a hoot on Taxi. They’re chosen as an analogy and nothing more. For that matter the book discusses the issue of lacking interest in and knowledge of “sportsball” and how that’s just one of many issues.

2. The Road, Cormac McCarthy.

Unlike the socially radioactive hot potato I started with, this is a lot simpler. Ask yourself “Do you think zombie movies are too forgiving on the main characters?” If so, this is the book for you:

It you’re post literate or just want to share the joy with others; you can watch the movie. It’s not a bad movie, it’s just that books are usually better.

3. Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales.

If you’re a hard core, been there and done that, kinda’ person, this is just a series of well written anecdotes about people facing adversity. If you think you’re a hard core person but spend 20 minutes looking for a good parking space because walking to the grocery store is too far… this might be a bit of a surprise. It’s mostly about mindset and how that deeply matters. This isn’t zombie apocalypse porn (unlike “The Road” which is like Mad Max squared in terms of how shitty things get). It’s based on real life stories. I found it a light read that was a bit of fun but you’ll never see it on Oprah. (I warned you I was an odd duck.)

4. The Unlikely Voyage of Jack De Crow: A Mirror Odyssey from North Wales to the Black Sea, A. J. Mackinnon.

By now you might think all the books I read are about social ostracized nerds and/or near fatal suffering (real or fictional). Of course not! Mr. Mackinnon is about as hard core as a Muppet. His craft is as imposing as a skateboard.

Yet here he is, having the adventure of a lifetime. Well done sir! He comes off more like a dreamer / professor than a swashbuckler but he rows and sails his tiny craft from north Wales to the Black Sea. That’s 3,000 miles and 12 countries. You think your summer weekend at a State Park campsite was enjoying nature? Try crossing a continent in a fucking rowboat!

Mackinnon is the perfect teller of his sweet story and it’s all the better because it breaks with convention. He didn’t summit Everest or outfit a Jeep to mess with the Rocky Mountains. Instead, he went for it right in everyone’s backyard. Inspired!

If you ever wondered where Tom Sawyer went, now you know. The modern adventurer is a poetic dude in a rowboat from England… and he really did it.

Also, as required by law and convention, there were pirates.

One last warning. This book, above all others, is dangerous. You have it in your power to slap together a tiny boat and go have a grand time on waters the size of a ditch… but you don’t. You keep putting it off. You keep thinking “I can’t afford the gear” or “I’ll do it when I retire”. Mellow and cheerful Mackinnon might just convince you to do the deed instead of merely pining for it. I know one blogger who built a little sailboat and who never stopped smiling about it. You’ve been warned; this is the sort of sunny book that makes people do instead of sit. Enjoy it!

Take a gander at this. It’s from the very skilled and entertaining CGP Grey:

Corporate deplatforming is nothing new (whether intentional or not). It’s why I moved my blog out of the wordpress sandbox three years ago. (See: Upcoming Blog Hosting Switcheroo.) At the time I said:

This is my Christmas present to myself (and you… if you care). What better present than peace of mind?

…

Preparedness isn’t all MREs and tactical nukes in the basement. Sometimes it’s as simple as switching hosting services before I piss off a faceless corporation.

I switched from wordpress.org to self hosted in late 2016. Anyone want to guess what made 2016 the moment when it seemed necessary? Why would 2016 be the year a guy writing stores about tractors fears his shit will get arbitrarily deleted? Was it a volcano eruption, Haley’s comet, return of the McRib? What thing happened that demonstrated to me that half the nation would love to electronically gut me in a heartbeat? If only the heady days of 2016 that made people feel justified in doing unethical things within organizations (both corporate and government) “for the greater good” were followed by… prosecution. But I digress.

In the ensuing three years they’ve gone from nuts to… still nuts. This is not progress.

More importantly is it likely to repeat at some time in the future? Say… just spitballin’ here… in 2020? Will there be some event in 2020 that might possibly entice mentally underdeveloped losers that peaked as hall monitors in high school to go full censorious fuckweasel… again?

What could it be? It’s a mystery.

There’s more. I dragged my feet until 2016 but I intended to make the move much earlier. When did I start thinking I ought to “armor up” my blog? Lucky me that I wrote it down. Check my text from 2016:

In 2008 there was a kerfuffle about the IRS withholding tax exempt status from conservative causes as part of the “elect Obama or die trying” mood of the times.

