Opus 2021-211: On the Street: An Ostrich Breakfast

I went down to get coffee and check out the breakfast at the hotel.  Since it was an hour after the breakfast bar opened, I did not know what to expect.  The one thing I did not expect was nothing but coffee.  It seems they were not ready.  Being the introvert that I am, I switched my inner extrovert button and engaged in a conversation with a lady who was also getting coffee.

“They can’t get any help,” She said.  I replied, “It is that way all across the country.”  At this point I made the mistake of assuming I was talking to an intellegent patriotic American.  I said, “Why should people come to work when they are getting paid so much to stay home.”  

I make that assumption a lot.  In Texas I am often rewarded.  In Virginia I was corrected.  She tried to educate me, “They need to open the border so they can find some people to take these jobs Americans won’t take.”  I pointed out how much people could make by staying at home.  She was having none of it.

I decided not to point out that the border was already open.  I didn’t remind her that Americans were working these jobs before the Covid police and the Proregressives* who want to make everyone dependent on the government had their way.  She was free, white and 21 so there was little I could tell her.  I also assume that she was a Democrat, wealthy, living in a gated community and knew no one who had voted for Trump.  She was probably upset because she could not find a maid or a gardener.

We need to understand that the country is overrun, not only by illegal aliens but by the Ostrich Party who loves the feel of sand in their nostrils and believe that if they can’t see the lion stalking them he will go on to someone else.  While an ostrich may not actually hide their head in the sand the same cannot be said for the elites.

Now that is a dish that does not go well with coffee.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-210: Headlines: Who Would Have Thunk?

The mantra is being developed.  We are now going to see how the narrative will be presented.  I refer to an article that was linked from Instapundit and took me to some kind of UPI website.  Keep in mind how unreliable UPI is today and the brainwashing going on fits in slick.  What drew my attention was the click bait about how the common cold was in resurgence as the Covid-19 restrictions were being lifted.  

It was interesting that the UPI is now admitting the decline in colds and flu during the Wuhan epoch.  Their spin was that the masks, social distancing and lockdowns not only kept people from catching Covid but also kept us safe from other scourges.  Who would have known.  Why would they only notice this when the “pandemic” is disappearing?  If you want to read the entire article then you will find all kinds of hints that this was all for own good and we should all want even more of this.  Perpetual lockdowns anyone?

The often repeated bit of data that had been available on the internet was that colds and flu had disappeared when the China virus was on the rampage.  The assumption by those of us who have grown to totally disbelieve the CDC or media reporting was that a lot of cold and flu cases were being diagnosed as Covid for political reasons.  It was necessary for the leftist syncopats at the CDC and MSM to destroy the economy so they could drag down Donald Trump.  If you doubt that then check out reports that scientists are now admitting they did not share what they knew about the Chinese link because they thought it would help Trump.  So much for objective science.

We have been conditioned to live in fear and hope that the government will be able to keep us safe.  All that we lose is the liberty and freedoms that we have exercised for 200 years.  Based on what I have watched in voting patterns and opinion poles that is the source of hope for slightly half the population.  These are the masses wanting to have it all as long as someone else pays for it.  They are the source of the one thing Mitt Romney ever said that you could believe:  The 47% who are dependent of government.

So the conditioning continues.  People are already being isolated because of a mild disease.  They are being coerced into taking an experimental drug.  Who knows the long term results of either one.  Prepare to accept or resist the brainwashing.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-209: On the Street: Millennial Towers

We are on the road again and people are back on the move.  We are in our second night out.  The first night we stayed at a motel we had been in before.  There were no big surprises.  My wife again complained that the beds were too hard.  I keep hoping we will find the hotel with baby bear’s bed but it has not happened yet.  

The second night was the awesome experience.  It is a hotel so new that it did not show up on the road side signs telling us where things were.  It is called Tru, an affiliate of Hilton.  When we saw it we started wandering what we were getting into.  The front of the hotel had columns of psychedelic panels.  We are used to pulling up under an awning to unload.  This had a short canopy that did not come out to the pavement.  We hope it isn’t raining in the morning.  The lobby/breakfast area/entertainment center featured brightly colored high stools around small tables, hanging chairs and ottomans.  Over to the side was a pool table.  I stopped to use the bathroom off the lobby and knew I was in a different world.  It was a unisex presentation.  I was not aware of all the things offered to the ladies.  In addition the sink had tubes of soap on the wall that you squeezed to get what you wanted.  I later found the same thing in the shower of our room.  What really told me I didn’t belong was the toilet paper being hung to roll from underneath instead of over to top.

