Tagged: life
American Wives Are Humanity’s Low Pressure Systems. What Happens If Equilibrium Is Withheld?
If I was teaching meteorology to pilots, then my first lesson would include a tub of water, with a movable divider holding an amount of water at bay from filling the tub entirely. (Picture a tub half full, with an actual divider keeping the water to the left half. The right half is dry.)
I would then ask, “If we define high pressure as where the water is, then how would we label the area where the water isn’t?”
The motivated and slightly piqued students would answer, “Low pressure.”
“Good,” I would rejoin.
Then I would call the room’s attention to the tub and, with comedic flare, withdraw the divider. All would see the high pressure water rush towards the area of previously low pressure, crashing against the walls before quickly calming to a standstill.
“If you can admit that that just happened, and trust that it isn’t limited to the apparent lateral movement as this tub seemed to indicate, but vertical as well (which, if you consider what you witnessed fully, then you will be forced to conclude that water did move in the available three dimensions entirely), then you can understand every other concept of meteorology—and make sound weather calls throughout your life as a pilot.”
The high pressure seeks balance. It must find the balance it seeks. This is meteorology.
What about relationships?
“Feeling low” is probably the simplest description of “depression” (itself still in the same semantic domain as “low”). We all have experience, whether first or second-hand, with people feeling low.
What happens if the “high pressure” doesn’t rush in?
More often than not, people who demonstrate the need for help receive help. But what happens if they do not receive it?
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I refuse to believe that life on earth is about high pressure rushing to lows. I just refuse. It especially bothers me when the lows self-declare. Contrary to the smut pushed by “mental health crisis” hypsters, there are objective markers that life is not only “okay”, but that life is so good that you have actually not one damn thing to complain about.
I feel like I can distinguish this refusal from the “Am I my brother’s keeper?” domain. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe anyone riding high owes their entire existence to coming down. “Misery loves company” is my counter. “Don’t bring me down”. “Look at the lilies of the goddamned field.”
“A Plan For What?” She Said.
“You need to tell A- that the next time he calls his dad, they need to make a plan!”
“A plan? A plan for what?”
I calmly, though unable to hide irritation, say, “My wife. His dad wants to talk to him. Well, the boy is 14, not 8. So A- can tell his dad all about how he is in school and then has basketball, and then dinner, except on days when basketball is later, and then A- and his dad can figure out when a good time to schedule phone conversations would be. This is not complicated.”
“My husband. You know all about this. Don’t you want to talk to H- and she won’t talk to you?”
“What? This is nothing like that at all. We don’t care and have never stopped or tried to stop A- from talking to his dad. And no one is trying to stop them from talking now. Again, you and I have no business being involved anymore at all. The boy is 14! Tell him to explain his schedule to his dad so they can come up with a plan. Why do you and I need to go back-and-forth about this? There is nothing complicated about it.”
****
Dear reader, can you guess what is at issue here? Can you imagine the underlying rub?
You got it. The dad, and apparently every physical and spiritual force—nearly power itself—wants my step-son to have his own phone. The dad wants to be able to text him and have him respond right away. The dad wants to be able to call him as he pleases with his son answering promptly.
It makes no difference that the dad is in a foreign land. It makes no difference that the dad has taken zero interest in the boy for pretty much his entire life, even though he had him to himself for the first eight years of that life. Nope, none of these things matter. When you’re dealing with humans, you are dealing with children or children-grown-older.
I need to be clear—mostly to my maker—the smart phone does not solve any problems!! And the smart phone creates innumerable problems for all it touches!! I would honestly rather give kids hard drug samples rather than smart phones on the off chance the kid just doesn’t like the effects. I don’t think I could be persuaded that, for example, crack hooks every human that has sampled it. But the smart phone? 100% addiction rate. No one can resist. We’re junkies one and all. It’s astounding.
Well, when it comes to kids in my “sphere of influence”, they have to wait before their first high. Step-children from the dark continent as well.
At face value the situation is so laughable it isn’t funny. It’s almost a joke with a punchline.
So, ha ha ha, here’s one. There’s this 14 yr old boy and his dad—impeded by no one—who can’t figure out how to call each other in 2024. The dad says, “Ring ring.” And the boy doesn’t answer because he’s at school. The boy says, “Ring ring.” And the dad doesn’t answer because he’s at work.”
