#I can’t control the rate at which lobsters die

[the-raging-tempest]

Today I’m gesturing vaguely at this document I’m writing instead of the one I told myself I would write… lord help me

[cherry-blossomtea]

Mfw when I wake up to my betta on the floor of his tank instead of His Favorite Leaf and immediately test for nitrites and the bottle turns purple

Shit they never tell you when you start out as an aquarist: especially with smaller tanks, it doesn’t matter if you cycled it beforehand (which I did in this case for like three months), adding a new live fish to an aquarium can occasionally fuck up your parameters bc ur nitrifying colonies aren’t big enough to handle the load of a live fish so that first week you gotta watch that tank like a hawk to make sure the cycle doesn’t crash and intervene if it does. You can do everything right and still have to do triage. Doesn’t help that if your tank crashes people online will start throwing shade like sorry ma’am I’m doing my best here can’t control the rate at which lobsters die.

[serendipitous-magic]

For a while, Emmett tried to forget it. Really, he did. And he was doing pretty well for a while. Christmas came and went, and then New Years, and then they were back in school and he had new classes and new classrooms to figure out, a new schedule to memorize.

But lately it’s been worming its way back into his brain.

Which is really damn annoying. Because now he’s conflicted. Now he knows about the kiss. He knows that Will wants Mike in some way - and Emmett likes to think he knows Mike fairly well. He can say with some certainty that if Mike hadn’t wanted that kiss, it wouldn’t have happened. Mike is stubborn. He’s not afraid to make a scene. He would have pulled away.

But Mike did want the kiss. Emmett knows that. Something in him has suspected nearly since the start. He’s seen the way the two of them exist together. Two halves of a whole. And now that Will told him - damn it, why did Will have to tell him? - the pieces are falling together. The little touches and smiles. Mike’s mouth on the lip of Will’s thermos, Will’s flushed cheeks in the moment before Mike got off his hips.

How unlucky. How inconvenient that Will chose to tell him.

Ignorance is bliss. And now that Emmett knows, Will has robbed him of the privilege of inertia. He can’t just continue along the same track anymore, blithely forging ahead, eyes on the prize. Only a year and a few months left of high school. Just carve out a routine and let the current carry you there.

Only, not anymore. Because that kiss? It changes things.

-_-_-_-

... Yeah I’m really blazing through this. Not even gonna apologize lol. With my writing it’s either feast or famine, you get nothing for 6 months and then you get like 4 chapters in the space of two weeks. I do not control the rate at which lobsters die muse.

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

For the ask game, can you answer all of them lmao ?????

Wei Wuxian: Who is the person you’d die for?

My mom.

Yiling Patriarch: Can you handle spices?

Hell yes! Love me some Carolina Reaper Powder on my food, heartburn be damned!

Lan Wangji: Have you ever had an unrequited love? If so, did you confess?

No.

Hanguang-Jun: Did you ever have to break one of your own life principles? If yes, why? If no, which one would you dread breaking the most?

tbh I don’t think I have a life principle.

Lan Sizhui: What is your most favorite childhood memory?

I remember all the bad things from my childhood but no clear incident of something particularly good. Though I get impressions of times mom and I went to the mall on Saturdays and had a girl’s day out. Back when she could still walk.

Lan Jingyi: What is the wildest thing you have ever done?

I lied on official documentation about how you can’t bring things that you found in nature in the Bahamas, back into the US. I sneaked in seashells I found at the beach. You had to sign this paper they gave you before leaving the cruise ship, detailing what you bought and the price of each item. You couldn’t bring more than $5K worth of stuff back into the country.

Ouyang Zizhen: What is the most romantic thing for you?

Considering what I like over what society says I should like. 

As in: Valentine’s Day a few years back a friend took me out to eat. He wanted to take me to the poor man’s upscale restaurant(Red Lobster) and I argued that the nearby Asian Buffet was better because they had a hibachi and other shit we can’t get in other buffets in the area. He said Red Lobster was fancier and the kind of place people went on Valentine’s Day.

I said that Teppanyaki had a discount for VD and I could eat up to 10 plates(I actually ate 12) of food I can’t get on the regular, for like $10, versus waiting an hour for a small ass dish that costs $30 at RL.

Romancing someone should involve their likes, not society’s commercialized bullshit.

Lan Xichen: Have you ever matchmade anyone?

Nope.

Jiang Yanli: Are you a good cook? Rate your cooking skill with a gif.