My wife said it felt like a single pick-up spot.  

At least the air conditioning works.  Maybe it keeps the snowflakes from melting.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-208: Death Is a Sure Thing, Why Rush It?, part 2 of 2

Spectator sports are killers.  Why?  Because they allow people to vicariously enjoy the contest while they are sedentary and have a hot dog in one hand, a beer in the other and popcorn in their lap.  Obesity is a major cause of problems in ways we can’t imagine.  I personally experienced the miracle of lost weight.  It made my diabetes hide behind a tree and wait for me to loose control again.  The current deaths from the China virus, whatever the real number, has a strong correlation to being overweight.  

Vaccines are also questioned by many.  Someone has drawn a correlation between the increase in vaccines given to children and the surge in autism.  ADHD might also be tracked.  Do vaccines save lives?  My father survived polio.  There is no way he would not have us vaccinated.  Small pox has been eradicated except for in science labs.  At the same time the number of vaccines that are being injected into our children is scarey.  Because of the political pressures we will probably never know the negative effects but they will still be there.

Then you have the people who are rabid against GMO foods.  Again, we do not know the long term effects of some of this deity playing.  We are not talking about cross pollinating two fruits.   We are talking about taking genetic material from animals and insects and mixing it in with the vegetables that you are used to.  Could it be dangerous?  I would say yes.  Will the proper safeguards be in place.  I doubt it if money is to be made.

The main detail that we need to keep in mind is the law of unintended consequences.  There is no way that we will know the long term effects of any of these things.  Some may make us healthier.  Others may kill.

We need to keep in mind the heart thoughts of the people who are behind many of these developments.  Many of them are motivated by money.  There are a good number of time tested treatments that would probably work on new diseases but they don’t make any money.  Another is a religious belief in the deity of Gaia.  To these people humans are a pestilence that needs to be removed from the earth.  For others there is nothing but a lust for power in their hearts.

We live in the interesting times of the reported Chinese proverb.  I am glad that my foundation is based on a trust in Providence not what is now called science.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-207: Death Is a Sure Thing, Why Rush It?, part 1 of 2

I expect that we will see some dynamic differences in the kind of things that kill us in coming decades.  If you look back in history you see how childbirth and minor infections could kill.  Diseases that are now treatable with hydration and antibiotics took millions.  Tetanus was enough to end your life.  And of course socialism tended to pass all of them in mass murder.

There are always new candidates coming up to bat.  Some are diseases like Ebola that have been around a long time but are just now making headlines in the West.  Others are the products of our modern culture and science that is looking for ethical limitations.  The misuse and abuse of drugs is taking lives all around the world.  Death is very flexible and adaptive.

Technology is a report card that is not finished yet.  Different types of radio waves seem to be coursing through our bodies on a regular basis.  With the proliferation of cell phones, pads, ear buds and all of the new stuff I am not aware of, our cells are under constant attack.  It is hard to estimate how that will come out in cancers and tumors.  Johnnie Cochran comes to mind.  He died of a brain tumor.  Was it caused by cell phone use?  

Wireless devices have increased the exposure to different types of radio waves.  To a layman it would make sense that an exponential increase in radiation going through your body is going to effect something.  The power of the rays decreases dramatically with distance, so much of what we are subject to is diluted.  But picture the power it takes for earbuds and cell phones to do their job.  A little might be shrugged off by the body but we are talking constant barrages of radiation.  As in anything, some people are more susceptible than others.   

Then you have the potential effects of other digital devices.  There is something about the refresh rate and the flickering of the screen that disrupts some people.  I have heard that people who suffer from epilepsy can have problems with certain types of flashing light.  We noticed when our son was young that watching anything that was animated agitated him.  It wasn’t the content, but the medium.  Picture several generations that have been stationed in front of screens for hours each day.  They stare at computer screens, smart phones, game displays and sometimes even TV.  What will be the effects?

To be concluded...