…

It’s unfair that the “The Al Gore Glee Club and Obama Worship Fund” got instant tax-exempt status while “Monster Trucks for Jesus” and “The Republican Guns for Orphans Fund” got hosed. Life isn’t fair. Any “movement” that shits itself when it discovers that the IRS is mean needs to nut up.

By the way… nobody went to jail for that. It just… happened.

We can know who will be targeted and why. So it’s stupid to stand there waiting for your turn on the rack. The internet was still gaining a foothold before 2008 but shit went down in 2008 that showed it had taken root and could be weaponized. In the next hotly contested election they did just that. They turned the dial to eleven… so much so that I feared stories about wood splitters and chicken farming would get me deleted. Now it’s one year before the 2020 pants shitting hysteria that will (may?) ensue as team crybaby tries to wrest control from team stupid.

There is no expectation of a sudden outbreak of comity and tolerance. They hate us. They hate ideas. They hate that I make stupid jokes. They hate my skin color, they hate that I pee while standing up, they hate that I drive a truck, they hate that I eat meat. They hate that I cut firewood without cutting a check to Exxon. They hate everything a self reliant person does, says, or thinks. It’s going to get worse.

That said, CGP Grey has a different and more optimistic solution than me. He turns to the still existing technology of e-mail. I merely did the lazy thing. I withdrew and diversified; ready to bail out.

I withdrew by staying the hell away from social media. I’m not on YouTube or Twitter. If Google finds me it’s only because they haven’t yet decided to not find me. I tried a Facebook presence but quickly let it go dormant. The whole thing creeped me out too much. It was a proctolgy exam in a stadium! The panopticon design of Facebook fosters the kind of bad relationship sketched out in weird Japanese animation. Suppose you show up for a blind date and encounter a Sumo wrestler who’s high on meth and bleeding. She’s got purple hair, tattoos of Hitler on her face, and she’s currently beating a puppy with a trombone. Facebook is much worse than that.

As for diversifying, I support my expenses with a trickle of money from Amazon, PayPal, and Patreon. It’s not much but it’s enough… and I appreciate every penny. I also backed up everything thirty ways from Sunday.

What I don’t have is a plan to persist. My idea always has been to bail at the first sign of bullshit. Maybe resurface elsewhere, maybe not. I’m not in the bullshit business.

CGP Grey has a different idea. An e-mail list. I never bothered to think about such a thing.

Should I? My hosting service / blog software has a “subscribe” button. I’ve left it running on autopilot. I’ve no idea how it works. I assume y’all know when I make a new post. Or maybe ya’ don’t. I just write and see what happens. Additionally Patreon can reach a select handful, though I don’t much use it.

I don’t expect my hosting service to go full retard any time soon, but 2020 looms. All that is stupid is likely to occur. Stupid that I haven’t even imagined will probably make present experience seem naive. Google rises like Cthulhu expanding from the deep. What happens when their in-house army of kool-aid drinkers retrieve from Cthulhu’s six sphinctered ass a new definition of Nazi?

I can’t predict the madness. Should I do something pro-active with a mailing list? Or should I stick to my “if it happens I’ll be electronically bugged out by dawn” approach? What do y’all think? Is “subscribe” button on autopilot enough?

Of course, this is just a minor issue. The wisdom of Firefly holds; they can’t stop the signal. (But they did cancel the show… so don’t get complacent eh?)

Posts have been either serious or propane related lately. Since I haven’t finished writing my review of Mr. Heater Buddy heaters. It’s time to switch to something completely different! (Raise your hand if you heard that in John Cleese’s voice.)

Ace of Spades just reminded me how much I love Buster Keaton.

This is a great idea for Thanksgiving! For the Holiday, when anyone wants to talk politics make them watch Buster Keaton (or kick them in the ass… your choice).

You might have trouble selling the idea of a movie that doesn’t have super heroes to millenials. (They’ve got the attention span of a gnat.) But give it a shot… the movies have special effects, they’re short, the plots are dirt simple, and if anyone’s too wound up about global warming to laugh at a guy slipping on a banana peel… they need to work on that.

Ignore all the whining and put it on, serve some food, and get everyone liquored up (including the millenials… and fuck their craft IPA… serve them something strong enough to make them tolerable)… then wait. If you’re lucky, you’ll find everyone standing around laughing (Probably while the youngins’ are simultaneously communing with social media… take what you can get.)

