The Didact, in an article picked up at MOTW, looks at the costs of taking the ticket [https://www.menofthewest.net/taking-the-ticket-will-destroy-you/]. I can't add much to it, and any excerpt would be worthless standing on its own. I will say this. I am not sure, looking back, when this happened. There was a time I would have gone along to get along, and made the compromises he speaks of. Over time, though, I had heard far too much of what moral compromises were made by those who succeeded, e…
At MOTW, Ian writes of why we should read, respect, and learn to appreciate poetry [https://www.menofthewest.net/poetry-and-you/]. No, not the self indulgent crap angsty teenagers put to paper, but the real stuff. Also not generally the shit they shoved down your throat at school - though several of them I ran into courtesy of english teachers have held up where the books and stories they tried to plug my mind with generally haven't. > Why should you care about it? The Iliad, the Odyssey, the…
Even before hearing the term "antifragile" I was prone to point out that it didn't matter how efficient or inexpensive something was, if it wasn't capable of doing the job when you need it. Resiliency, plans for the worst case, etc. So. Texas. There's a lot to unpack here. Shockingly, Ars Technica actually had a decent article on the issues above and beyond the wind turbines getting locked up - about which they point out that, yes, it's possible to build heating elements into the blades and m…
One thing that drives me nuts is the expression "my truth" or "their truth". Some people don't realize how poisonous it is, they haven't thought it through, but even so, I rarely have patience with it. Why? For the same reasons I have issues with any post modern claptrap, or critical-anything theory - because it rejects truth. Anything said after that, even if objectively correct, is likely to serve falsehood. What brought this post about was being told by a family member, after I refused to c…
The last month or so has been clarifying. One thing I will say - while the politicians in charge may be lying, do not underestimate the ability of seemingly normal and otherwise compentent and intelligent people to believe the narrative. By narrative, I mean of course the line that, among other things, Trump is awful, Trump is incompetent, that anyone who supports him is a moron, desperate because they lost their jobs, or a racist, that Trump declared corona a hoax, and of course that Trump inc…