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-206: Snowflake Mush

I talk about the mush that fills snowflakes minds.  One of the reasons the term mush is so appropriate is that it is essentially a fluid like suspension that will fill every vacant space.  Hard facts have hard edges and don’t tend to conform to preformed brains.  

I tend to think that the snowflake mind is normal for human beings or at least it is easy to create.  While I believe that every human is born with potential, even the birth quotient varies with the individual based on heredity and, believe it or not, the outside influences on the developing child in the womb.  There is a reason we talked to our children before they were born.  They could hear us and, although they didn’t understand the words, they could grow in the basting of human contact.  While all have potential, it is different with each person.  Some have minds and personalities that are open to manipulation.  Most humans crave acceptance and have a desire to belong.  This will cause them to resist thinking things through.  Some grow out of it, others are stunted early.

I tend to be a skeptic when it comes to the ability of the masses to think and process.  It takes work and most of us are a bit lazy.  It would do us a service to keep in mind that sloth is one of the seven deadly sins and is repeatedly condemned in the book of Proverbs.  Those who have the ability to think need to look at it as a responsibility.  Those who understand the standards of God need to see them as good for everyone, even those who reject them.

If you are a mush headed snowflake, I lost you a long time ago.  The rest of us need to understand that the snowflakes need our guidance.  I challenge you to look for opportunities to stand up and be counted because the society they will allow is not one that will put up with their foolishness.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-205: When = Is < or >

Today it is the cry that equal housing is necessary for justice.  Based on the logic the next cry will be for equal transportation and then equal clothing.  This should bring to mind everyone on the bus dressed in Mao tunics.  

Equality is a wonderful concept but if it is perverted by socialist thinking it becomes oppressive instead of liberating.  Socialism as an economic system is not capable of generating the production that provides a population with plenty.  If you look at the historic examples in North America, Jamestown and the Plymouth Colony, they started off with communistic plans and also started off with starvation and deprivation.  If you look at countries that put their eggs into the socialistic basket you again see a pattern of scarcity and lack of options.  Equality as a principle of socialism means that everyone, except the ruling elite of course, ends up equally hungry, cold and bored.  Equal housing under socialism means that everyone except the elite lives in crowded conditions with a lack of heat and water.  Don’t even bother asking about the air conditioning.  When it comes to transportation it means that there is a train for everyone and cars for the elites.  The Mao jacket may be a wonderful fashion trend but it rapidly loses its luster when your only choice is too big or too small.

Free enterprise offers equality of opportunity.  You are free to put your resources where your heart is and some bread is expensive because it is extremely hard to bake, not because there is no bread to be had.  If you want to get to work under free enterprise you have a choice of cars that boggles the mind.  In a socialistic system you only choice is which train you are going to wait for.

We have all heard Margaret Thatcher’s quote about other people’s money.  According to the Oxford Reference the actual quote is,

“Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money.”

Either way, the thought is accurate.  Some people like to lift up countries like Sweden as examples of successful socialism.  What they overlook is that those countries are subsidizing their socialism with the equity built up over centuries of free enterprise capitalism.  As the United States will soon find out, you can only live on deficit spending for so long.

Believe in equal opportunity.  Vote for equal opportunity.  In the long run it is the only equality that will work.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-204: Cornerstone Considerations: D of I, Imperial Plunder

The Declaration of Independence talks about the “causes which impel them to the Separation.”  Some of the list will rings your bells.  Others will have you scratching your head.  For instance we have the claim,

“He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.”

I guess if you consider the refusal to allow Americans to drill for oil of the coast you might have an issue.

Let’s spend some time looking at the Complaints of 1776 and see how some of them relate to 2021.  I don’t know at this point if I will go in order or just whatever jumps out on a given day.  I can almost guarantee I will not deal with all of them.  If you have not read the entire Declaration of Independence yet, you still have about three weeks.

The first three problems mentioned deal with laws and how the rule of law is being undermined by the king and parliament.  First we see,

“He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.”

We see this thought expressed several ways but they all deal with how the governing authority is manipulating the legislative process to make it impossible for the voices of the colonies to be heard.  They are ignored or coerced instead of being listened to.  We will see as we work through the D of I that when laws are passed they work against the benefit of the citizens.