Here’s the punchline I like best: “I guess ‘colored people time’ transcends time-zones!”
****
“A plan? A plan for what?” she said.
One last note. While hanging out at an airport the other day, a few of the super rich came strolling through, just off their private jet. The dad—keep on mind we are talking very wealthy people flying on private jets for leisure trips—the dad, I overhear, is complaining that his teenager won’t answer texts. He goes on to say it is easier to get a response if he posts in snapchat or instagram or whatever other app the kid is known to be absorbed in day-in-and-day-out.
So, no, this has nothing to do with anything but morons being morons. The international factor is irrelevant. The family history and dynamics are irrelevant. If people want to talk to each other, they can. If people aren’t talking to each other, it is because they don’t prioritize it.
Case closed.
Watch and Wait
The only thing left to do before the results are declared is watch and wait.
Specifically, we’re watching for the dems to start crafting the inevitable “why we lost” narrative. This is no different than when watching a sports championship and the time is ticking down and the announcers become more cognizant that it is not time to keep saying, “There’s a chance!”, but instead time to say, “It’s looks like it’s gonna take more than…”
Everyone is too self-aware that the internet is forever to keep up the charade until the very end. The end was a long time back. Now we watch and wait.
Kamala Harris Speaks in Sentence Fragments and Believes the Sky is Flat
The “word salad” description of Kamala Harris’ utterances is just not powerful. It is accurate, but it is not powerful. So the time has come to change the description of her speech. It is time to plainly state that she does not speak in complete sentences. Instead, simply describe that she speaks in sentence fragments.
Kamala Harris speaks in sentence fragments. She does not speak in complete sentences. She also does not speak in run-on sentences. Instead, she speaks in sentence fragments.
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I also want to return to her “see the constellation” wisdom she pronounced the other day, one more time.
Forget that constellations are “not real” in the sense that Orion doesn’t really look like a warrior with a bow, nor does Orion’s Belt really look anything like a belt. I don’t care about that. What is striking to me, especially after having read through many of the great “scientists” of Western Civilization and their celestially-centered work—something Harris has clearly never read—is that constellations and Harris’s entire point are based on an incorrect model of the universe. The night sky has depth. The stars in the constellations are not lights lining the interior of a sphere, similar to a planetarium. The universe is deep.
Kamala Harris is manifestly ignorant of this and consequently passes on proverbs from antiquity which amount to little more than horoscope. This woman is a moron. And it ain’t because she is black, Indian, or a woman. It is because she speaks in sentence fragments and believes the sky is flat.
The Spark
I’m not saying it will ignite what seems inconceivable—a full and prolonged civil war—but I am saying it will light a proper insurrection.
The spark is going to be a widely attended and publicized funeral.
When the time comes, the funeral, and its attendant crowds, will be the event and day and time that ordinary citizens, and not-so-ordinary citizens, will violently enflame the tinderbox of MAGA vs. DNC incivility. Stay home.
Yes, I have been reading Les Misérables. Yes, I got the idea directly from it. No, I do not think the situation in America is anything like 1832 Paris. But we all can feel that more escalation and more outrageous events await.
It’s my blog. There is a thrill to making measurable predictions. Don’t steal my joy! And before you get your panties in a bunch, just admit that, sadly, you know I am right on this one.
The Image of a Microscope which Accompanied the Science Article—That’s What Bothered Me Today
The Sunday paper had an interesting article about the current war with China. Interesting as it was, there was no call to action. Or at least not a memorable one. There certainly was nothing for citizens to do. I think what I’m suggesting about the op/ed was that the scale wasn’t appropriate.
On the other hand, there was an article suggesting two “Life Science” bills be voted down. One of the two stock “science-y” images the paper used was of a microscope. Of all the articles and opinions in today’s paper, this irked me the most. Why? Because unlike the other author’s claim that China is an existential threat to America (the sky is a-falling!), this image is one which an individual—likely an editor—can do something about.
“Science” is not merely tool use. If anything, science is to tool (science:tool) as man is to wheel (science:tool::man:wheel). Science invents tools; science is never the process of using tools.
