Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Stoics, Live by Nature

The Stoics were group of philosopher who claimed we should live by nature, virtues were the highest good, some things are up to us and some are not, we are not troubled by events, but our thoughts about those events, and similar pithy concepts. To understand these concepts, that is what each actually means, takes a bit of time.

To live by nature sounds simple, but what does it really mean. When we live among group who think in supernatural realms, like Christians and Muslims, living by nature is, well, today, atheism. It is staying away from supernatural thinking, hope that is not possible, day dreaming, any religious thinking, after life, or anything that is not physical possible. The simplest way to express this is live by nature. 

Others have different opinions of what this actually means. https://howtobeastoic.wordpress.com/2017/11/29/living-according-to-nature/

Now that we understand that the same reduction outcome could come from many different paths, what are we left with? Pick one and away we go. There is often some truth in almost any statement, but what that truth is is often in question. 

Monday, November 27, 2017

Just thinking, throwing about stuff

I am struggling with the rights of an individual compared to the rights of the society within which they live, and the right of the society to force behaviors and/or beliefs onto others. In the US there is separation of church and state in one of the amendments, but that is being ignored now by many. Not so in Canada. There is no formal separation, but evangelizing just does not fly in politics either. 

There is sexual decorum, which is also being ignored by many, and many in positions of authority. Slavery is still alive being practiced in the halls of power. There is the opioid addiction issue, the GMO labeling issue, early vaccination vs autism, fracking vs water supply, climate change, the religious zealots vs reality, abortion vs religious, and a number of other social issues that have one thing in common; someone is trying to impose a belief or behavior onto others.

The only way to make such choices is to lay out all the statements for and against for all the choices and then to make a rational selection of the best, but also be aware that those against the decision may be quite vocal. Ultimately, the right choice may allow a great deal of personnel choice; force an action onto someone against their will cannot fly without issues; or allowing freedom of choice will arouse those that feel such action is wrong on religious belief system basis. These are not rational people anyway. Some will object, so what.

I use "forcing beliefs" as a term, forced as in not reasonable choice, as onto a child, and belief of statements without evidence, anything is a belief. When the evidence goes against our current beliefs, it takes much more evidence. This ties together two concepts, zero choice, and a belief as a concept without a evidence base. Neither is a "good behavior", but both are standard practice in religious indoctrination. Children, who are totally dependent on their parents, do not have the mental or moral/ethical fortitude to resist something without evidence. They have no choice but to accept whatever the parent is shoveling. That is indoctrination, which is not right. It is parental abuse, or some other form of enslavement.

Does the government have the right to decide what the child should learn or be indoctrinated with?  Ultimately, it is the child/young adult that should decide,n when they get old enough, and they should be trained with the tools to make such decisions, in their youth. By the age of reason, say 14, they should be free to choose, and to bear responsibility for their decisions. It is responsibility, clear responsibility, that make a person good.

No parent is going to stand for their child going against the parents wishes, where the parent feels strongly. If the parent is wish-wash on the situation, or even irrationally the other way, there will be less conflict, typically. There in lies part of the problem. Too many people are just not rational.

Too many decisions effecting people are being made for economic reasons, or convenience. not for sound science. We are, as a population consuming too much carbon, but that is not the problem. After we have extracted the energy, we expel Co2, and that is not the problem. We are expelling more Co2 that the earth can fix back as carbon, and as a result, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising. That will be a problem soon. As a result of the higher amount carbon dioxide, the amount of solar energy captured is rising, causing rising temperatures in the atmosphere, and the rising temperatures is causing more severe and erratic weather, which is the first problem/issue we see. The heat is improving living conditions in cold areas. But the methane hydrate trapped in cold areas is melting, and that is a major problem; methane hydrate really contributes to warming, and it is not good for humans, mammals, and the like.

So where is this all going? The government is only partly correct, but thinks it is right all the time. That is a problem, unless they are willing to look at there errors, and correct them. But we do not know what is the correct solutions are. 