We see that kind of thing going on again today.  Time and time again it is shown that the people of the United States feel one way and the laws passed, the executive order issued or the regulation issued by a faceless civil servant, are just the opposite.  Think in terms of the invasion across our southern border, the throttling of gas and oil production, green energy, Critical Race Theory, brainwashing the military, support for Israel, attempts at registering firearms and the list goes on.  It is clear that almost everything coming out of Washington is designed to remove our liberties and increase the power of the Government.

The similarities are ominous when you realize that much of this is done by fiat, executive orders, rather than by the legislative process.  Hail Caesar!  Remember he knows what is best for you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-203: A Moving Tale

When reading an article listing the states with the highest lifetime taxes at Foundation for Economic Education I came across the phrase “vote with their feet.’  Nothing new in that but it sounded really good.  We might change it to “vote with a U-Haul,” but you get the idea.  We voted about four years ago, liquidated our California assets, moved to Texas and have no regrets.  

At this point you should stop and think about the last election.  The Proregressives* who stole that election are determined that you will have no voice in your life decisions.  They know what is best for you and are willing to kill you to improve your life.  It is the conviction of elites from time immemorial.  They may be evil and fools but that does not make them stupid or undedicated.  They have a plan and are working it.

Since they know that you can vote with your feet they are trying to destroy the entire concept of Federalism and the Tenth Amendment.  They want to make it impossible for your state to stand up against the federal juggernaut.  Remember that one of the first things Biden talked about doing was limiting Americans ability to move from state to state because of the deadly virus that was being hyped by government and media.  The anger made them back down but they are still considering it.

One of the strengths of our country has been the ability to move across state lines without permits or passports.  There have been some exceptions.  It used to be when you returned to California from Arizona there was an inspection station near the border.  They were checking for insect pests on your fruit.  The worst that could happen was you surrendered your fruit.  If you didn’t want to do that they had a place you could pull over and start eating.  We have weigh stations that require trucks to pull off, be weighed and have their logs checked.  With all that we are free to travel without the permission of the government.  Or I would say, we have been free.  

Henry Ford went a long way to liberating the downtrodden in this country.  They were free to move but it takes a long time to walk to a new state.  In some areas the deserts make such a thing impossible.  With cheap, affordable cars you had the specter of the dispossessed Okies piling all their children and as much furniture in their Model T as it would hold and heading for California.  If they had been limited to walking then they would still be locked in dust bowl poverty.  Because they could afford a run-down jalopy, they headed for greener pastures.  The left wants to do away with poor people being able to buy cheap transportation.  That is what the Cash for Clunkers was all about.  That is at the core of much of the vehicle inspections.  And of course they want to make all of us unwashed masses poor.

We are refugees from California.  I remember a Babylon Bee feature that showed Governor Newsom of California building a wall on the border of California to keep people from fleeing.  Now that we are out we are okay with that.  The Proregressives* want that to be basic operating procedure.  

Maybe we should add the freedom to move to the First Amendment.  I am sure that if we did they would ignore it just like they ignore the rest of the Constitution.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-202: Pollacks Are No Joke

A friend introduced me to an author named Alan Furst.  His fiction seems to focus on Europe during the rise and fall of Hitler.  He reads like a man who has done his research and writes like a man who knows how.  

One of the cultural issues he brings up is the common hatred of the Nazis and the Communists toward Poland.  It seems that socialist regimes have certain things in common even if the media and educational establishment label them right and left.  So why this hatred for the Polish nation?

Historically the Poles have been instrumental in saving Europe from Islam.  Most Americans accept the nonsense about the Religion of Peace and totally ignore history.  In Western Europe the armies of Islam crossed from Africa into Europe and proceeded north until they were stopped in the Battle of Tours in 732.  Over the next 700 years they were driven back south until the fall of Granada in 1492 which enabled Spain to free up the funds to send Columbus into the Atlantic.  In the east the Muslims kept trying to conquer Europe up until 1683.  At this point the Plymouth Colony was 60 years old.  The Reformation was 160 years old.  The Habeas Corpus Act had been passed in England.  This is not ancient history.  The last time they tried to take the city of Vienna things were looking good for them until a Polish army led by the Polish king Jan Sobieski showed up and sent them home with their tails between their legs.  Haters of Christian culture have never forgiven the Poles for that impudence.  