Jiang Cheng: Are you a person that forgives easily? If yes, what has to happen that you don’t? If no, what are the things you struggle forgiving the most?

I am a bitter asshole and will hold a grudge until the ends of the Earth and beyond. Abuse is unacceptable. Especially abuse of children. Personal experience dictates such.

Wen Qing: What traits do you dislike about other people?

When I can see them and they are too close.

Meng Yao: How many siblings do you have? Are you guys close?

1. Eh.

Xiao Xingchen: Who is the person you trust the most?

My mom.

Xue Yang: On a scale of 1 - 10, how jealous are you?

Depends. I’m extremely jealous of those who are financially stable and never have to worry about skipping 2 meals a day so everyone in the house can have dinner each night. 1000/10.

A-Qing: Do you think you’d be a good spy?

Like... I don’t run. Or do tricks. I’m not the Bond kind of person. But I’m so boring and uninteresting that you could plant me somewhere and people seem to not realize I’m there and I hear shit.

Nie Mingjue: Do you lose your temper easily?

Depends.

Nie Huaisang: Do you find joy in learning?

No.

Well... not in a school. Teachers suck at their jobs and never manage to make it interesting.

And I get that the schools and state governments are very much to blame in this(standardized testing forcing them to stop scheduled lessons to randomly teach kids something they aren’t meant to learn yet just so they can take this pointless test that does them no favors and only gets them guilt-tripped by their teachers if they don’t do well on this randomly thrown in info they learned 2 weeks ago). I understand that. But most teachers I’ve come across should not be teachers since they sucked at engaging their students and sucked even more at keeping attention or getting a point across.

Mian Mian: Would you rather pursue your dream, or opt for a more stable life?

As someone who’s never had stability, I need it desperately.

Jin Zixuan: What so you value more: Freedom or safety?

Freedom is nice, but safety sounds better. To quote Into the Woods, “at home they don’t care, I’ll be better off there, where there’s nothing to choose so there’s nothing to lose”. 

Growing up in a cult(Baptists) that enforced the belief that only Pastor can make important life decisions for you, has effed me over so much. I hate having to make decisions for myself after years of flipping back and forth between controlling men who made all my decisions for me. I cannot function as an adult and it’s a problem. 

Freedom sounds like it would be unsafe especially for someone like me. I’m sick of being unsafe.

Fairy: Woof?

Jin Guangshan: Be honest: Is money important?

Yeah. It shouldn’t be, but it really is. And as a poor person, it sucks so much.

Wen Chao: What is your biggest fear?

Loneliness. And yet I don’t like having company. Go figure.

[reading-writing-revolution]

March 17, 2020 (Tuesday)

The big news, again today, is the spread of the novel coronavirus. There are all sorts of articles out there about how bad things are going to get and how long this will last. I’m not going to repeat the discussion because what’s the point? We know it’s bad. The only thing I can add—and it’s hardly original—is to take this very seriously indeed, and listen to actual epidemiologists and doctors and do what they say.

While I can’t talk about the epidemiological aspect of the pandemic, I can speak to the economic fallout, and politics in its wake.

The economy is contracting at a crippling rate as the country shuts down. Consumer spending drives about 70% of the American economy, and with consumers at home, spending is drying up. As industries slow down, and more and more of those consumers lose their jobs, it will slow the economy even further, in ways it’s hard even to imagine. Fewer cars on the road mean less toll money collected, for example, and less money for the local and state governments that depend on those collections. Here at home, the shutdown of restaurants and cruise lines has torn the bottom out of the market for lobsters; many of the lobstermen are pulling their gear. Economists warn that unemployment could go as high as 20% in this crisis.

These concerns have lit a fire under the Senate. Today we learned that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, formerly an investment banker, urged reluctant GOP senators to support the coronavirus relief bill passed by the House of Representatives. The situation is too urgent for them to dither, Mnuchin emphasized. After suggesting earlier that he was in no great rush, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) apparently got the message. When asked what he would do when he gets the House bill, McConnell told a CNN reporter: “Pass it.”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio noted that the pandemic might soon mean that Congress couldn’t keep reconvening week after week, and that members had better act while they could, in a big enough way that it would make a difference. “I think the assumption is going to be, we’re going to do something [and] it’s going to be big because we can’t assume we can keep coming back here.”

