Jeremiah Donaldson's Blog: This and That, page 7
October 26, 2018
Things to Do
Some would call me pessimistic. They’re the people who see a bright shiny future, sparking with wealth they think human beings will amass in the years to come. Clean, safe, and unbridled from the limits that have brought all things before to the ground, they see the human race’s coming accomplishments as the upmost of achievements.
Some would call me optimistic. War or gradual breakdown of government are their most promising futures. They wait for something to happen, not understanding they're frogs in hot water that'll barely beat anyone else's survival rate as they find out people don't die like in movies and clean water isn't easy to find.
History says that both are wrong. Utopia has never existed. Who wouldn’t get bored in such a place anyway? But neither can chaos rule for very long, for knowledge needs stability to prosper. Finding order in disorder is something man has done throughout history, and they will continue to do as long as the ability to plan for the future is available. Human beings are clearly self-organizing creatures despite their neurotic tendencies that occasionally indicate otherwise.
Pessimistic.
Optimistic.
They’re states of mind resulting from how you perceive the crises that we are all rushing towards. The middle ground is looking at reality and nothing else in a cold, clinical way as the by product of a century of failed social and economic ideals. Socialism and the 'fight' against it alone has caused mass calamity during that time, setting the human race back decades worth of development by wasting finite resources.
People feel reassured when they are told that this or that calamity will occur so many years from now. But why? Global warming is a prime example. Many people are putting forth the effort to make a change in how they adversely affect the climate by using more efficient light bulbs and using less gas. Those who aren’t feel comforted when they’re told that any impact from global warming is decades in the future, and possibly as much as one hundred years in the future! I know I can rest easy now that I know the damage we’ve been doing to the planet won’t become apparent for another whole century. By that same logic, I can rest easy now that I know some sucker in the future will pay for our nearsightedness. I can rest easy now that I know someone else will have to worry about chaos caused by WW3. I can rest easy now that I know someone else will starve when everything is dead and poisoned. I can rest easy now that I know fiat money won't collapse until it's someone else holding the useless wad of paper currency. I can rest easy now that I know Medicare and Social Security won't implode until someone else is 90.
Or will I?
It’s easy for the human mind to think that one hundred years is a long time and be lured into complacency. After all, it's fair to guess no one reading this has reached the age of triple digits. But how many will see this who are over eighty? Seventy? Sixty? Fifty? Even if global warming has a milder effect than many believe most of us under fifty will live long enough to see some very interesting things indeed. We will see the collapse of one of the world's great economic systems. We will see a large scale war between first class belligerents. We will see the final collapse of nature and its replacement with the full scale intrusion of robotic systems. The exact specifics of what we'll see is uncertain, and will remain such until the events happen, but we’ll see memorable things.
And it won't be as long as we like to believe in relative terms. Sure, years are years, but they have a habit of compressing themselves when looked back on. How long ago did we worry about Y2K? Almost 20 years. How long ago was it in a relative sense? A few blinks of the eye.
My life will, with a little luck, carry me halfway through this century. My offspring will live longer, possibly close to the turn of the next century. A century may seem like a long time, but children born now may well see that day, and our grandchildren surely will. One hundred years is a long time when counted by the day, but short indeed when measured against the generations to come and what we have to do.
And the clock is ticking...
Some would call me optimistic. War or gradual breakdown of government are their most promising futures. They wait for something to happen, not understanding they're frogs in hot water that'll barely beat anyone else's survival rate as they find out people don't die like in movies and clean water isn't easy to find.
History says that both are wrong. Utopia has never existed. Who wouldn’t get bored in such a place anyway? But neither can chaos rule for very long, for knowledge needs stability to prosper. Finding order in disorder is something man has done throughout history, and they will continue to do as long as the ability to plan for the future is available. Human beings are clearly self-organizing creatures despite their neurotic tendencies that occasionally indicate otherwise.
Pessimistic.
Optimistic.
They’re states of mind resulting from how you perceive the crises that we are all rushing towards. The middle ground is looking at reality and nothing else in a cold, clinical way as the by product of a century of failed social and economic ideals. Socialism and the 'fight' against it alone has caused mass calamity during that time, setting the human race back decades worth of development by wasting finite resources.