In modern times it seems that the average Pollack does not submit very well to tyrants.  Yes they have a long history of monarchy and aristocracy but those were there overlords.  They were family.  Many of the nobility were not much richer than the peasants they controlled.  But watch out if you are a foreigner.  To outsiders they had an irresistible need to thumb their noses.  If there is anything that Proregressives can’t stand it is resistence.  

So remember that the Poles are no joke.  I say that in spite of the fact I love Pollack jokes.  Some of the best ones were told to me by Pollacks.  The left hates that too because they have no sense of humor.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-201: Cornerstone Considerations: D of I, Flexing the Bands

The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence (DI) talks about the “Political Bands which have connected them with another”.  What “Bands” were they talking about?  It was more than just political.  

They were bound by the common sense of being Englishmen and having the rights of Englishmen.  People who did not pay attention in history class are not aware that the Bill of Rights in the Constitution are a reworking of the English Declaration of Rights of 1689.  Being an Englishman was not just a matter of speaking English.  It was a body of beliefs that incorporated the principle that certain freedoms were in the category of God given rights, not political payoffs.  They were being denied that which was understood to apply to all Englishmen.  

They were bound by religion.  They did not agree on everything by any means.  They had serious differences in theology.  They had disagreements on how the church should be governed.  They had different worship styles.  In those differences the English had been slowly working toward the idea that you could go to different churches and worship the same God.  This bond never totally went away until the 20th century when Great Britain and the Church of England began to drift into heresy.  At the time of the DI the Anglican church was the official state church is several of the colonies.

They were bound by blood.  Many of them still had family living in the British Isles and the dominant culture could trace its genealogy back.  

These are strong bonds.  We have had similar bands holding us together as a country.  The question we need to be facing is, “Are they enough?”  Even more to the point, “Do they still exist?”  I think a majority of Americans still think they have the rights spelled out in the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.  Unfortunately the ruling class disagrees with that.  The bonds of religion are being dissolved from both the inside and the outside.  On the inside we have the churches being suborned by people calling themselves Christians while denying everything the Bible teaches.  On the outside we have direct attacks on the church and its ability to follow its calling.  As for the bonds of family, our Proregressive* leaders are working overtime to destroy the American family.

So it is time to think about our bands.  I would hope that we can renew them and pull together once again.  If we can’t then it may be time to consider other options.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-200: Where Is Diogenes When You Need Him

My wife was watching one of the talking head gurus on the boob tube.  He was telling us what we would need to do to stop the run away inflation that is forecast.  He was using impressive demons like the Federal Reserve and relating all the things the government needs to do to solve the problem.  It is sad that he does not have a clue.

The problem is not the Federal Reserve.  It is not really the government.  The problem is the millions of citizens who are willing to accept the freebies that those agencies are handing out.  I believe it was the old cartoon figure Pogo who said, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”

I am on social security.  I will take it.  I claim I paid for it so I deserve it.  I am on Medicare.  The same reasoning is applied.  I can accept the idea that Social Security would be solvent if Congress didn’t keep playing games, borrowing from the fund, adding people who never contributed and participate in a furious bait and switch Ponzi scheme.  Medicare is a different story.  We paid in peanuts and have incredibly low premiums and want Cadillac insurance.  We figure we deserve it and someone else will pay for it.

I hear from people who are getting still another stimulus check from the government.  I hear about all kinds of loans for businesses.  President Biden promised to forgive student loans.  The list of bribes is endless.  It only works if we keep thinking that we are going to get something that someone else will be forced to pay for.

Have you ever heard that you can’t cheat an honest man?  The reason for that is that the honest man will know that the deal is unacceptable because he has a moral code that says someone is going to get cheated.  He will not participate if it is not on the up and up.  So you don’t get to drain his bank account for seed money.

What we need are more honest men.  Any volunteers?

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-199: Smarter Than the Average Solomon

I sometimes wonder why I keep trying to read modern translations of the Bible.  On my devotional blog I read through Proverbs each month and write a post from the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month.  It is a personal discipline more than an effort to convert the world.  I usually read in the New American Standard Bible and add the King James Version in my study.  One of the things I do to keep my mind alert is occasionally read a different translation.  In some cases that is a “translation”.  The New Century Version (NCV) I am reading this month is one of those poor choices.