Some recommendations: for those who don’t know silent slapstick (meaning everyone) start them on Buster Keaton’s One Week. It’s a 1920 story about him building a house… and it’s the sweetest love story in the background.

The house came from Ikea. It practically kills the young couple. You thought that was a new thing?

Every man has had a moment that felt like this.

Other recommendations are Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936). The perpetual underdog has a thankless job. And yes… those wrenches get used in inappropriate ways. You thought sexual innuendo jokes were a new thing? It’s not Charlie Chaplin’s best work but it is his simplest and it’s just plain fun.

Among other indignities he gets hassled by his boss even when he’s trying to chill for a smoke break in the can. You thought micromanaging bosses were a new thing?

Last recommendation is Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last (1923). You’ve almost certainly seen the famous clip where a Harry Potter lookalike dork experiences life before OSHA:

Don’t think that’ll ruin the movie. Unlike a lot of modern shit, watching a clip of the climactic scene doesn’t detract from the overall experience.

For added fun, find someone who’s afraid of heights. Make them watch… chain them down in front of it if you have to. Lloyd does enough death defying stunts that he nearly gave me a heart attack and I’ve been skydiving.

As for the plot, it’s dirt simple and heartwarming. You can’t help but root for the underdog as he makes increasingly bad decisions every step of the way. It’s funny as all get out and not just because you wonder if he’s going to get shit on by a pigeon while six stories up. (That part will have everyone sitting on the edge of the seat.)

For example, one funny scene is when the poor bastard is basically mauled by women at the store where he works.

Tell me this doesn’t look like Walmart on black Friday. You thought consumers acting like animals was new?

Happy Thanksgiving. Also, don’t overthink the turkey. Thanksgiving ‘aint about turkeys; it’s not even about food. If a vegan bitches about the food, serve them vodka on an empty stomach and see what happens. If your crazy uncle Phil is a drunk…. stuff him full of cranberries and make him suffer sobriety. If the kids are home from college and have gone full Marxist (in lockstep with all the other students… as a way to explore their individuality) make them do the dishes so they can identify with the proletariat. If anyone’s a hassle, hit ’em with a brick; while smiling politely. Then chill with the people you love and maybe have a laugh as dudes from 90 years ago do tricks like Bugs Bunny.

Good Luck.

A.C.

There are a zillion devices to heat tents, ice shacks, and cold balls with propane but I stick exclusively to the Mr. Heater branded Buddy series products. (I’m talking about portable solutions here. If your RV has an externally vented and properly installed permanent furnace then why the hell are you dinking around with portable solutions?)

Mr. Heater products have three huge advantages that over most portable camping heaters:

1. They have a stupid name. I like saying “Mr. Heater Buddy”. Enjoy the small things.
2. They’re dirt simple and pretty reliable. It’s hard to be too dumb to figure one out, you can operate them with clumsy gloves, and unless you beat the shit out of it, the heater will last years.
3. They’ve got sensors that reduce the chance it’ll kill you.

Did you read #3? Go back and read it again: reduces the chance it’ll kill you. The web site says “Auto shut-off if tipped over, if pilot light goes out, or if detects low oxygen levels.” I’m here to tell you that’s a golden sentence. Also, it fucking works!

I’m not a safety Nazi and I’m only trying to provide information. You can do whatever the hell you want. If you want to cram a nuclear reactor in your jock strap to stay warm I won’t stop you. If you want to stick your head in a glad bag with a lit candle… go ahead breathe as deeply as you want. But as for me… I like that backup safety feature.

A portable heater is one of the most dangerous damn things you’ll ever use. You can walk across a frozen lake with a .308 in one hand and a heater in the other and it’s the heater that is most likely to off you in your sleep. Especially in an enclosed space… which is precisely where you’ll be huddling. If it’s cold enough to need a heater you’re going to seek shelter from the wind… because duh!

In some of my favorite haunts, a handful of ice fishermen bite it every year. A few fall through the ice and freeze but most deaths are asphyxiation. It’s just the risks of life; and it’s not like they were dumbasses and you’re super experienced and will never do the same dumb thing. The first thing oxygen deprivation takes is the brain power to realize you’re under oxygen deprivation. Catch 22 baby!

So that’s a big selling point for the Mr. Heater Buddy series. The twenty bucks you’ll save with a different brand or design just isn’t worth leaving hunting camp horizontally.

