Our World

We are falling back into history, by which I don’t mean the history of the West or of any particular nation but the history of the political world and human settlements from time immemorial, that is, for as long as we have records, monuments, artifacts, cave art, primitive tools and other memorabilia. (I use the term “history” to incorporate what we call “prehistory,” which is pre-literary but discoverable.) Whether we consider Thomas Hobbes’ description of the state of nature as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” or the erection of a harshly authoritarian governing Leviathan to ensure self-preservation, the picture is one of endemic inequality, poverty, famine, perpetual conflict, and despotic control of a laboring and subject population. 

Meet the very clever people who think our world is a simulation

With the release of the fourth Matrix film this week, the idea behind the original movie is once again being talked about. The notion that the “real world” is a computer-generated simulation was considered pure science fiction when the original film was released in 1999, but philosophers have long argued that there are good arguments to suggest we could very well be.

In their interview with Elon Musk that debuted Tuesday evening, the Babylon Bee boys brought the funny, as expected. But what viewers might not anticipate is just how many compelling, thoughtful answers their questions managed to elicit from the billionaire.

Everywhere we turn these days we see evil in action. It was always thus, but in the current social, political, and medical environment it seems especially prominent. We observe a pandemic that has caused global and historically immense damage and devastation, a cataclysm of biblical proportions. We see governments, official agencies, and corporate consortiums that have fed the public with lies and misinformation as to the origins, causes, and cures of the plague…

The Lord of the Rings is more than nostalgic medievalism

It’s exactly 20 years since I stood in line to see a film I had dreamed about since I was a little boy. Ever since I had first turned the pages of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, I had wondered what it would be like to see it on the big screen: the hobbits, the battles, the sweeping landscapes, the blood and thunder. When I read that the director Peter Jackson was filming a trilogy of Tolkien’s masterpiece in New Zealand, I felt almost sick with anxiety. Would it be terrible? Would they sound like the All Blacks? What were they going to do about Tom Bombadil?

Full disclosure – huge fan.

We have abandoned the taboos that held us together

A century ago, as the Great War raged, Oswald Spengler wrote that “Western mankind, without exception, is under the influence of an immense optical illusion.” The Decline of the West, Spengler’s grand, ambitious, poetic theory of Western downfall — well underway, in his telling, by the time he began writing — has had its followers, detractors and imitators ever since. It has also, in recent years, had something of a renaissance.

Decline is in the air, mingling with the smoke of burning forests in Greece and the shocking footage coming out of Afghanistan. Much of what Spengler wrote about the West’s dissolution — which he predicted would make itself fully known in the 21st century — has proven prescient, and he hadn’t even heard of climate change or the Taliban. You would have to have a strong will — the kind which old Oswald admired — to deny, as nations angrily fragment, the gulf stream stutters, the supply chains choke up, that he might have been onto something.

It was a monitor issue!

I have a snazzy new BenQ 27″ that has what may be the best monitor stand I have ever had the pleasure of using. This was on sale for 249.00 bucks, 150 off they say. Nice picture.

Thank God it wasn’t the graphics card. The sales rep said they can’t get cards, or if they do it is one at a time and immediately sold.

If nothing else this has taught me to gear up with some back up equipment.

Thank you all for your help!

Our friend Neo from Halls of Macadamia had a close call.

He is doing OK after a stent implant to relieve a blockage and will be home soon.

Wish him well.

Black and white America alike suffer from the failure of functional older men to socialize younger men

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, my stepfather worked as an auto mechanic in Upstate New York, at a ‘youth camp’ nestled in a pine forest. The bucolic sobriquet was a euphemism; this ‘camp’ was a medium-security pre-prison of sorts for boys 14-17, mostly from New York City, sent up following precocious encounters with the law. These youthful offenders were not the worst of the worst. Boys implicated in rape, murder or similarly terrifying offenses were assigned elsewhere, to compounds with barbed wire and armed guards.

Note – This post is a sticky new posts will appear below.

Hello everyone.

Thank you all for sustaining me through this worst of years.

Your love of Kathy and Mom along with your kind words and prayers have had an immeasurably positive effect on my ability to cope.

Since lockdown restrictions have been eased to a reasonable degree I have been able to make funeral arrangements.

Kathy will be laid to rest in early September, I will announce the time and place as the day draws near for those wishing to attend. Mom will be laid to rest in August.

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Western civilization may not be perfect, we haven’t seen anything like it anywhere else in human history

‘Western civilization would be a good idea,’ joked Mahatma Gandhi, one of its most successful pupils. We are accustomed to hearing what is wrong with Western civilization: racism, sexism, colonialism and (gasp) capitalism. The world would be a kind of utopia, we are told, if only we could purge these sins from our societies. But if Western civilization is evil, what is the alternative? Four other -isms vie for our attention.

Nomadland took best picture but #Vanlife has been around for years, get past the opportunistic Instant Instagram Influencers and you can find the people who are serious about their choices.

This Toronto couple lives in one year round.

I have become very curious about Van Life, going so far as to read about building an off-grid electrical system capable of powering induction cooktops, a refrigerator and even a microwave if desired, and incidentals like your laptop, phone etc. Also been wondering about heating and busted water pipes in our winters because I would want a full on board shower set up with hot and cold running water. And there do seem to be solutions.

This guy “Humble Roads” does higher end conversions, you can see a good overview of one of his completed vans below, his channel is very good with excellent instructionals, the New Jersey Outdoor Adventures Channel has a ton of conversion walk through video tours from high end to low.

There is a ton of info on the web. From installation instructionals to vehicle selection. At the High End is the Mercedes Sprinter (pic below, older model), followed by the Ford Transit models and the Dodge Promaster and everyone else. The interiors can be impressive if you want to spend the money. I think weight, durability and performance would be my primary concerns.

It wasn’t long after he arrived in the irradiated landscape of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone that Bogdan realised his new job came with some unexpected companions. From his first days as a checkpoint guard in Chernobyl, he has shared the place with a pack of dogs.

Bogdan (not his real name) is now in his second year of working in the zone and has got to know the dogs well. Some have names, some don’t. Some stay nearby, others remain detached – they come and go as they please. Bogdan and the other guards feed them, offer them shelter, and occasionally give them medical care. They bury them when they die.