And an editor should know this—could know this. And that editor would be doing a service to truth, and his bottom line, if they put a bit more reason into their product.
What image should the editor use to capture science?
There are many that would work. But an easy one would be of someone writing an excellently organized paper, with a title which sufficiently describes the paper’s purpose.
Much Ado About Guns, Much Ado About Safety, Much Ado About First Responders
“As a veteran military interrogator…”
“From an ER nurse married to an LEO…”
“As a retired sheriff’s deputy…”
“As a physician…”
“As a retired federal agent…”
Dear Reader, care to make a guess as to the title or content of the YouTube video which had such opening lines to the comments?
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Last week was a busy week for me.
For a myriad of reasons, we just don’t fly as much at night, so most of my night hitches grow long and I run out of things to do. Sure, I read diligently. You remember I dabble in learning ASL. I exercise. But if you are able to rest all night and then have 12hrs before work, that is a lot of time to fill.
With that in mind, I had resolved a while ago to get my concealed carry permit again (I had one while active duty, but never kept it when I moved). Rather than take up time when home with the kids, I figured, “Why not find some training while away at work?” So I did.
I had the training scheduled for last Fri/Sat. It made for a bit of stress, because Thursday night and Friday night now became “I hope we don’t fly” instead of “Let’s see what the shift brings.” But it was a good plan.
Then the school shooting happened. This go-around, the unique part was that the kid was already known to be uncommon, to put it mildly. For all the talk about guns, this fact was the most depressing to me because it makes one feel the most helpless. We simply are not safe.
Then I had some time at the beginning of a shift to catch up on any company mandated CBT and saw that I had to do the annual “workplace violence” one before October. So I did it.
To summarize the week thus far, I knew I had concealed carry training (implies self-defense on the brain), there was a school shooting (I have two high schoolers), the shooter was known beforehand to law enforcement (we are not safe), and even at work I had to contemplate how to survive, as a first responder, to any violence while responding to a scene of violence.
That was all before Friday and the first part of the concealed carry training.
Sidebar: There is an actual shooting/accuracy test to the training, and I hadn’t shot in over a decade, so I was a bit nervous. I reviewed some videos which seemed to have good authority and called to mind what the Air Force had taught me. Suffice it to say, I will never watch another. Nor will I ever “train” or consider “training” as anything other than live fire. The recoil and overall physicality endured while firing a weapon cannot be replicated by any amount of anything. This is different from flying, for example, and many other activities in which simulation is highly beneficial. I’m writing this more for me than you, but if you don’t shoot much and have fallen prey to YouTube charisma, then feel free to use this confession to motivate you to get off your duff and go to the range.
Back to the main point of this post.
While in the training, we learned about a concept that I had never considered before (or heard of): insurance for the legal aftermath of “self-defense” shootings. It seemed like a reasonable concept/product and I was about to purchase it.
Then today I was introduced to the fine print and dissuaded from ever purchasing such insurance, in favor of hiring an attorney on retainer. (I am not sure if that is the proper language, but you get my point.)
Then while down that rabbit hole, I discovered the rather unique video which garnered the comments above. Without further ado, the video was a recommendation (which I have taken to heart) to always have the police take you to the hospital after a shooting. Reasons given ranged from strategic, to physical, to financial. But what struck me was the overkill of “appeal to expertise” or “ethos” (recall from Aristotle “logos, pathos, ethos”) in the supportive YT comments. First responders and others in similar positions at hospitals etc certainly have a thankless job. What else can be the reason they so nakedly want respect?
In the end, I am a dad, not a warrior, not a gunslinger. America is a safe place to live and work. First responders are as guilty for their attitudes as the thankless public. And I will be happy for a nice break, and some camping in the mountains with the kids in two days.
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So did you guess correctly? Let me know in the comments.
The Gays Will Save Us?
I discovered Douglas Murray by accident. He was openly and authoritatively denouncing Islam—and still breathing.
On the other hand, a friend shared a Bari Weiss piece with me. I assumed Bari was a man. Funny. She just started a new university—who does that?
Neither of them utter nonsense. They both seem to pick the most relevant fights. But they’re gay.
They’re not dead, so it’s possible that they see the light before too long. I don’t want to discourage anyone who fights for truth from fighting. So keep it up! Keep writing and podcasting. Please do.