People feel reassured when they are told that this or that calamity will occur so many years from now. But why? Global warming is a prime example. Many people are putting forth the effort to make a change in how they adversely affect the climate by using more efficient light bulbs and using less gas. Those who aren’t feel comforted when they’re told that any impact from global warming is decades in the future, and possibly as much as one hundred years in the future! I know I can rest easy now that I know the damage we’ve been doing to the planet won’t become apparent for another whole century. By that same logic, I can rest easy now that I know some sucker in the future will pay for our nearsightedness. I can rest easy now that I know someone else will have to worry about chaos caused by WW3. I can rest easy now that I know someone else will starve when everything is dead and poisoned. I can rest easy now that I know fiat money won't collapse until it's someone else holding the useless wad of paper currency. I can rest easy now that I know Medicare and Social Security won't implode until someone else is 90.
Or will I?
It’s easy for the human mind to think that one hundred years is a long time and be lured into complacency. After all, it's fair to guess no one reading this has reached the age of triple digits. But how many will see this who are over eighty? Seventy? Sixty? Fifty? Even if global warming has a milder effect than many believe most of us under fifty will live long enough to see some very interesting things indeed. We will see the collapse of one of the world's great economic systems. We will see a large scale war between first class belligerents. We will see the final collapse of nature and its replacement with the full scale intrusion of robotic systems. The exact specifics of what we'll see is uncertain, and will remain such until the events happen, but we’ll see memorable things.
And it won't be as long as we like to believe in relative terms. Sure, years are years, but they have a habit of compressing themselves when looked back on. How long ago did we worry about Y2K? Almost 20 years. How long ago was it in a relative sense? A few blinks of the eye.
My life will, with a little luck, carry me halfway through this century. My offspring will live longer, possibly close to the turn of the next century. A century may seem like a long time, but children born now may well see that day, and our grandchildren surely will. One hundred years is a long time when counted by the day, but short indeed when measured against the generations to come and what we have to do.
And the clock is ticking...
October 23, 2018
The Taming of the Pansy excerpt
The Taming of the Pansy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J21RPFN
...
“Do you do anything other than drink beer and play video games?” Jennifer paused. “Like work or anything at all worth a shit?”
“Well, no, the asshole doesn't let me in on the business like he does Tim.”
Jennifer grunted. “I've heard.”
“He tells me I have to make do with 40 percent of whatever Tim pulls in.” Wesley took another drink. “Which is fine with me.”
“Aren't you afraid he'll kick you out?”
“No, he feels too guilty about not knowing who my mom is.”
Jennifer mumbled under her breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Haven't you ever wanted to do something on your own?”
Wesley shrugged. “I have a free ride. Why mess that up with work?”
“Respect. Dignity. Pride.”
Wesley gave her a blank stare.
Jennifer shook her head. “Never mind.”
“Well, now, I've won money at drinking contests.”
“Two out of three isn't bad.”
“Which one are you leaving out?”
“Dignity.”
“I thought it'd be 'pride'.”
“I guess it depends on the circle.”
...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J21RPFN
...
“Do you do anything other than drink beer and play video games?” Jennifer paused. “Like work or anything at all worth a shit?”
“Well, no, the asshole doesn't let me in on the business like he does Tim.”
Jennifer grunted. “I've heard.”
“He tells me I have to make do with 40 percent of whatever Tim pulls in.” Wesley took another drink. “Which is fine with me.”
“Aren't you afraid he'll kick you out?”
“No, he feels too guilty about not knowing who my mom is.”
Jennifer mumbled under her breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Haven't you ever wanted to do something on your own?”
Wesley shrugged. “I have a free ride. Why mess that up with work?”
“Respect. Dignity. Pride.”
Wesley gave her a blank stare.
Jennifer shook her head. “Never mind.”
“Well, now, I've won money at drinking contests.”
“Two out of three isn't bad.”
“Which one are you leaving out?”
“Dignity.”
“I thought it'd be 'pride'.”
“I guess it depends on the circle.”
...
October 13, 2018
The Bane of Spring and Fall Called Daylight Saving Time
What does a workaholic hate? Probably, a lot of things, but inefficiency would be high on most of our lists. What screws us all up twice a year? Again, probably a lot of things for most people, but I mean a pre-planned one called 'daylight saving time'. One little hour that messes you up for up to a week to come. It also messes up many others...
Different studies attribute daylight saving time to different things such as increased car wrecks, heart attacks, and bad sleep(1). Most of these talk around the actual issue: daylight saving change messes up your circadian rhythm and causes sleep deprivation. It's like going to bed and waking up two months later as far as the position of the sun goes. Then you're tired and haggard for up to a week, or more depending on your work schedule, until your body readjusts. Tired people don't get as much done. Tired people cause accidents. Tired people are more prone to health risks(2). And about 1 in 3 Americans are already sleep deprived before the time change even happens(3).
