CAMPING!

So, tomorrow after work, , I and our good (no having LJ) friends Kim and Noel are going camping here.

This is one of the many waterfalls on the park property. It’s Kim’s first time camping and she is nervous about the whole idea. It is a fully supported state park with flushing toilet and showers and cabins, etc. I like to go it a bit more rustic, but with the following picture, who could pass it by? So. Excited.

I think I hear the big beautiful woman singing. It sounds like freedom.

So the same Smartech Corp servers that housed the recently deleted RNC emails took control of the requests for the Secretary of State of Ohio’s election reporting in the 2004 presidential election. You remember Ohio, right?

In related news, the Office of Special Counsil is beginning an inquiry into the shenanigans of our loathsome turd blossom.

It took long enough, but I think I smell something sweet in the air.

Idiot blogger, funny pictures

suicidefood which I found through Boing Boing is a site that has some wonderful pictures all about food that ‘wants’ to be eaten.

I’ve come across this iconography before and personally adore it. The author describes it thusly:

What is Suicide Food? Suicide Food is any depiction of animals that act as though they wish to be consumed. Suicide Food actively participates in or celebrates its own demise. Suicide Food identifies with the oppressor. Suicide Food is a bellwether of our decadent society.Suicide Food says, “Hey! Come on! Eating meat is without any ethical ramifications! See, Mr. Greenjeans? The animals aren’t complaining! So what’s your problem?” Suicide Food is not funny.

Oh, on the contrary: It’s hilarious. I know the poster must be serious, but the copy also reads as a satire against the whole “meat is murder” argument, so I can’t really tell. I’m enjoying it more thinking it must be an act. It’s just that outrageous.

I’m loving the pictures and chortling warmly at the asinine copy. Win-win, I say. Reminds me: I need to cook some ribs this weekend. Happy ribs that want to be eaten.

Note to fellow liberals: Are you fucking this up?

Shut the fuck up about gun control.

Bad things happen – that’s how life goes. Statistically, these ocurrances are insignificant. I know you’re all in the bargaining stages of grief and can’t get out of “Only if…!”

Skip to acceptance, and re-focus on the REAL issues. Like how all our rights are being infringed, and how our country is going down the shitter. Please don’t be distracted by the shiny. Please refrain from alienating our brethern who may focus on the 2nd ammendment rather than the others. They are our friends against the authoritarians.

Really. SHUT UP ABOUT GUNS AND GUN CONTROL. It’s not a big fucking deal. We’re doing well against the fascists currently. DON’T FUCK IT UP!

Jeezus! Stop thinking with your empathy and emotions when it comes to public policy. We don’t like it when the “pro-life” retards do it, we don’t like it when the “islamo-fascist” loonies do it. Let’s not let the “gun ‘fraidy-cats” do it either.

Am I the only one who can keep his fucking head screwed on any more? God-damn reactive, frightened lizard-brains. JUST SHUT UP.

I beg your forgiveness

but I couldn’t stop myself:

a little story (yes I made it up myself)

I was waiting with the improvised knife as he walked by; I could smell the stink of ignorance and arrogance on him. His back was turned! It was time.
And yet, I failed! I could not stab the offender. Alas, It was true: I could not shiv a git.

Judging Character, in a nutshell

OK, we all know that common human behaviour is to discount experimental data over a set belief – that is, given a piece of data that would tend to destabilize a belief structure, the data is eschewed in favor of the structure.

I describe this as “when reality objects to my model, I’ll reject reality rather than rethink my model.”

Where the rubber hits the road (as an example; not the point of this post:)
Person 1: “Marijuana Users are lazy lay-abouts who contribute nothing to society.”
Person 2: “Here is a list of great contributors to society who, as it turns out, were Marijuana Users. Also, you admire me. I smoke Marijuana.”
Person 1: “I am shocked, I’ve lost respect for you: You’ve become someone I don’t like, etc”
Alternate Person 1: “Well, obviously those cases are special; It doesn’t change anything.”

replace MJ with (Atheist, Mormon, Scientologist, Democrat, Republican, Black, White, straight, gay, etc.)

———

So where is this going?

We must make conclusions about data we receive to be able to ‘understand’ the data – as mammals, we find patterns and try to reason/understand them, yes? Yes.
How do you judge a person’s character? Where to you start? What tools did you learn to use to judge character? Who are amongst the first “stranger” characters you meet in your life (before you socialize outside)?

The answer to my begging question is that the first ideas about ‘others’ and the learning of other people happens first in stories. We start our kids out with simple stories and simple characters or Archetypes really.

We create characters in our minds; We think we ‘know’ them, or at least ‘understand’ them and who they are (and how they play in the story). We feel ‘betrayed’ when characters are shown to have hidden designs that we find distasteful (and are good plot devices for mystery authors).

So how does this apply? We meet people and we know them, we create them in our minds as characters in our own story: we look for villains and heroes. The creations of people in our mind don’t exist: They are our fantasies. You don’t love your partner, rather you love who you believe your partner to be in your head (unless you are like myself or David I suppose who think about crazy things like reality, perception, etc.).

Only few people know the full me that I choose to expose; others see specific pieces in me: my work self, my friend self, etc. These people make decisions and judgments on me based on these limited exposures. It *is* who I am to them.

If someone who you’ve written up in your head acts against what you believe (for yourself as well as who you thought they were) — they “change” they have a break; they disappoint (or perhaps pleasantly surprise) you: The reality? You made a bad decision based on incomplete evidence.

This came in stark focus concerning TV series, especially LOST: Characters act “out of character.” The immediate thought? The writers are bad/in trouble. They can’t write a “believable character.” Arguments I’ve heard from friend and foe alike concerning characters that show new facets of personality. This isn’t to say writers have changed characters merely to suit a plot line and that these things can’t happen due to lazy or bad writing (I’m looking at you, X files).
(As an aside, LOST goes further by purposely showing you brief glimpses to encourage you to make snap incorrect judgments, which I enjoy).

But the human behaviour to take incomplete data and have firm judgment in the face of an increased data set that would upend said judgment causes great trauma to relationships, happiness (I believe happiness comes from successful prediction of future), and countries (I’m looking at you, neo-cons).

I’m going to stop there because I could go on and on and off the track into other platitudes and trite sayings – there’s some meat here to chew on – I don’t really know if there is a point (rather I suppose a pattern? Ah, The tautological joy of it all).