Senate Republicans and White House officials are also talking about another, larger stimulus package of more than $850 billion dollars of relief for airlines, hotels, casinos, and smaller businesses, as well as direct payments to individuals. Republicans want to make sure individuals get more money than the industries—especially the airlines—to undercut concerns that the relief is just a corporate giveaway. They are not holding discussions with Democrats, but are coming up with their own bill without Democratic input. Democrats are preparing their own, apparently smaller, package aimed at hospitals, unemployment insurance, small businesses, child care, and food assistance for seniors.

Altogether, these measures would add up to more than $1 trillion. The proposed package would be bigger than that passed in early 2009 under newly-elected President Barack Obama to address the crash of 2008. That one was slightly under $800 billion.

The other big story today is that Trump and the supporters who for weeks downplayed the seriousness of the novel coronavirus are trying to rewrite that history to say that they always knew it was bad. “I’ve always known this is a real—this is a pandemic,” Trump said today. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”

In fact, until the last week or so, Trump insisted that concerns about the coronavirus were overblown. As experts began warning about what was coming as early as January, he continued to insist “We have it very well under control.” He began to pay attention in late February, when the stock market began to slide, at which point he blamed CNN and MSNBC for “panicking markets.” In early March, he insisted that Covid-19 was milder than the flu. It was not until March 11 that he gave his Oval Office address, full of misstatements, that he conveyed to the public that the coronavirus was serious indeed.

Fox News Channel personalities echoed the president’s disinformation and urged their followers to dismiss experts’ frantic warnings. Now they have done a 180. The Washington Post put together a devastating video of the contrasting messages. Just last week, radio host Rush Limbaugh called the coronavirus a scam and told his audience: “We’re shutting down our country because of the cold virus, which is what coronaviruses are.”

The rewriting of history by Trump and his supporters to say the administration was always on top of the situation matters for two reasons. First of all, it overwrites the reality that the administration ignored reality in favor of their rosy hopes. People have died, and will die, because we did not—and are not—sufficiently testing for, and prepared for, the virus. We need to remember the reality of this so that we address such shortcomings and make sure they cannot happen again.

The rewriting of history also matters because reality matters in governance. Administrations based on ideology rather than reality cannot accurately address the country’s needs. The ideology of those now in control of the Republican Party is based on a distrust of any federal government at all, preferring to slash federal action and turn any required governance over to the states. These Republicans reject the idea that the federal government has any role to play in business regulation, social welfare policy, or infrastructure development. They insist they are protecting the individualism that makes America great.

It is revealing that, faced with this crisis, Republicans are advocating an even bigger stimulus package than Obama got. The reality is that we need government spending to lift us over economic crisis, and this situation is forcing Republicans who hate government in theory to say “Spend, and don’t worry about the money.”

It turns out we need a federal government after all, and Americans today are seeing that reality play out powerfully.

In the primary voting for the Democratic presidential nomination today in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois, former Vice President Joe Biden, who was part of the Obama team that pulled America out of the 2008 crisis, won handily over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

[randomnoteforfuturereference]

It’s the Little Things: III

ForFutureReference

Words: 1525

Summary:  It’s common knowledge that Dex has a multitude of skills tucked away. That doesn’t mean there aren’t times when he brings out a skill that catches Nursey off-guard. Especially when Dex helps Nursey with said skill.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | …

Author’s Note: Now on AO3 you prefer. Another round of thanks for my beta @kleeklutch!

“DON’T COME IN!”

When someone screams that statement upon your entry into a room, and that scream is coupled with a view of their hunched back turned to you, initial instincts tend to kick into full gear with an appropriate immediate response.

Well with Dex being that someone, my Pavlovian response manifests in a… strong shout as I clap my hand over my eyes, reverse course back up the stairs, and punctuate my retreat with the slamming of the door.

As I lean against the opposite wall and take a breather, my heart rate slows and vision clears enough to open my thoughts for contemplation. By contemplation, I mean a reevaluation of Dex’s… habits. In all honesty, I’m not sure which  is more surprising: that it took this long for me to come across him polishing his lobster, that he’s actually doing it in the first place… or that he was outside his bungalow to do it. I mean, it’s not my place to assume… but one can’t help but wonder.

“Nurse?” comes out a sheepish call. A moment later, the door opens a smidge, and a red-faced Dex pokes his head out. “You there?”

Despite him looking right at me, I answer, “Nope?”

He doesn’t call me out on my sarcasm, but simply opens the door in full to state, “You can come in now.”

Despite all rationality screaming at me to forget laundry, go back to my room, and allow the awkward to diffuse to an appropriate level, I take a couple steadying breaths and follow Dex into the depths.