So what about the areas where we feel that the government has overstepped their authority? Without respect, they cannot govern. Prohibition was one example. Weed is another. Opioids is the next, but that is a belief based issue. It will require a philosophical solution; once you start with chronic pain, you have it for life. Get use to dealing with the pain without mediation, or prepare for addiction and a short life. It is your choice. The medical profession has nothing to offer, long term.

  

Sunday, November 26, 2017

lacking motivation vs burnout

For quite some time, I have been lacking motivation, drive, energy, a sense of urgency to do much. So is it lack of motivation, lack of need, lack of desire, complete satisfaction, lack of direction, or am I just lazy?

Lazy is an interesting concept, as it is usually applied to others. Not being lazy is considered a virtue, however, many people I see that are not lazy never seem to accomplish anything. They are just busy doing... doing... doing nothing of value, busy work, as far as I can tell, and when she is done, she starts over, and still there is nothing of value achieved. It is better to have a plan, of some kind, and then do something that has value, to my thinking. But if there is nothing that I want... well then why do anything.

I should be able to sit down and do nothing for the remainder of my life. But can I do that? No. I am thinking, dreaming of doing something, but do not have the motivation yet to actually do it. Well not yet. But reality of my age keeps me from starting. Oh well. It does not matter, in the end all that awaits us is death, but until then... I must do a few things. But then I hurt, and do not want to do anything that makes the hurt worse.

Burned out people lack motivation, and perhaps that is what the real problem is. I have had a series of burnouts, a period of time that I just go into a low, a period of zero motivation. A period low Losada ratio, and along comes depression. Some of us, the anxious, easily stressed, those of us who feel over responsible, when faced with our own human inadequacy, are subject to burnout. It is our nature. We must learn how to recognize and deal with our own burnout. When we suffer a frustration, we are prevented from doing something, rationally, physically, bureaucracy, skill, economics, or other issue, we may suffer a limited burnout; we may be able to recover or not. Some people may not suffer from this type of issue; some people will just not do anything either, hence could never have burnout.

It is likely only a subset of the population who feel responsible enough to ever deal with this. Those who always blame others for there failures could not suffer from burnout. Those who do so little that is beyond there comfort and competence zone, those who need to be trained first before they will undertake anything, even something simple, cannot ever suffer from this issue. Burnout is not part of their makeup.

So I went coaching a few archers. I do not agree with the club objective of teaching anyone; there are some that are just too immature, too young, and too poorly behaved to be safe. It is not until they shoot or do something which is dangerous that we can classify the child as too immature or too young. So what should the rules be? A demonstration of what not to do, and each of you is responsible for your own safety?




Thursday, November 16, 2017

Fentanil, Fentanyl, Carfentanil

We have all heard of this latest drug epidemic produced by the big Pharma, and now production has gone off shore, where they will happily produce and ship overseas almost anything. I can see their point. Why should anone stop producing a products when there is a market? We do not use them, only sell them. Why should we care? We are not their keepers. White imperialist dogs. It is no different than those who manufacture guns, bullets, explosives, processed foods, GMO, and all those other goods and services that are killing people today. We produce and sell without great concern to the end user. We need to earn a living today, that means sell a product or service, or beg so
that others may feel good by giving.

Once we see that the world is overpopulated, why should we care if people do not respect themselves enough to not buy and use street drugs? They cannot think that they are harmless. They are addicts, and often doctors and legal drugs caused the addiction; together with our pressured society, and those who do not adapt, suffer. It is up to each us to just stop. We are on our own. It is our responsibility, ours alone. If we chose to gamble with our lives, can we expect others to care for long? Soon we will be dead. It is up to us. So the bleeding hearts do there thing, but they do it for what they get out of it, while they claim to be helping others.

I knew enough about addiction to recognize that I was addicted, and kicked the use early on, while I still had Oxycontin on prescription. There is a urban myth that we can go through life pain free. Life is going to hurt. Oh well, that is life. We need to learn to deal with pain, and do what is necessary to reduce pain to a tolerable level through philosophy, and behavior. If others cause us emotional pain, just stop caring, and do what is necessary, it does not matter in the big picture. Other societies do it: to not care is self protection. Children come to visit, and are free by their fourteenth birthday, when they are expected to start to produce and learn to live separate from the family. Our natives allowed the young girls to go to the adjacent tribes. With the education we need today, this just does not fit well, but we need to free children much earlier. Emancipated minors, yes, and we need to let go of them. The world is overpopulated now.