In their attempt to make the Bible easy to read the so-called translators dumb it down so that even people who attended public school in the 21st century can understand it.  Not only does it make for boring reading, it often misses the richness and depth of the original languages.

The word that jumped out at me today is “tell”.  This came up in Psalms.  I read a Psalm a day also and make it through every five months.  Today was the 71st Psalm.  I was doing okay up until verse 15.  I kept wondering what the Psalm really said but was able to squash my critical attitude until this little word kept showing up.  Verse 15 starts off,

“I will tell about how you do what is right.”

Okay.  It seems a bit vanilla lite.  If I were talking about the acts of God I would be shouting or at least proclaiming.  “Tell” is what you do when you wife asks you what you had for lunch.  And it seems a bit arrogant of him to be declaring that God is doing the “right” thing.  Maybe it is just me.  The NCV continues,

“I will tell about your salvation all day long,
even though it is more than I can tell.”

I don’t know if you are counting but that makes three times we see the English word “tell” in one verse.  I don’t know if you were listening in your English classes as a child but one of the signs of lack of imagination, poor writing skills, limited vocabulary and vapid proof-reading is to use the same word repeatedly.  I acknowledge that there are times when it is a legitimate literary device but in this case it is a mind-numbing need to KISS, keep it simple stupid, or keep it simple for stupid.  

I found myself wondering if Solomon were really this limited in his Hebrew.  (Yes, I know you think David wrote Psalms but not this one, or the next, or the next, etc.)  When I did a little homework I found that the Hebrew word for the first “tell” is only used once in this chapter.  Keep that in mind.

When we move to verse 16 we find it two more times.

“I will come and tell about your powerful works, Lord God.
I will tell only about you and how you do what is right.”

The synonym starved scholars use the word three more times in the next two verses.  

Writing well requires an awareness of your reader.  The translators of the KJV and NASB understand that you can pass on the skill of the original author by structuring your thoughts so that you use a word once and make it apply to several following comments.  Thus the NCV will use the word three times when it was only there once in the original.  Sometimes repetition is good.  Sometimes it is boring.  I would think that one principle of translation would be that the original author had some skill in how he expressed what he was trying to say.

That goes double for the Bible if you believe that it is inspired by God.

There.  I got is off my chest.  I feel better.  Now to move on with life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-198: One Man’s Truth Is Another Man’s Trash

I continue to ask myself how Democrats and Rinos live with themselves.  I keep thinking they must know they are lying and in the process ruining the lives of millions.  Then I come across a line in According to Hoyt that jumps out at me and I felt like sharing.  Hoyt was reflecting on how she told lies as a child and how that evolved into writing fiction.  She was saying that fiction was an acceptable way to tell lies because everyone knows they are lies.

I heard her speaking about so many people I know about when she wrote,

“...the problem of being an habitual liar is that no one will believe you when you tell the honest truth. And worse, that you lie to yourself, till you don’t know what the truth is.”

The first is obvious.  The second point is an insight that is worth considering.  People like Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, et al have been lying so long that it is possible they have become so detached from reality that they don’t know what truth is any more.  I guess the question is really, “How old were they when they lost that perception?”  I am guessing it was very young.

It is sad that they will never know the truth and the truth will never make them free.  Make sure you don’t fall into the same trap.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-197: Headlines: Genuine Breakthrough or More Nonsense?

Where do you get your news?  I hope you troll many sources.  One I check out frequently is Instapundit.  It is not strictly a news site but directs you toward what is happening.  While scrolling down the click bait I came across references to a possible science breakthrough.  First I checked to make sure it didn’t take me to a British newspaper.  They always have “scientific breakthroughs” that are just some college professor dreaming about what he would like to see.  This link went to a site called New Atlas.  I don’t know anything about the credibility of the site but the article read like serious use of science in developing technology.  

The article described progress being made in extracting lithium from sea water.  The by-products were hydrogen, chlorine and fresh water.  The cost of production sounds very reasonable.  Is this just a propaganda piece to attract investment?  It is just for publicity?  The report seemed balanced.  It is an easy read so you might want to look at it.  It could be the kind of breakthrough that will move us down the road to the next level of technology.