“Yo, Poindexter, we have socks for a reason,” I lecture upon reaching the bottom of the stairs. “Next time you want some alone time, please—“

Words die on my tongue and my steps falter as my eyes fall on where Dex had been.

Sitting there is small wooden bookcase.

When I look back at him, he just glances off to the side and mutters, “You have too many damn books for the provided shelf. Thought something should be done before there’s another accident or some shit.” Despite his words, he fails to incorporate the usual edge to them.

As I approach the bookcase, and despite knowing what the answer will be, I ask, “Where’d you buy it?”

Dex’s response doesn’t disappoint: “I didn’t.”

Just to be sure… “Where’d you borrow it?”

He shuffles on the spot and fiddles with with his pockets. “I didn’t.”

Damn…

It’s common knowledge in the Haus that Dex can work with wood, and not in a euphemistic sort of way. The little sanctuaries that he made is testament to that. Not to mention the seamless installing of a replacement banister segment within a week of the… incident. On that note, Chowder’s damage control — involving a lot of puppy eyes at Bitty coupled with some pointing at my injured arm — ensured that the fixing costs were covered and the incident wasn’t immortalized as a tweet.

Still, I thought that skillset was just relegated to keeping the Haus functional. Like when he also fixed the frame to Chowder’s window.

The sight before me is a testament to a couple facts. And not just that the wood he was handling minutes prior is still not a euphemism.

“So where did you do this?” I ask. I’m not sure how long it takes to make furniture, but there’s no way he could have done this within the hour I was gone, and there’s no way he could have everything here without alerting someone.  

“Samwell’s shop class,” Dex states with a shrug. “It’s free for students to use, so it’s a waste not to take advantage of it. Once I got the sections done, I brought them here to assemble.”

Okay, so the putting-together part was done here, which I am pretty impressed about… and is not a reflection of past experiences with IKEA. But I digress.

In any case, Dex’s comment that the pieces were done in a shop class confirms to me that the thing doesn’t consist of a cheap prefabricated kit. Speaking of which…

“Where'd you get the wood?” I punctuate my question by rapping my knuckles on the mirrored finish. Yeah, there’s no way in hell this is plywood or any other cheap substitute — I may not be versed in the trades, but I also didn’t grow up surrounded by the finer things in life without picking up the ability to recognize quality when I see it — and I’m trying to wrap my mind around the idea of penny-pinching Poindexter splurging on what’s clearly high-end hardwood for a bookcase.

A bookcase that’s for me.

I’m saved from dwelling on any possible implications by Dex’s answer: “Uncle had to cut down an old maple. When he went down to New York couple weekends ago, made sense to ask if he had pieces to spare.” Another shrug as if requesting some material to make furniture for someone is no biggie. “So… what do you think?”

Upon closer inspection, the main thing that’s obvious is that there are no screws. Instead the whole thing is held together with trapezoidal joints like a three-dimensional jigsaw. All joints are so secure that they don’t budge at all when I rock the bookcase a bit. An exhale of clear relief from Dex hints that he expected my test, and it keeps me from feeling guilty for doing that in front of him.

As I run my fingers along the joints and wonder how Dex fit it all together so seamlessly, I come across the carvings.

They are easy to miss at first glance, and the bird’s eye patterning of the wood itself serves as an effective masking. At just the right angle though, the light makes the shallow designs pop out. All across the surface, lines crisscross and wind around to form elaborate imagery. Interwoven knots repeating on the front of the shelves and border. Angular mazes forming a perimeter for the side panels, with the middle of the panels occupied by divers stylized beasts.

Despite all these designs, one element sticks out over the rest:

Leaves.

Leaves drifting off a twisting tree to swirl in a clockwise spiral around a sun on the right side panel. Leaves drifting off a seaweed frond to swirl in a counterclockwise spiral around a moon on the left side panel. Leaves attached to the knotwork like the entire front has been overtaken by a vine. Leaves even carved into the back paneling despite the fact that they’ll be obscured by any books.

Despite the fact that Dex still views a lot of Samwell’s artists, sans Lardo, with hefty suspicion — okay, even I’ll admit that their stuff can get pretty fucking weird — this piece demonstrates that he’s capable of more than a little artistic creativity. That little tidbit is something I could mull over. However, I choose to mull over something else as I close my eyes and feel the texture of the delicate grooves:

He really did make this for me.