I’ve also tested the Buddy heaters in real world conditions. I’ve used them for many years. (I have worn one out.) I’ve seen they start getting cranky if you enclose them too much. I’ve had them lit in canvas topped 4×4 cabs (yes, that’s dumb and I know it). It allowed me to observe Mr. Heater devices as they react to thinner atmosphere in different altitudes. They do indeed pick up on the difference. (At 10,000′ or so they don’t like to stay lit at all… which makes sense. I’ve smoked a cigar or two at around 10K and it hits you like a ton of bricks.

I’ve also used them in more normal conditions. They’re not unbreakable but they’re pretty tough. If you break one you were doing something stupid. I’ve also dropped ’em and seen the pilot light go out. Or if you tip one over the thing will go out. I’ve seen the heater get blown out in a gale and noticed the gas flow is shut off rather than just spewing flammable vapors. All in all, they do what they’re supposed to do.

Nothing is foolproof (and I’m the fool to prove it) but I am a big fan of Mr. Heater brand. I exclusively use the “Buddy” line. They come in two sizes.

The first is the larger version. The “Big Buddy” is what I have and use:

The second one is the smaller version. The Mr. Heater “Buddy” is a good heater on it’s own merits. It’s similar but smaller to the “Big Buddy”. I had a Buddy and used the hell out of it for about a decade before it finally broke. I replaced it with the larger Big Buddy. There are pros and cons to that solution. Don’t let the scale of the photos fool you, the Buddy really is smaller.

In my next post I’ll do a side by size comparison of the two models. You’ll be happy to know that either one rocks. Unlike politics where there’s no good answer, here there’s no bad answer. Your choice is awesome or awesomer and either one will keep you thawed. The details are just picking the best device for your planned activities.

Enough typing, didn’t I say I was hunting… back at it! There may be a bit of a delay before part 4.

Propane (for our purposes) comes in two sizes. The smallest, and most applicable for hunting and whatnot, are 1 pound tanks. Even though I’m linking to them, don’t buy online unless you’re in dire straits. Shipping propane will probably eat you alive. You should be able to get them for $4 a pop at virtually any hardware store. (I’ll discuss details about one pound tanks in a future post… stay tuned.)

More about these later.

The bigger and more cost effective tank is a plain old BBQ tank. These hold 20 pounds of propane and are available anywhere. (Here’s a link to a fancy one with a cool “fuel gauge”.) It’s cheaper to get your own one filled at a place that does that. Or for convenience you can swap an empty for a full and wind up with a crappy old refurbished one which will work just as well. Also, just buying a full refurbished one at most box hardware stores and even some grocery stores is a cheap way to go.

I suppose I have to say this (though it ought to be obvious) but lugging a 20 pound tank around by hand is stupid. This is for when you’re stationary… like at an elk hunting base camp. You’ll need an adapter hose if you choose the big twenty pounder over the small one pounder.

You have to be aware of propane’s drawbacks. First of all, propane tanks (even the little one pounders) are too heavy for backpacking. You don’t need me to tell you that. You’d figure it out on your first five mile hike. That said, if you’re carrying weight only a few miles or in a truck/ATV it’s the “no brainer” choice. It’s much simpler than other fuels.

Second, propane has a lot of water in it. If you’re using it inside, or in an RV, or whatever… it’ll get condensation all over everything if you don’t take proper precautions and vent the hell out of if. (Not to mention the fumes from any combustion in an enclosed space can kill you… but more on that in a bit.)

Also, if you’re really pushing it into the wilderness, propane is a bit twitchy with cold temperatures. If you life is on the line and it’s very cold… especially if you’re a zillion miles from any other option… be aware that propane can freeze up. That said, damn near nobody will be in such conditions and the hearty souls that do… they already know this. Also, as with anything, one can take appropriate precautions to make the technology work. All technologies have caveats and this is an article about heat, not magic.

We break here before I go on a rant about all the heaters that I’ve tried that sucked and how I finally found the one true path to happiness. Stay tuned for part 3.

[Did the title get your attention? It should. It’s cold out. Also, this post is dedicated to Hank Hill.]

I’ve been hunting. This year’s weather has been sub-optimal. By sub-optimal I mean ball freezingly cold. Also, hunting is a special case. I have limited options to warm up. If I go thrashing through the forest gathering firewood I’ll never fill the freezer. That motivated me to talk about portable heaters. Portable heaters have been saving my ass!