This isn't anything new about this. Stories have been published online about this subject for as long as the internet has been around(4). It's just the exact details of what/how that are open for debate and there are few things that would fix the DST issue once the details are decided on. My favorite 'fix' includes throwing all clocks away(5) without regard for the fact that means throwing away nearly all trappings of modern life, including the internet and everything on it, but most people just want to dump DST(6).
Any attempts to fix the problem has to partially address the only use DST has, providing additional morning light for school children, and do away with the twice a year wrench that is thrown into peoples' schedules at the same time. Which is probably why the problem still exists. Or more specifically, I think it still exists because it seems people view it as an all in or all out thing. They're looking at an hour instead of something else...like 30 minutes. Splitting the difference to move the clock by half an hour and leaving it would be as close to the best of both worlds as possible while doing away with disruptions caused by two forced changes in circadian rhythm every year. I've been preaching this idea for a couple years to people and am starting to see it show up on the internet here and there as it dawns on others. But no matter what is done with DST, modern society has been burdened long enough with an archaic leftover of the past when there is nothing to support its existence(7).
1. Daylight saving time: Research on health, car accidents and energy usage: https://journalistsresource.org/studi...
2. 10 Things to Hate About Sleep Loss: https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders...
3. 1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/20...
4. Daylight saving time and motor vehicle crashes: the reduction in pedestrian and vehicle occupant fatalities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
5. Possible Solutions To Daylight Savings Time: https://medium.com/@WhiteFeather9/pos...
6. Can We Fix Daylight-Saving Time for Good?: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals...
7. The 5 Reasons To Keep Daylight Saving Time Have No Science To Back Them Up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswi...
Different studies attribute daylight saving time to different things such as increased car wrecks, heart attacks, and bad sleep(1). Most of these talk around the actual issue: daylight saving change messes up your circadian rhythm and causes sleep deprivation. It's like going to bed and waking up two months later as far as the position of the sun goes. Then you're tired and haggard for up to a week, or more depending on your work schedule, until your body readjusts. Tired people don't get as much done. Tired people cause accidents. Tired people are more prone to health risks(2). And about 1 in 3 Americans are already sleep deprived before the time change even happens(3).
This isn't anything new about this. Stories have been published online about this subject for as long as the internet has been around(4). It's just the exact details of what/how that are open for debate and there are few things that would fix the DST issue once the details are decided on. My favorite 'fix' includes throwing all clocks away(5) without regard for the fact that means throwing away nearly all trappings of modern life, including the internet and everything on it, but most people just want to dump DST(6).
Any attempts to fix the problem has to partially address the only use DST has, providing additional morning light for school children, and do away with the twice a year wrench that is thrown into peoples' schedules at the same time. Which is probably why the problem still exists. Or more specifically, I think it still exists because it seems people view it as an all in or all out thing. They're looking at an hour instead of something else...like 30 minutes. Splitting the difference to move the clock by half an hour and leaving it would be as close to the best of both worlds as possible while doing away with disruptions caused by two forced changes in circadian rhythm every year. I've been preaching this idea for a couple years to people and am starting to see it show up on the internet here and there as it dawns on others. But no matter what is done with DST, modern society has been burdened long enough with an archaic leftover of the past when there is nothing to support its existence(7).
1. Daylight saving time: Research on health, car accidents and energy usage: https://journalistsresource.org/studi...
2. 10 Things to Hate About Sleep Loss: https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders...
3. 1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/20...
4. Daylight saving time and motor vehicle crashes: the reduction in pedestrian and vehicle occupant fatalities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
5. Possible Solutions To Daylight Savings Time: https://medium.com/@WhiteFeather9/pos...
6. Can We Fix Daylight-Saving Time for Good?: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals...
7. The 5 Reasons To Keep Daylight Saving Time Have No Science To Back Them Up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswi...
October 5, 2018
The Taming of the Pansy on pre-order
Coming Dec 15th. Kindle pre-orders are 25% off regular price.
Ava has found a charming, smart, and, one day, rich man she wants that has a big problem: his useless brother Wesley that his father wants rid of. But before anyone would take him, he has to be whipped into shape, and Ava knows just the woman for the job in this farce that would make Shakespeare laugh in his grave.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J21RPFN
Ava has found a charming, smart, and, one day, rich man she wants that has a big problem: his useless brother Wesley that his father wants rid of. But before anyone would take him, he has to be whipped into shape, and Ava knows just the woman for the job in this farce that would make Shakespeare laugh in his grave.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J21RPFN
This and That
News and more from Jeremiah Donaldson. Reposted from official blog here: https://www.jeremiahdonaldson.com/blog
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