How long did he work on these alone? Part of me wonders if he actually finished the structural part a while ago and made the designs someplace else. I have a feeling his artistry isn’t something he likes showing off, and I don’t know what to make of the fact that it’s me whom he’s showing it to.

In the end, what do I think?

“I think it’s beautiful.”

Which is the truth. It’s also the simplest answer that allows me to bypass the ever-tangled bramble that constitutes the subject of William Poindexter.

I can barely hear Dex’s murmured response as I stand back up, but what I catch sounds like something along the lines of, “I’m glad you think so.”

“I also think that I’ve never been more glad to have my initial instincts proven wrong.”

For fuck’s sake, Nurse. I immediately regret what I say, my regret is codified as Dex’s expression goes from a scrunched-up confused scowl to eyes widening in realization, and I steel myself for the coming storm.

Instead of the expected angry tirade or demand that I depart back for the surface world, I get laughter.

As the laughs continue, my regret is replaced by mild irritation. “Chill, Poindexter.” Despite that irritation however, the corners of my mouth twitch. Dex has a nice laugh.

“I…” he wheezes while doubled over, “I can’t believe you thought I was fucking jacking it!”

“Yo, you weren’t standing where I was!” I bark while throwing up my hands. “Not my fault it looks like you have a literal furniture fetish.”

In the wake of my pronouncement, the laughter dies and silence is ready to blanket the room.

That is… if not for the fact that a voice, neither mine nor Dex’s, cuts in: “Uh…” Shit.

Both Dex and I whip our heads upwards to behold Chowder frozen at the top of the stairs. “I’m… just… gonna come back for my laundry… later,” he mutters before holding up a double thumbs-up, slowly backing out, pivoting on his heels, and hurrying away.

As we look back at each other, Dex finally finishes playing the role of a fish gasping for air and regains his voice in true Dex style: “What.”

Fortunately, I have an eloquent reply of my own:

“What?”

Continue onto Part IV

[keywestlou]

MORNING STEW #32

Lost several days last week because of platform problems. Thrilled to be back!

So many thoughts left unwritten. I have picked out those that still have interest and share them with you today in a Morning Stew presentation.

Per the usual, there is no order in which they appear. I write as the topics appear in my notes.

Syracuse/Duke last night. Syracuse lost 97-88. A good first half. Syracuse began sliding in the second half.

Syracuse played well in January. Won 6, lost 1.

Syracuse lost last night for 2 reasons. They were unable to control their offensive backboards. Also, Duke’s in your face defense prevented Syracuse’s 3 point game.

Occasionally, I have written re myths surrounding George Washington. Like…..He did not chop down the cherry tree, he did not meet with Betsy Ross in 1776 re creating an American flag.

Another myth involves Washington’s teeth. Poor. Down to nothing at some point in his life.

Story has it Washington’s teeth were made of wood. False! His false teeth consisted of 3 sources: The teeth of slaves, filed down teeth from animals, and those fashioned from ivory.

Mark Twain was not always an author. The Civil War got him into writing.

Mark Twain his writing name. His real name Samuel Longhorne Clemens. In the years immediately prior to the Civil War, Clements was a qualified pilot on the Mississippi River.

Commercial traffic on the Mississippi ceased when the Civil War began in 1861. Clements went to Nevada and California hoping to strike gold and silver. No luck.

He turned to writing. Took the professional name Mark Twain. Wrote much about the Mississippi River. Became recognized as one of America’s greatest authors.

Tino as an extra. A homeless person. Tino says he is selected to play a homeless person often.

On this day in 1931, Pauline Hemingway was out fishing with husband Ernest. She caught a 7′ 1″ sailfish. The sailfish set a season record.

Bolton did not get to testify. Trump and the Republican Senators successfully barred the truth from the trial.

A trial is not a trial without witnesses and document exhibits. I know. I tried cases for 46 years.

A trial without witnesses and exhibits amounts to a cover-up and sham. Should not even be called a “trial.” In this instance, the Senate “trial” defrauded the American people.

The truth will out in due course. Before the November election. Hopefully it will affect the judgment of voters at that time.

Get rid of Trump!

Today a big one in American history. Groundhog Day!

The world’s most famous weather predictor.

The first groundhog event occurred on February 2, 1887. The groundhog’s name Punxsutawney Phil. Today’s groundhog still so named.

The crowds gathered this morning immense.

Punxsutawney Phil emerged at 7:28 am. A light snow falling. He did not see his shadow. Means an early spring.

Many things are broken in the U.S. The federal government one. Especially the Presidency and Republican Senate.