I am not against renewable sources of energy.  I am against heavily subsidized sources of energy that are not dependable and cause more pollution in the making than they save in the generating.  I think there could well be a breakthrough in storage batteries, fusion power or some entirely new source that is only a science fiction story today.  Inexpensive lithium might be a step in that direction.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-196: Headlines: Fantasy Island Found

A friend has recommended a news aggregator site called KNEWZ.  I have not been able to find it useful at this point.  As I was making a stab at it I saw some click bait about cats being abandoned on an Island.  Since my wife is a cat person I decided to check it out.  You never know when she might need a new idea for a field trip.

Since the link was the Washington Post I will not provide it.  If you are really curious you can do a search for the title,

“People have abandoned hundreds of cats on a deserted Brazilian island. Officials aren’t sure how to save them.”

I skimmed through.  They kept talking about how the cats were starving and going feral.  They were reported as big as dogs and attacking people that came ashore.  As is common with things you read in such left wing rags the pictures they posted did not verify the reports.  You know the mantra, “Who you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?”  All the cats I saw looked well fed and happy.  There was also a reference to local people feeding them.  In a logical and fact based mind the two reports don’t really go together.  They also said there was no water on the island.  The title “Fantasy Island” comes to mind.

In case you are not reading or paying attention to the MSM I just wanted you to know the kind of stories you are missing.

I hear libraries are opening up and you can now go in without a mask.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-195: Dinner Is Ready

Psalm 128:3 refers to a man having his children around the table.  This made me think about how we were urged to have dinner as a family.  One cluster of research says that a factor in raising children we can be proud of is family dinner with discussion instead of tweets.  In my mind that was always a picture of us gathered around the kitchen table.  We used to wait for my father to get home from work and all eat together.  We continued that with our children.

The principle might be consistent around the world and through history.  My thoughts go to how this is implemented.  Could we define cultures by what is central to their meals?  Table cultures would involve the Asians, Hebrews and Romans.  Pot cultures would be African and Arabic.  

You might also divide them by how they sit.  Chairs and stools are one way.  Cushions are another.  The Romans used couches.  Many sit on the ground.  Some squat.  

Then you have the different utensils used by different cultures.  Asians seem to prefer chop sticks and spoons.  Some only use knives.  Fingers are common.  European groups have developed a whole family of utensils.  

These are all outward cultural devices.  They do not do away with the central concept of a family eating a meal together.  That breaks down when we put the kids in front of the TV or give them money to go to a fast food place.  That is a break down whether you sit in a chair at a table using Wedgewood or squat around a common pot and use your fingers.

Don’t do lunch.  Do a family dinner.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-194: One Month Notice

The Fourth of July is approaching.  We are all hoping that the current occupant of the White House will be benevolent enough to allow us to celebrate that day.

It has now come down to ignoring the First Amendment’s statement about free assembly.  We now seem to need the President’s permission to gather together.  This is the next to final stroke of despotism.

The first stroke I can remember was the enactment of laws making it illegal to shoot off certain types of fireworks.  Are you old enough to remember when our independence was celebrated with joy and reckless abandon.  We would actually light fire crackers.  Sure, we had some people who did not seem to understand that you were not supposed to hold on to them.  We still have people like that.  They vote Democrat.  We used to get the band-aids and patch them back together.  If it was really serious we might take them to get sewn up at the doctor.  It is like horses.  Just because some of us always fall off, you don’t make it illegal to ride a horse.  Come to think about it, they do that in some towns.  If, however, your long term goal is to remove the joy of celebrating freedom from the hearts of today’s young people, then take away the risk of freedom.

So it starts with the “dangerous” things.  It is for our safety.  Government knows best.  The next step was to start making it illegal to shoot off fireworks in any form.  Fire danger, you know.  Keep in mind that the government has your best interest in their hearts.  Right beside that is an overwhelming lust for power and control, but you can’t see that.  Then they began to make it illegal to sell them or buy them.  They start locally.  I can remember situations where in one town it was illegal to sell them but you could shoot them.  In the next town you could buy them but not shoot them.  So we had the booths on one side of the street and people lighting sparklers on the other side.  Another technique of despots is to point out the dangers of local freedom and work to limit our freedom one step up the political ladder.  Thus the preferred city ordinances move to the county level, then the state and eventually to the federal.  On the positive side, history shows how the right for women to vote started and progressed that way.

