As advertised I am going to try and shake off the existential blues that seem to be the rule rather than the exception of late with some good news. Don’t be so surprised! I don’t spend all of my time being angry, disgusted and frustrated, just too much of it. But there are of course good things happening in the world and it is good exercise to find them, enjoy them, and share them. It ain’t exactly unicorns and rainbows, but hey. And ‘tis the season after all.
I swear way too much. I for the most part can control it when in polite company or professional settings, but when left to express myself I curse like a drunken sailor. I happen to find the idea that some words are randomly offensive while others are not very odd. Especially since it depends extensively on context, background, location etc. As George Carling pointed out: “You can’t fool me, shoot is shit with two Os.” I will never forget the reaction years ago of an Aussie co-worker to the term “fanny pack”. See, down under “fanny” refers to the female anatomy and while not as aggressive or offensive as our c**t, it would still not be used casually, especially to refer to a fashion accessory. He was aghast, so for the remainder of that summer job we all adopted “bum bug”. But speaking of the C-word, a good portion of Brit influenced societies use that as a kind of catch-all for a general jerk/asshole and it is not the intensely nasty slur that we make it. Background and context. Not for nothing, fuck is one of the most versatile – not to mention satisfying – words in English and I wish we would get over it being objectionable. Besides, I think fornicate sounds way dirtier, don’t you? Which brings at long last to the fun thing. Turns out cursing helps you when you need it most: “Swearing is literally a calorie-neutral, drug-free, low-cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance.” I knew it! So next time someone chastises you for bad language, tell them you need to boost your performance and go for it. Fuck, yeah!
I am a huge advocate for solar power, and you should be too. I got very deep into it while converting a cargo trailer into a mini-camper this past spring and was astonished to find out how far things have progressed in just the past several years. The cost of production has fallen so far it is almost criminal that we aren’t doing more of it. That and the fact that battery research and development finally broke free of the carbon lobby that had very effectively been stifling it means solar is rocking. (Not here, of course, that would make sense and thereby counter to our current approach.) I am not a zealot, because we do in fact still need carbon energy and will for quite a while, but we should be building and installing solar like our lives depend on it. Oh wait . . . One of my favorite latest solar innovations is these incredibly cool tiles from Jackery. Since one of the biggest, and most absurd, barriers to residential solar is its appearance – HOAs should be banned – this solution is literally quite elegant. By the way, my little camper is one hundred percent eclectic and with even like 50% sunlight I can go off-grid indefinitely. And before you ask, if the sun fails me I can back up the system from the vehicle with which I tow the trailer. It is so cool.
Staying with innovations, check this out. Steel is expensive to manufacture and really bad for the environment – around eight percent of greenhouse emissions come from it. But there is a justifiable concern that we can’t do without, and steel heavy industries are risk-averse to alternatives. Maybe some of these tidbits will getting us moving: it is twice as strong as steel and six times as light; its strength-to-weight ratio is ten times that of steel; you can use the 20% of forestry products not used or the 40% of sawmill wood that is currently either chipped or burnt; and half of current steel demand could be replaced with just 12.5 million tons of superwood, which sounds like a lot until you learn that that number matches the amount of waste wood sent to landfill each year. A better material that is cheaper to make and has less of an environmental impact? Please, sir, can I have some more?
From the “take that you mango Mussolini” file, a judge has ordered the National Guard troops out of Los Angeles. Considering that the legality and/or constitutionality of federalizing them to begin with was very much in question, this might also count as “what the fuck took so long?” but we have to take our victories where we can get them. A side note to this is that while I’m not sure if Governor Newsom’s recent trolling of Trumpster isn’t sinking to ConDon’s level, something to be avoided in my opinion, it at least has been quite entertaining. Just remember, Mr. Newsom, that when you argue with an idiot you always run the risk of having them drag you down to their level and then beating you with experience.
I become more of a curmudgeon every day, especially in relation to social media and incessant connectivity. It is hard not to fall down the “back in my day” hole, but once in a while you get vindicated for maintaining that things used to be better. The New York City School District recently instituted a “bell-to-bell” cell phone ban. The kids put their phones in a locked faraday pouch when they arrive and get it released at the end of the day. Interestingly enough, the bulk of the initial pushback to the idea came more from parents than kids. How dare you keep me from being able to reach my child whenever I like?! They’re in school, you dimwit. You know, like supposedly learning and stuff. It is to me a small indicator that we should probably trust our kids to know what is going on more than we do that they for the most part realized that it might not be terrible to just be in school without endless distraction. And, lo and behold. They’re talking to each other, playing games, listening to music – together! – and acting like good old-fashioned social creatures. At one of the high-academic high schools students complained that they couldn’t cram at the last minute before tests “then discovered that printing study guides on paper actually works better without notification interruptions”. And the story of one kid is just downright heartening:
“The most striking transformation belongs to a seventh-grader named Tokyo Levy. His mother, an art teacher, watched him go from a phone-clutching Minecraft devotee to a chess club member to a soccer league participant. His latest request to his parents isn’t for a new game or upgraded device. He wants a bicycle so he can hang out with the new friends he made at school.”
Friends and bikes and sports, oh my! The only part that kind of worries me is that we are somehow surprised that this was how it turned out. Did we think they were going to turn into analog zombies wandering the halls in blank despair searching in vain for the lifeblood of youtube? Again, it might be worth giving them a little more credit.
In closing I offer you wildlife fun. Not only are these photos fun and uplifting, but you can entertain yourself for hours writing captions. Gee, I actually feel better having worked this up. Huh. Now if I could just resist the temptation to go back to worrying and writing about – ah, like this. Thanks for reading.