Another is the criminal justice system.

A 36 year old Pennsylvania woman with advanced cancer a perfect example.

The lady stole $109.63 in groceries from a supermarket. She wheeled the cart out without paying.

She was arrested. It came out prior to and during the proceedings that she had about 1 month to live. Advanced uterine cancer and cervical cancer. She required immediate surgery to remove her uterus and tissue around it. A last ditch effort. Her doctor told her, “If you don’t get this done, you will die. It is eating you up inside.”

She was sentenced Monday. That same day she had an appointment with her doctor to make final arrangements for the surgery.

The judge sentenced her to at least 10 months in jail.

The woman had a record of petty thievery and drug addiction.

Should not have been an issue under the circumstances.

The supermarket says it had nothing to do with it. The authorities are responsible. Pennsylvania’s Lt. Governor has gotten involved. Said he was going to the supermarket and pay the bill himself. The supermarket said again out of their hands.

The United States of America. Doesn’t sound like it. Or, maybe it does. We seem to be in a steady decline in all respects.

Appears Trump will be acquitted of Impeachment on Wednesday. So be it. I hope American voters will remember all the deviousness involved in the proceeding and vote Trump and whatever Republican Senators they can out of office in November. Throw out the Republican Congresspersons also.

We need a clean slate!

The Trump tragedy we are experiencing did not begin with Trump’s election. It goes back to 2010 when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. FEC Rulings. The decision determined a corporation was a “person” and could contribute funds in an election.

Major corporations are contributing mega-bucks.

Money can and does buy elections. It is happening. Trump a benefactor. The 100 plus federal judges McConnell has successfully appointed to the bench another example.

It is the money that controls. Not Trump or McConnell. They are merely the beneficiaries and tools of the rich.

Pete Buttigieg’s husband Chasten Buttigieg was in Key West Wednesday evening for a fundraiser.

Stock Island was once famous for its dog track. One was built in 1953. Took all of 6 weeks to build. Opened with a crowd of 4,000.

How times have changed. Can’t build anything of significance today in 6 weeks. The soon to start repair work to the Cow Key Bridge an example.

The Key West Citizen continues to publish May Johnson’s diary. From 1896.

May a 19 year old school teacher.

I mentioned last week my suspicion that May’s Mom did not like Miguel. Miguel appears to be May’s boy friend.

The newspaper’s Citizens’ Section printed a comment in yesterday’s paper: “Inquiring minds want to know when May and Miguel hook up. Can’t wait.”

China is the worst hit by the coronavirus epidemic. The Florida Keys are also affected. though not by the virus itself. Rather by the huge number of spiny lobster shipments Chinese brokers have cancelled.

China loves spiny lobsters from the Florida Keys. Import them big time.

The Chinese New Year celebration last week was cancelled. Crippled Keys’ sales.

Last year at this time, spiny lobsters were selling for $20 a pound. Three weeks ago, down to $10 a pound. Now, $6 a pound.

Primarily because of China cancelling orders.

You do not have to get the bug itself to suffer.

Today, Super Bowl. Tonight at 6:30. Most of America will be watching.

An exciting event!

There was a time I attended Super Bowl religiously. Eleven consecutive ones till I retired to Key West. Key West replaced the Super Bowl trips for me pleasure wise and fun wise..

The most memorable Super Bowl in history involved the New York Jets and Baltimore Colts. The AFL and NFL.

The AFL was relatively new. NFL teams were the powerhouse.

Super Bowl III was played January 12, 1969.

Joe Namath was quarterback for the New York Jets. Considered a loud mouth at the time. The AFL second rate.

The Colts were projected to win decisively. Namath did not agree. Three days before the game he said, “We’re gonna win the game. I guarantee it.”

The Jets won 16-7. Namath was correct. Eventually became respected as one of the great professional quarterbacks of all time.

Enjoy the Super Bowl!

Enjoy your Sunday!

  MORNING STEW #32 was originally published on Key West Lou

[jcllyhclly-blog]

The Utility of Rules and Hierarchy

The overzealous politically correct-speech crowd has triggered a backlash. One one that took exception is Jordan Peterson, a professor of psychology on the College of Toronto who rocketed into the highlight for his brave dissent towards compelled speech. I help that stance taken by Peterson. Peterson additionally has a youtube presence, and this yr his e-book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Disaster (Penguin Random Home UK) was revealed.

Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life accommodates lots of knowledge, but in addition lots of bias, typically ill-supported by information or cause. But an anarchist physics professor finds, “Peterson is having an impact because his important words are true and because oppressive false words have gone too far.” Peterson, says the anarchist, is “fighting for reason and objectivity and against ideological madness.”

Certainly, rational individuals will agree that discovering what greatest captures or approximates fact is essential, as is exposing false narratives. Who can’t assist however help “fighting for reason and objectivity and against ideological madness.” But Peterson can be accused of ideological bias. Since 12 Rules for Life is a greatest vendor and since Peterson’s views are garnering widespread consideration, Peterson’s viewpoints on fact, falsity, anti-communism, ideology, and so on, as expressed in his e-book, name for a important evaluation.

The Want for Rules

Peterson claims that “without rules we quickly become slaves to our passions—and there’s nothing freeing about that.” (location 50)

That is an assertion, and plainly Peterson is imprecise, or taking liberty, with language since what he calls slavery is extra appropriately termed habit. An habit often begins as a selection, a selection that seems to be dangerous because the addict has misplaced self-control.

There are a number of different factors when contemplating guidelines and whether or not to stick to them. First, it has been compellingly argued that guidelines result in a dreaded, bloated paperwork. Second, there are good guidelines, and there are dangerous guidelines. Third, who’s it that decides what the principles are or must be and which guidelines are good or dangerous? Does the widespread man determine or the unusual lady? Does the colonizer determine or the dispossessed Indigenous individual? Cree lawyer Sharon Venne made the authorized and ethical argument that “colonial laws are ‘rules and regulations,’ but not laws in the true sense of the word. Colonial laws are made to be broken.”

When guidelines are devised and imposed on the plenty with little or no enter from the plenty, and with out real acquiescence from the plenty what does this sign concerning the validity and legitimacy of stated guidelines?

Relating to guidelines, normally, I suggest: don’t grow to be a slavish follower to a nasty rule, as an alternative search its abolition. Likewise, in instances the place guidelines are a necessity and are legitimately enacted by ethical actors among the many plenty and having garnered the acceptance of the plenty (with out unduly impinging on the rights of a minority), then apply widespread sense: don’t be egocentric and break legal guidelines which might be scripted for the great of the broader society. Dangerous guidelines, nevertheless, can, and in all probability ought to, fire up a passionate resistance.

The different aspect of the argument is specificity. As an example, suppose a rule is legitimate. Is it common although? As an example, if an Israeli accepts a rule, would a Palestinian settle for the identical rule figuring out that his situation doesn’t permit him to be beneficiant in accepting such a rule? Within the Canadian context, ought to First Nations settle for that their tradition and legal guidelines are topic to and inferior to rule imposed by a colonial-settler construction?

Decency and social cohesion factors to the preeminent rule being some type of the Golden Rule: deal with others as you’d want to be handled.

Relating to Peterson’s 12 guidelines, they’re very affordable and one thing all individuals fascinated about their betterment ought to think about embracing. Importantly, they’re guidelines one ought to set for oneself and will not be meant to be imposed from outdoors; therefore particular person autonomy is sanctified. People are empowered and are challenged with duty for his or her actions. On this vein, the thinker Friedrich Nietzsche wrote,

The proud information of the extraordinary privilege of duty, the consciousness of this uncommon freedom, of this energy over himself and over destiny, has sunk proper right down to his innermost depths, and has turn out to be an intuition—what identify will we give to it, this dominating intuition, if he must have a phrase for it? However there isn’t any doubt about it—the sovereign man calls it conscience.

Dominance Hierarchies and Determinism

Petersen writes of the dominance hierarchy,

It’s everlasting. It’s actual. The dominance hierarchy just isn’t capitalism. It’s not communism, both, for that matter. It’s not the military-industrial complicated. It’s not the patriarchy—that disposable, malleable, arbitrary cultural artefact. It’s not even a human creation; not in probably the most profound sense. It’s as an alternative a near-eternal facet of the setting, and a lot of what’s blamed on these extra ephemeral manifestations is a consequence of its unchanging existence. (loc 688)

Peterson writes that the dominance hierarchy is historic, as is the half of mind that tracks place.

Nonetheless, many individuals take umbrage at the concept one might seemingly extrapolate from lobster conduct “up” to people and additionally that dominance hierarchies amongst people are fuelled predominantly by biochemistry. Such a view factors to organic determinism. It hearkens to sociobiological principle which, in a nutshell, is that people are genetically pushed to move their genes into future generations. The entomologist Edward O. Wilson, writer of Sociobiology, got here to this concept based mostly on observations of ant colony conduct which he in comparison with animal conduct alongside the branches of the evolutionary tree. But sociobiology has issues adequately explaining proof opposite to principle, for instance, couples who select to not have youngsters, homosexuality, or partaking in behaviors that may diminish possibilities at passing genes to the subsequent era — comparable to alcoholism.