So let’s start; you can sort portable heaters, lamps, and camp-stoves by fuel. Wait! Time for a diversion…

I mentioned lamps but that’s old-school thinking. Electric has taken over the camping lantern market and there’s no point in fighting it. Here’s a picture of technology that’s (for many uses) obsolete:

Fondly remembered but old and busted.

I have a beloved liquid fueled Coleman lantern. It’s something like this but mine pre-dates the technology of dual-fuel (and the internet for that matter). It’s old and loved (like me) but useless (I’ll leave that comparison to me unsaid). That’s it for my “white fuel” lantern? Yes! Goodbye old friend, we had some good times together but LEDs have just gotten too good. Here’s a picture of the new hotness that broke up what I expected to be a lifelong commitment to white gas lamps:

New gadget that looks like cheap Chinese crap but just plain works. (At about 1/3 the cost, 1/5 the weight, and 1/100 the hassles.)

I now carry a Nebo 6587 Z-Bug lantern that’s waaaay better than it ought to be. It looks like a cheap plastic gadget but it’s the real deal. I love mine. It’s dirt cheap, does about the same function as a gas lantern (though a little less powerful), and has an integrated bug zapper. (I gave mine a real world test in July. I can’t believe the bug zapper works but it did.)]

Where was I? Oh yes, fuel for mobile heat. There are many options for a portable heater but I’ve been using propane. When you want is to crank BTUs and not deal with bullshit, propane is the best game in town. It’s cheap and dirt simple.

I can see this is going to go long so I’m going to break here. Stay tuned for part 2.

As usual, Victor Davis Hanson is spot on:

A “coup” is no longer proof of right-wing paranoia, but increasingly a part of the general progressive discourse of resistance to Trump.

In these upside-down times, patriotism is being redefined as removing a president before a constitutionally mandated election.

The Babylon Bee picks up the torch of satire; the torch virtually everyone else dropped before the altar of PC… and they’re running with it. Here’s a snippet from Impeachment Inquiry Canceled After 5 Episodes Due To Low Ratings:

“The showrunners promised all these big bombshells, shocking twists, and startling revelations, but they weren’t able to deliver,” said one reviewer writing in Hollywood Reporter. “When there are so many better options out there—rewatching The Office, checking out The Good Place, staring at paint as it slowly dries—why would people tune into this tepid, uninspired mess?”

I have to admit, it’s getting to me this week. It’s a downer. One of my predictions was 100% wrong. I was certain Hillary voters would calm down after a few months. With time they’d realize Trump, as imperfect as he is, was two things:

• Not the end of the world.
• Part of the give and take of democratic elections.

I didn’t think folks could stay nuts for years and years. They had to go to work and change diapers and feed the cat. Reality would intrude on their inner narrative of doom. I was wrong.

It’s been three long stupid years and apparently it’s possible for large groups to stay nuts indefinitely. Evidence from reality has literally no effect. Their dire predictions just didn’t happen: The economy hasn’t tanked, the streets aren’t running with blood, the IRS hasn’t seized their Prius, polar ice caps are still ice covered, nobody’s starving, red states haven’t sacked and pillaged blue states, China hasn’t “trade warred” us into the dirt, abortion is roughly as legal as it was before the election, Kavinaugh isn’t having orgies in the Oval Office, and most importantly… jackbooted thugs never materialized to round up liberals and incarcerate them in work camps.

I tried an experiment yesterday. I walked the streets in a small town. I looked for visual differences between 2019 and 2007. Not much I could see. The only difference I noted are a lot of “help wanted” signs, the absence of newspaper vending machines, and someone drove by in a spiffy new Jeep Gladiator. (In both 2007 and 2019 cars look like EPA mandated shitbubbles but at least the Gladiator appears to have balls.) Jobs, newspapers, and one new vehicle… that’s it.

This week’s circus event has the feel of desperation. One doesn’t try this hard to impeach a man that’s eleven months from losing an election. If you can beat a team in the arena you don’t try to kneecap their QB in the parking lot before the game.