Eventually you celebration of freedom a spectator sport.  Let someone else wave the sparkler.  Let someone else run away before things explode.  Clap for them and surrender your freedom of choice.  Thus freedom itself becomes a spectator sport.  Think about the ways that the government limits and controls your First and Second Amendment freedoms.  Does your church need a permit from the fire marshal to use your building?  Do you need a permit to hold a parade?  Do you need a permit to drive a car?  Do you need a permit to own, let alone buy, a gun?  Is it illegal to produce your own moonshine?  Did you know that most of the price of a pack of cigarettes is taxes?

The Fourth is coming.  It is time to do a little homework.  It is time to read the Declaration of Independence again.  I read it before I wrote this.  It doesn’t take long unless you don’t do it.  I am giving you a month.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-193: Maybe Not Extreme Mennonite

I suggested in a previous post that we might all need to go extreme Mennonite.  Groups like the Amish have rejected much of modern technology and effectively withdrawn from addiction to planned obsolescence.  Maybe we don’t need to go all the way.  There may be a way to just go simi-Min.

Put aside the political decay for a minute.  Let’s look at the damage being done by technology.  If we want our freedom preserved we are going to need to liberate ourselves from the invasive nature of digital life.

We should go back to stand alone devices without wifi.  I know that most of the things I want to protect, I was doing before I had internet.  Remember those days?  Remember CP/M?  It did everything I really need to do except e-mail and e-mail was not a factor then.  I can do word processing and spread sheets on dedicated machines for that purpose.  Some games could be isolated.  If you needed the thrill of group games then it could be over specialized routes, and who would want to waste the time to hack your game?  If they did it would not allow them to steal your identity or empty your bank accounts.  In fact, it might be part of the challenge.  Not so true of my finances and writing.  

E-mail can be done from another stand alone station.  

We could develop one way protocols.  That way you could do your actual work on the word processor and transfer it to the E-mail device for sending out.  If all it did was send and receive text and pictures then there would be little to gain by hackers.

We might actually be forced to go back to in-person banking.  It would not kill us.  It might slow down the process.  It would have its own class of challenges but would not involve compromising all of our private information.

There are things that could be done.  The main barrier is our laziness.  We have gotten used to things being quick and easy.  I remember once someone saying that most tasks have three elements:  Speed, cost and quality.  The problem is that you can only have two of the three.  If we want to keep the government out of our business we may need to give up some of the speed involved.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-192: Recommendations: According to Hoyt

I would like to recommend a site called According to Hoyt.  You don’t need to hurry.  It has been around awhile and will still be there tomorrow.

In fact, tomorrow might be a good time to check it out.  The main author, Sarah Hoyt, is a successful author.  I think most of her stuff is science fiction but I would not bet on it.  If you follow the click bait keep in mind that she has two types of posts.  One type, that I generally skip over, is what she calls “book promo” material.  If you are looking for suggestions to read, have at it.  The second type is made up of original material.  That is what I am finding worth reading.  So many blog sites do little but quote other people and rehash what everyone else is saying.  She does not go down that path.  She writes well, is a poor proof-reader and expresses ideas that resound with me.

Lately she has been encouraging.  She does not deny that things are going to get rough ahead but she has a lot of faith in the American people as a whole.  Recently a final comment was,

“Be not afraid. We got this. All we have to do to defeat them is be human beings.”

Feel free to check her out.  Feel free to ignore her.  I find that she puts out original essays about every other day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-191: Projections: Brazile Style

I have mentioned the psychological term “projection” which means putting your feelings and values on others.  I came across a great example of that in The Daily Wire.  The topic of the post was Donna Brazile moving from FOX to ABC.  They quoted a statement she made in 2019.

“There’s an audience on Fox News that doesn’t hear enough from Democrats,” Brazile said in 2019, the year she joined Fox News. “We have to engage that audience and show Americans of every stripe what we stand for rather than retreat into our ‘safe spaces’ where we simply agree with each other.”

If that isn’t projection then I am a Democrat.  She has basically taken the condition of the left and laid it on those who are still not brainwashed.

I don’t know if she lives in such a bubble that she believes herself or if it is just that experience has taught her that she can get away with such stupidity.  It is hard to tell with Democrats.  It is one of the big questions I have in my life.

I wonder if they think the same thing about me.  I wonder if they think.

homo unius libri