So is it right to push my opinions onto others? I do not think so. The Islams think they have the right, but that is bullshit. I have the freedom to express, and others, you have the choice to read or not, to listen or not, to do or not. That may be why blogs are an ideal format for me, I can speak, write, and it does not matter, if zero read or a thousand read it. It does not matter. I do am not concerned. There is so much output to the public, it is impossible to intake and sort the valuable from the irrelevant information. Some is false, incomplete, partly true, while other is just irrelevant at this time, and may always be such. It does not matter. I need to write to hear myself, and then I forget. That is my life, with no sharp long term memory. I could not write without a computer, spelling is beyond my memory. Such is the life of a dyslexic. Oh well.

So it is choice to take drugs, and it is individual responsibility that allows us to take, or keeps us from taking drugs. It is not my pace to judge you, nor to help you too much. If I ketch you stealing my stuff, I will terminate you, and bury you in the back yard. Shoot, shovel and shut up, or some such. At least I think I would, now, if I were pissed off, I might, I do not know. I might send a arrow your way. I would not seek to harm you but you are standing where I am about to shoot, and I had to let go as I could not hold it any longer.

Personal responsibility for what happens to us that we have control over, and not for those things we have no control over. But what about those things that we do not have complete control over, only influence, and our biochemistry has ultimate control over? Like our appetite? Do we need to respond to appetite?  




Friday, November 10, 2017

People change and not for the better

How has the internet changed the people who I deal with an how has it changed me?

Should I have any communications with people who are negative toward me? Not likely.

The internet has been the root cause of me becoming more negative toward goofy ideas. At the same time, I see others dismissing sound reasoning and truth as "just something off the internet", without taking the time to examine the case.

There is little real science on the internet, most of the science is sensationalism. The expectations seems to be those areas where the "science is wrong", and the voices crying in the wilderness are all over the internet. Food Science, and some areas of medical treatments, Statins, for example.

And yet the interned is unable to provide a solution for the problems of the world or obesity, which we know is a psychological issue. It stimulates descent, distribution, as we say in the Arab Spring uprisings, and with the US identity politics issue. Be aware if this thing we have created, and the evil it can bring upon us.

First I need to deal with myself. as my biases have changed which tints my view of everything. I am still abrupt, and will not associate with those who's views are different than mine much of the time. This leaves me alone, but not isolated, as I once was. I do not wish to be around people who criticize, condemn me for stating the obvious; obvious to me anyway. I am a nasty person, oh well, you will just need to live with that. The evil internet allow us to rub shoulders with many more people, at least with the ideas that they are promoting.

Facebook is not for me, (not to say that I do not occasionally look) but it is the only way to keep track of the relatives; but do I need to track them; it does not feel right; it is more like stocking; they do not contact me; why should I care to track them. Any of my comments seem to draw flack, so it may be time to stop all outgoing relative contact, after all I am atheist and they are mostly raving religious or have other goofy ideas.

I think I should go shoot something.






Thursday, November 9, 2017

More Reality

The internet is an evil thing much of the time. It allows much communications, but it is always one sided, expressing the opinion of the author. Incomplete information is normal. It leaves many users ill informed and biased. Others of us it leaves unsatisfied and frustrated.

GMO is not all bad, but it has its wrongs. Informed consent is a concept that legal persons are using in relationship to consent for sex, in which a wined up lady is unable to give informed consent. So with GMO, it should be labeled so that we can make informed decisions. Some of there products caused damage, and these "products" have been modified or withdrawn. This will happen again. We need the ability to make informed decisions.

Fracking has a bad reputation for water well damage; which does happen. Usually it is aquifer communications, often through the borehole aurora not being adequately cemented. That is being overlooked so often. Also let us not forget all those open shot holes and testholes that we leave around the country with just surface caps.