I get the feeling that December might include a big desperate Hail Mary pass. The holiday season has always been earmarked for Congresscritters doing things that they’d best like forgotten. The 2009 Christmas Eve passage of Obamacare, taught me there are things that can only be done when everyone is fretting over eggnog and the populace as a whole just isn’t in the lynching mood the D’s need to operate in the open. (Note: The last two times time the Senate held a roll call on Christmas Eve are 1895 and 2009. The former was to allow post civil war Confederacy soldiers into government jobs and the latter was so I would save $2,500 a year on health insurance).*

If Trump is still standing in mid-January, opposition candidates will have to defeat him the old fashioned way; by either being dirtier or better… neither of which is likely to unseat the Orange one. Time will tell if my minuscule PreditIt bets play out but the pre-game warm up looks to be the real game.

Also, it’s hardened my heart. I get that the guy I vote for doesn’t always win. That’s how voting works. Sometimes your guy wins, sometimes their guy wins. I was always pretty cool about that. But now, because of the ugly, messy, grasping, clutching, needy approach to what should be a vote count, I’m colder.

The argument seems to be “I will burn this car to the ground if you don’t give me the keys and let me drive!” The desperation, the longing for power, the feeling that anyone but one side at the wheel is not just undesirable but an affront to the universe… is concerning. I’m coming to feel safer with the inept, clueless, idiots of the party of R in power simply because the party of D wants it so badly. When a group is willing to unleash a scorched earth campaign against all who oppose them, it makes me less inclined to give them a taste of control. I can almost hear them say “make me the president because it’s my birthday and I want it”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1bBpi7ifMo

Luckily it’s the weekend and then Thanksgiving. The burner goes to simmer and the ensuing week is too short do anything too stupid. One would hope.

That’s my take on it. To reiterate: The impeachment vote (if it happens) will go down exactly as it would have on November 9, 2016. It will be based on the same logic (“give me the ring!”) as it would have in 2016. Then there’s a good shot at a black swan event between now and mid-January. I can’t guess the form of the destroyer but I doubt it’ll work out as hoped.

I have to hand it to Trump, he’s done a good job of being politically unkillable in a toxic environment. I wish him continued success in that endeavor. Less for his accomplishments as to keep Smeagol away from the ring. (Honestly, Orange Man being not-Hillary Clinton is all I really wanted and one term would have formerly seemed fine to me. As the “loyal opposition” went full “coup and resistance” I’ve dug in my heels. I suspect I’m not alone in that reaction.)

As always YMMV.

A.C.

*For those interested in the Orwellian concept of a memory hole. Here’s a quote from a presidential speech on June 23, 2007: “I will sign a universal health-care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.” I was there to hear it but I like to recheck verbiage for accuracy. The speech was called “The Politics Of Conscience” and it was wildly popular at the time. However, the link at barakobama.com is gone. It’s scrubbed from the usual places and I couldn’t easily find a transcript. I figured all presidential speeches are archived somewhere? I was surprised. Virtually every post I’ve ever written on my blog is still live right now. I’m not the sort to think about deleting my past mistakes. That’s why I’m not a politician.

Economics interests me. Recently I found a surprisingly wise discussion. Y’all might be interested.

Lets start with my favorite part; they call bullshit on what is clearly bullshit. I don’t see that very often and salute the article just on that alone.

For example, I incessantly bitch about Paul Krugman’s economic ineptitude*. It’s not that I personally hate the man. I just hate when something is clearly false. He’s a popular bird in a lockstep flock of wrong. Society, for no logical reason, continues to roll with it. Why? There’s evidence that his ideas are smoke and mirrors; so why isn’t he pushing a broom in Poughkeepsie instead of oozing through the news cycles? Krugman is just so extremely wrong that it bothers me. I grok the wrongness and it is all encompassing.

How can such extreme levels of incorrect continue walking the same earth as mine? In my world the sun rises in the east and gravity follows Newton’s laws. His world has the sun rising in “stimulus” and gravity following “racism”. Yet he seems to pull paid gigs and gravitas from the environment by osmosis. How? He’s the human equivalent of the AMC Gremlin; so very incorrect. We should be able to glance at his statements and quickly dismiss them. Like this:

Kool aid drinker: “Noble Prizewinner Paul Krugman said X.”

Human Being Of At Least Average Intelligence: “Nobel or not, he’s never right. Short sell X!”

It seems there’s no penalty for just being plain wrong. He’s a popular man saying popular things and the press steps over his limitless failed predictions to embrace his newest idea that’ll eventually be wrong too. The faithful lap it up; almost religiously devout in their supplication to his mastery. This confuses me. Perhaps I’m not alone. This quote seemed to explain it:

“Mainstream economists nowadays might not be particularly good at predicting financial crashes, facilitating general prosperity, or coming up with models for preventing climate change, but when it comes to establishing themselves in positions of intellectual authority, unaffected by such failings, their success is unparalleled.”

