Over the weekend my friend's kid and I shared a joke for the first time. Or as much as you can expect in a joke from a child that is 3.5 years old.
We often do a high five for hellos and successes and also snacks, because it's good and fun to high five with the youths. So when I tucked Jr. into her car seat over the weekend we did a high five to celebrate (as you do). After that she immediately smiled and stuck her foot out and said, "high foot?" I laughed a lot, and said yes, absolutely, and tapped her foot with my hand. She was well pleased with her witticism, and so too was I.
Maybe you kind of had to be there. But that's true for most things, isn't it?
See you out there.
30 April 2017
27 April 2017
'The Chronic' Doesn't Mean What It Used to Mean
The reason is that I have been having some problems with my back, and I am in a lot of pain, all the time. Chronic pain is a bummer. Like, a real bummer.
You learn a lot when you are in pain. For instance, I learned in one of my psychology books that humans can become desensitized to almost everything. The only exceptions are very loud noises and chronic pain. : / (This was in Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman).
More fun facts: did you know that one of the few things besides crushing poverty that will reliably make you unhappy is chronic pain? I didn't know either! (LOL actually I did because I've been living it, but it was fun to read in a book, in this instance it was Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.)
So things are not good. They might get better. They might not. Life is uncertain. If you want some excellent books to read I highly recommend both Thinking Fast and Slow and Sapiens. In between you should take a nap.
More later as I am able. Thanks for dropping by.
09 April 2017
08 April 2017
So I Guess We're at War Now?
LOL J/K - America is not at war. A small subset of the armed forces are at war; America is at the mall.
Turns out the President can unilaterally bomb a sovereign nation (and spend over $100 million) without checking with Congress first. Related: Donald Trump is a goddamn moron.
Over 400,000 people (so far - this number is sure to increase) have been killed in the Syrian civil war since it kicked off several years ago. They have been killed with 'conventional' weapons: guns, bombs, bricks, etc. The United States stood idly by, and with good reason. There is very little strategic advantage to getting involved in that mess besides to help Europe prevent more refugees from washing up on their (and our) shores.
A few days ago around 100 people were killed with 'chemical' weapons, and Trump opted to spend over $100 million by launching missiles at an airfield that was fixed in less than 8 hours. (A million dollars a person! Imagine how far that money would go if you spent it on, I dunno, the American taxpayer? You can buy a lot of books for $100 million, if you gave a damn about that sort of thing.) Strategically, this is a failure, even by the generous standards of low-exposure warfare. Publicly Trump has enjoyed the endorsement of a great many clowns and fuckwits possessed of a very limited understanding of armed conflict in general and the Syrian civil war in particular.
Trump has no plan. He has no strategy. He has no solution. All he has is the most powerful military in world history and a TV stuck on Fox news. The man is a gross incompetent, and he has surrounded himself with gross incompetents. Setting aside the home for misfit toys that his cabinet has become, consider this most recent effort in Syria. It is vintage Trump: expensive, ineffective, and grossly ill considered. It is a gesture every bit as empty as the man himself.
I spoke with a person that loathed Trump before this action. She recently watched a documentary on Syria, and she was very emotional about the fact that the United States needed to do 'something' to stop 'that man'. The documentary seems very compelling - the trailer alone tugs at the heartstrings, with swelling music and emotional appeals (notice the obligatory little girl at the end for peak empathy). None of this is news as such, because reports of brutality have been coming out of Syria since before the rebellion even started.
Here's the thing: My friend is an otherwise rational person, but she let her emotions get the best of her. It is very definitely not the United States' responsibility to do anything that is not materially in the best interest of the United States. Starting a war with no exit strategy and no clear path to victory is not in the best of the United States. The challenge is further complicated by the fact that religious factions are almost certainly going to fill the power vacuum left when Assad gets what he deserves. That prospect reminds me of something but I can't quite put my finger on it. Hmm.. maybe I'll think of it later.
Turns out the President can unilaterally bomb a sovereign nation (and spend over $100 million) without checking with Congress first. Related: Donald Trump is a goddamn moron.
Over 400,000 people (so far - this number is sure to increase) have been killed in the Syrian civil war since it kicked off several years ago. They have been killed with 'conventional' weapons: guns, bombs, bricks, etc. The United States stood idly by, and with good reason. There is very little strategic advantage to getting involved in that mess besides to help Europe prevent more refugees from washing up on their (and our) shores.
A few days ago around 100 people were killed with 'chemical' weapons, and Trump opted to spend over $100 million by launching missiles at an airfield that was fixed in less than 8 hours. (A million dollars a person! Imagine how far that money would go if you spent it on, I dunno, the American taxpayer? You can buy a lot of books for $100 million, if you gave a damn about that sort of thing.) Strategically, this is a failure, even by the generous standards of low-exposure warfare. Publicly Trump has enjoyed the endorsement of a great many clowns and fuckwits possessed of a very limited understanding of armed conflict in general and the Syrian civil war in particular.
Trump has no plan. He has no strategy. He has no solution. All he has is the most powerful military in world history and a TV stuck on Fox news. The man is a gross incompetent, and he has surrounded himself with gross incompetents. Setting aside the home for misfit toys that his cabinet has become, consider this most recent effort in Syria. It is vintage Trump: expensive, ineffective, and grossly ill considered. It is a gesture every bit as empty as the man himself.
I spoke with a person that loathed Trump before this action. She recently watched a documentary on Syria, and she was very emotional about the fact that the United States needed to do 'something' to stop 'that man'. The documentary seems very compelling - the trailer alone tugs at the heartstrings, with swelling music and emotional appeals (notice the obligatory little girl at the end for peak empathy). None of this is news as such, because reports of brutality have been coming out of Syria since before the rebellion even started.
Here's the thing: My friend is an otherwise rational person, but she let her emotions get the best of her. It is very definitely not the United States' responsibility to do anything that is not materially in the best interest of the United States. Starting a war with no exit strategy and no clear path to victory is not in the best of the United States. The challenge is further complicated by the fact that religious factions are almost certainly going to fill the power vacuum left when Assad gets what he deserves. That prospect reminds me of something but I can't quite put my finger on it. Hmm.. maybe I'll think of it later.
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