When I see You-tube videos proclaiming these as myths, it pisses me off. No satisfaction. No contentment. Perhaps one should just abandon the internet?

Monday, November 6, 2017

Reality

Monday morning and reality after the time change has set in. We have five months of winter to go through, and two months of unpredictable sledding. That is reality. It will be milder than the winters of my youth, due to man made climate change, higher Co2 and methane in the atmosphere, with greater retained heat from the sun than in my youth. Reality.

Reality. There is no god; therefore, all religions based on god are bogus; we need to life morally well, live by virtue, anyway. That is the only way the overpopulated mass of people can get along. Stoics call it cosmopolitanism. The Buddhist foundation virtue is compassion for all living creatures, but that is needed to be cautioned as some animals are needed as food, but a good life and quick death is the humane way, unlike the Muslim bleeding to death. It may have been quick in its day, but not now.

Reality is cruel for sure. We grow old, become in pain, and in the end we die. Modern medicine allows us to maintain life often, but not necessarily quality of life. At some point we may wish to stop care and even hasten our end. That is our natural right. Many of the issues of the past are no longer a common issue around here. Slavery sill exists in the third world, and in corners of the old world, perhaps in the deprived parts of the new second world.

The worst issue we have today is the religious pushing there sick values onto others. The world is overpopulated; human life has little value until there is a living wanted child. Abortion to one third term should be allowed without question, and to half term with reasons, most any reasons. The third or other/neither sex must be allowed to live unencumbered. Wishing to marry and the like creates animosity, but if they wish to legalizes there relationships, what is the harm. I have concerns of them raising children, but no more than with perverted natural parents. There will always be some child abuse... there is no way to avoid it. Government run rearing is not the answer, just look at the abuse of residential schools that took in children from remote areas, both native and immigrant children, and English boarding schools. They were bad but perhaps better than the enslavement that many of us suffered at the hands of our own parents.

Reality, our current public food system is purchaser choice driven. There are at least four decision modes, energy/nutrition, taste/pleasure/enjoyment, comfort/habit/emotions, and mind driven addiction satisfying. If any beyond the first enters the picture, weight could be a problem. In reality is is often preferred to control our eating at the store stage, do not bring crap home and it will not be eaten.

Reality, we need activity to provide the motivation and movement, especially for seniors. We need to keep our mind sharp and stay in reality, keep our morals high, and not succumb to the lour of easy money, pleasure, instant gratification dopamine fixes, but develop long term serotonin satisfaction. The young will need to come to know this, and the sex hormones will make that difficult. The population needs to be stabilized at a level that the earth Co2 handling keeps the value reasonable, < 300 ppm, or < 400 ppm, but that is not likely to happen. We will struggle on until the next mass extinction occurs.    

Reality, if our family are assholes or gooffiess, or nogoodnicks, we need not associate with them. Negative people are downers, so it is fair game to "there are no gods so your whole religion is based on bullshit."  We are each alone in our own heads. That is reality, some follow the traditions of the ancestors,  and some set out to modernize or rationalize our way of thinking.  Onward is our best decision today.   


Friday, November 3, 2017

Govener General shit storm

http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/governor-general-speech-julie-payette-climate-change-1.4384481

So now the truth creates a shit storm. What a bunch of pussy's. We cannot tell it like it is because, well we might offend an idiot. Man has created faster climate change as a result of the population producing more carbon dioxide than the earth can absorb, and as a result, ocean acidification is occurring, along with climate warming, and all that comes with. People do not want to live in reality, it is nicer to live in a dream fiction state. Some idiots find it offencive. Well, get over it. anything is offensive to somebody. There is no evidence of a god, but lots of people believe in gods.

 https://youtu.be/t2o4Q7M5cBY  


so softly said, the meaning could slide by. Random vs governed processes. the process of becoming alive is not random, it is almost automatic under the right conditions. It is only random when these conditions occur. And the creation of life was not a single event, but a series of lives, and the best few survived. Parallel paths, and each form branched...some merged... and now we look around us and see...  the array that is today.

Some will be "offended ". So what. We need to live in reality of today.