Note: the article where I found this goes into the weeds. There’s a lot of good stuff but a bit of space cadet level abstraction too. Some of it grates my “down to earth” sensibilities. Bring a compass if you take the trip. Here are a couple snippets to let you know what you’re in for: “this comes down to a choice between what are called exogenous and endogenous theories of money” and “[t]he patterns had, as philosophers of science would put it, ’emergent properties’.”

Uh huh… I get where they’re going and it has merit. Then again I built a boat and it floats. What have they done? That said, they begin with the very true recognition that at some level “economists” are to “the economy” as “witch doctors” are to “malaria”. For that I thank them.

If you’re the sort that likes such ruminations, by all means check out the link.

Or you could build a boat.

A.C.

* “If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never.” (Paul Krugman, reflecting on the effects of electing the Orange Menace.) Fun facts: The DOW Jones index bottomed on 11/4/16 just before Trump’s forever disputed election victory. It was 17,833. It opened yesterday at 27,811. So far, Trumps death march of misery has us sitting at 156% of Krugman’s lost paradise of Obama’s reign.

Monday I posted an Interesting Speech. It quoted extensively from Attorney General Barr’s speech at the 19th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society’s 2019 National Lawyers Convention. Read that last sentence again… is there anything that sounds less interesting than “the 19th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society’s 2019 National Lawyers Convention”? Nobody trying to “win hits” on the internet would ever comment on anything that dull.

Lucky for me, I don’t roll that way. My blog reflects its author (hopefully in whimsy as well as eclecticism). I don’t bother with the usual things. I don’t post topless women (not that I don’t appreciate the blogs that do… keep it up folks!). I don’t bother with podcasts. I don’t do my own video. I don’t try to cajole SJWs into liking me and I don’t (usually) throw raw meat to the Rush Limbaugh set. I try (with varying degrees of success) to avoid short term politics in a world that otherwise mainlines it. I don’t discuss sports. I ignore most popular culture. I don’t know what a Kardassian is and I’ve never pondered who should be voted off that infernal island. I read Game of Thrones, on paper, with words and shit. I didn’t comment about the TV event… which I didn’t see.

I do talk to trees, write about nefarious anthropomorphic squirrels (God willing I’ll get back to that someday), and emote about firewood. I also go off line fairly regularly. (Commenters who’ve waited a week to see their stuff pass moderation have noticed this.)

My priorities will never land me a gig on CNN. I’m aware of that.

We live in a world where TL:DR is a thing. My posts (averaging 1,400+/-words) are as long as the internet tolerates. Some might induce a coma. But I’ve no regrets.

So back a few days ago when parts of a speech at some boring lawyers convention found it’s way to my keyboard, I figured I was pissing into the wind. It was electronic dead air; for a small audience at most. I even tried to avoid parts of the speech that referred to the kerfluffle du jour.  (Team A is incensed by it and Team B is pinning their hopes on it but “Impeachment Mark II; the Auxiliary Backup Lawfare Attack” is a movie I don’t feel like watching.)

I figured I’d be the only one. An unread boring nerd in cyberspace.

Wrong!

Two other such posts popped up on my radar.

• Had Enough Therapy posted a day before me with “William Barr for the Administration“.
• Cold Fury beat us both with “Hope Even Yet?“

No shit! And there are others.

It makes me happy to see it. Yes, it’s a bit of a partisan issue and surely many would disagree with every damn word Barr said. No worries about that. Tolerance of differing viewpoints is a real thing and I welcome well reasoned refutation to Barr’s ideas. (Note I’m using “tolerance” in it’s traditional sense and not in it’s newly twisted configuration as a bludgeon for one team to berate the other). More importantly the internet had a small bloom of cogent discussion and depth. It was more than the bumper sticker / Twitter slogan bullshit we’re usually fed. Nobody reads the speech and feels like Barr was choosing little words because he wanted to wow dipshits with a zinger. Not a thing he said will rock an MSNBC clip or fit on a t-shirt.

Heartening! There are more smart, reflective, people out there than you’d know. Whenever you’re feeling we’ve gone full Idiocracy, just keep keepin’ on. You’re not alone.

It was an early and unexpected Christmas present for the Curmudgeon. Huzzah!