But I have been thinking about these two figures for some time now and I just cannot conclude that being gay doesn’t matter. Sure it does. Of course it matters. All sorts of historical figures, so we’re told, were gay, and they may have even done good for Western civilization. But being gay isn’t a binder for us.
Something is amiss. The being gay is not going to work for the same reason that there eventually is just one straw that breaks the camel’s back. One cannot rebel in every instance, at every turn.
Put another way, why can’t we (sober, reasoning mankind) just have one celebrity level, A-lister who is married with kids and boring. Why is that so repulsive and stigmatized as inherently uncool and unintelligent?
In the end, my point is simply that the fact that that last question resonates tells me that no, no the gays (Murray and Weiss) will not save us. Whether this is because 1. We don’t need saving, or 2. They are not fit for the work of saving, I do not yet know. (I’m leaning towards option 1.)
I’m a Veteran and I’m Not Voting. (Trump Wins.) And What I Plan To Do If He Loses.
My acquaintances are disturbed when they encounter the fact that I am not voting. Here are my reasons for not voting, as plain as I can write them.
Firstly, I do not want Donald J. Trump or Kamala Harris to be the POTUS during the years 2025-2028.
Secondly, I do not support some higher principle on the issue of voting than that.
Got it? It’s not complicated.
On to the next question my acquaintances have often posed, “So you think life is fine and dandy and this election isn’t as meaningful as the general mood (which you confess to feel) suggests and that Kamala is a sacrificial lamb and the Dems are really just looking at 2028. I get it. But what does it mean if she wins? Like, what do you think it would mean since it would mean that you do not have your finger on the pulse, that you do not have accurate assumptions, and that you do not even know up from down? What then, Pete?”
Fair question. Firstly, action-wise, I plan to go to a store and buy an American flag and flag pole. Then I plan to return home and hang it upside down outside my door. One neighbor already does this. I have always liked and respected the silent power it holds. I also have always liked the idea of citizens silently solidifying through such tactics.
Then I will wait. I do not know for how long. What will I wait for? A hero. There are no heroes at the moment. It may be decades before one emerges. But one will come again. And on that day, I will support the hero—even so far as with violence against men who oppose the hero.
But, and mark my words, none of this is going to happen. My house will stay nondescript. Life is fine-and-dandy and you’re all suckers for believing the hype.
Black Women Need To Be Fired
Trump is going to win. The compelling reason after last week’s unbelievable DNC that I use to combat the media circle-jerk is the media does not lead with her “electoral college” path to victory. Instead, they run the headlines of her mere popularity.
This post and its content is not about “we need to follow the rules”. This post is about how there are rules and what the rules (which everybody does currently follow) show (Trump winning) is not being highlighted by the media. Instead, they are avoiding the topic. This, of course, is their prerogative. Who are any of us to insist someone to drop support of their free choice?
Trump wins. Done deal. Might as well write the history books now.
And yet, for as long as I can remember, there has passed a sort-of life-truth among Whites: Black women cannot be fired.
I do not remember the first time I heard of this notion, but it was early. It was probably in high school, ‘96-‘99.
I definitely remember that while in the Air Force I first heard about “Gee-Ess” employees and how they could never be fired. Worse, the rumor was held that the under or non-performer would actually get promoted.
Again, this was just rumor—zeitgeist.
It must have been around 2005, then, that I heard that beyond GS employees not being able to be fired, if it was a Black woman who worked as a GS, she was literally untouchable. In my mind, for over two decades, right or wrong, I have believed that the situation was such that if a black woman was fired from a federal job, it would prompt a Supreme Court Decision.
Do you hear me, people?
Trump has won. It is a done deal.
And yet I am not blind to the fact that the obstacle in his path is a federally employed Black woman.
Clash. Of. The. Titans.
(Or one more example of it.)
Here’s my thought, my underlying not-distasteful philosophy: I want Black women to live abundantly. I want Black women to achieve beyond their highest aspirations. I wouldn’t care one iota if some super-power nation promoting and securing peace and prosperity for all mankind came to be and was led by Black women.
But I do not believe any of those things will ever happen until Black women are fired.
So, I say again, Black women need to be fired.
Captain’s Log 