Peterson’s view of an “unchanging existence” runs opposite to the a number of qualities/modifications that distance people from animals, for instance, the human conception of morality. The ethical precept popularized by Star Trek that the wants of the various outweigh the wants of the one would argue towards sociobiology, and additionally not directly towards a dominance hierarchy.

Peterson’s amoral view (he doesn’t state that dominance hierarchies are good or dangerous, simply that they’re), nevertheless, seems extra nuanced; he doesn’t seem to stick strictly to a deterministic consequence. Ideally based mostly on intrinsic human values, individuals should (or ought to) have by inalienable proper free selection. If this occurs, then medical psychologists may help distressed individuals via remedy to result in modifications of their life.

As for the animal kingdom, there are salient research that decision into query the pervasiveness of a dominance hierarchy. The nice apes referred to as bonobos are recognized for constructive emotional attributes, a scarcity of aggression, and a comparatively deemphasized hierarchy.

One other research suggests the significance of the surroundings, pointing to the shortage of a dominance hierarchy amongst chimpanzees in captivity.

In addition to, typically being an alpha just isn’t all it’s cracked as much as be, because the underlings will knock off their despised alphas. People, by and giant, additionally don’t recognize bullies (a kind of character who covets a top-dog place obtained by means of violence or menace of violence).

Fairly revelatory was a longitudinal research of a baboon troop by Robert Sapolsky and Lisa Share. They chanced upon a shocking outcome following the die-off of alpha males after consuming tuberculosis-tainted meals at a rubbish dump. Subsequently, the stress ranges of the remaining troop diminished, and the troop behaved rather more amicably towards each other.

The neuroscientist Sapolsky additionally seems in a documentary the place he speaks to the recultured baboon troop and what it implies for human society:

One other one of the issues that baboons train us is that if they’re able to, in a single era, rework what are alleged to be textbook social techniques, type of engraved in stone, we don’t have an excuse once we say there are specific inevitabilities about human social techniques.

In conclusion, the documentary’s narrator pointedly asks: “And so, the haunting question that endures from Robert [Sapolsky]’s life work: Are we brave enough to learn from a baboon?”

Lots of proof exists for the non-expression of a dominance hierarchy within the animal kingdom. This doesn’t, nevertheless, preclude the manifestation of dominance hierarchies amongst people. And, certainly, dominance hierarchies do exist in human societies. However are they wrought by evolution? Or are they formed by options of the setting? Or maybe a mixture? Are they pervasive throughout the spectrum of behaviors and networks? Are they an inevitability?

The chicken-and-egg conundrum speaks to determinism. Does physiology precede topping a hierarchy or does prime rating result in modifications in physiology? What about environmental elements? What about socioeconomic elements? Sapolsky writes, “When humans invented material inequality, they came up with a way of subjugating the low ranking like nothing ever before seen in the primate world.”

Sapolsky notes there are similarities in human and animal hierarchies, however people are “totally different.”

Dominance hierarchies do exist, and there are a number of hierarchical situations that people can participate/compete in. Subsequently, most individuals are more likely to rank larger and decrease throughout myriad fields of endeavor. Many people may also select their pond; being an enormous fish in a small pond or a bit fish in an enormous pond.

Furthermore, there are the drawbacks of clawing one’s method to an hierarchical apex. What’s the precise utility of hierarchical supremacy if reaching the top requires one to turn into a despised asshole? If one has to spend inordinate hours working (being a slave to at least one’s job or hooked on work?) as an alternative of spending leisure time with household and buddies? And what if one can’t decide whether or not those that encompass you’re sycophants or genuinely care about you as an individual?

Sapolosky wrote, with simply perceived sarcasm: “Hurrah for clawing your way to the top, for zero-sum, muscular capitalism.”

It appears eminently preferable to be an anarchist, work and play with others at one’s leisure, and chorus from undue concern about chasing rankings as a result of in your thoughts all are equally human beings.

Half 2 examines additional the character of hierarchies amongst people and whether or not competitors is preferable.

This text was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2019 at 9:54pm and is filed beneath Anarchism, Guide Assessment, Science/Know-how.

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