State of Double Happiness

It’s been just about one full year since Trish and I (with the help of an amazingly generous group of friends) packed up our lives’ accumulated goods and moved up the road from the bustling city of Chico, to the quieter rumblings of small town Los Molinos. The year has seen its share of trials and tribulations, with the good times far outweighing tragedy.

We had the “big burn” in March, along with a keg of Guinness beer. That event went well for the most part; but, in spite of best efforts to evacuate animals living in the pile of tree trunks, a handful of native bluebelly lizards may have been burned. This caused distress within the animal rights community.

Several smaller burns throughout the year helped both to clear vegetation, and release pent up spiritual energy.

We were the victims of our own poor planning when it came to the garlic and potato plots. We planted in the late winter and failed to take into account the shade that would result from the oak trees leafing out. The crops did not produce, and we have since relocated the garlic patch. We have yet to plant more potatoes.

There were several minor plumbing disasters that resulted in an outrageous amount of cursing. We anticipate similar problems going forward.

It would be difficult to count the number of trees that have been planted since our arrival. In a landscape that was comprised only of the one hundred or so, magnificent, mature oaks on the lot, there is now an array of trees: deciduous shade trees, evergreens, fruit trees, ornamentals. Add to this an equal number of shrubs and a plethora of bulbs, and we are on our way to reconstructing the Garden of Eden here in our little portion of the North State.

Easy-E - a 1953 "NAA" (N - Double-A)

A 1953 Ford Jubilee tractor was purchased in the summer, and promptly named “Easy-E.” (The official tractor model is “NAA” or “N double-A.”) A disc harrow was purchased in the fall. We are still in the market for a rotary mower.

A number of structures were erected on the property, and one particularly large and ugly structure, a half-barn, was demolished. A shade arbor, metal shop, and brick barbecue were built, and the construction of a small greenhouse is currently in progress and slated for completion early next month.

Aspirin consumption went way up since the move – and not (primarily) to assuage hangovers. A variety of muscles were strained and pulled in the process of digging holes, tearing out blackberry vines, and lifting heavy objects. In addition there was the infamous “barbed wire through the nose” incident that, fortunately, resulted in no permanent damage or complication.

We also picked up a new family member in the form of a chocolate Labrador named “Kiki.” Bill the black Labrador was not initially thrilled, Kiki’s nose has the scars to prove it, but their relationship has since mellowed.

Going forward, we now have a better overall understanding of the property – where the sun falls, and where the water flows. We anticipate growing a larger amount of crops to be sold and donated.

Mainly we plan to continue to create beauty and spread happiness.

madbob@madbob.com

More "Natural News" Ridiculousness...

I'm going to have to comment on this article. When I read it, it made me wonder if Natural News is the "alternative health" counterpart to the cultural eviscerations of the "Onion."

http://www.naturalnews.com/034676_sheeple_study_psychology.html#ixzz1jqjo20yM

The title of the article is:

Study Proves 95% of People Really Are Sheeple...

And it just goes downhill from there. The article sites a limited study in which non-verbally communicative people organized themselves into herds, essentially. In the study, a larger group of people was willing to be lead by a small minority.

That's the study in a nutshell.

Here's the source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html

From those facts, the author of the Natural News Article goes on to theorize that this tendency towards herding would lead to our susceptibility to being lead by political leaders, and to being taken in by con-men; to falling for political cover-ups, to falling for phony conspiracy theories. This paragraph has got to be the height of irony:

"Scary. Are we such sheeple that we allow a few "informed" people to lead us around without even knowing what's happening? Sadly, it makes sense. How many fall for scams of all kinds because of friends or "informed" sources, from pyramid schemes to religious hoaxes and political coverups. We seem to believe just about anything, or blindly tolerate it as long as the message is delivered with enough social credibility."


You've got to know a little bit about Natural News to understand the irony - this site consistently peddles fear to its audience. Articles routinely propose the idea that the government will be rounding up American citizens, illegally detaining us, forcibly vaccinating us with mind controlling agents, etc. The agenda is not even subtle.

I think what you have to do here, to see where the article is so far off base, is... you have to try and clear your mind. Then read the study first, the article's source. After you've read the study, go back and read the article, and see if the conclusions the author draws, from the limited parameters of the study, are the same as the conclusions you might draw.

Anyway - I'll expand on this later. I think it's pretty obvious that I have some serious doubts regarding the Natural News author's conclusions. Aside from that, the title certainly suggests that the article is being marketed to a relatively select audience.

Seriously, this article leaves me thinking: if there are sheeple, they are the ones buying into this story.

Smoke and Fog

Moon at night, falling around the Earth

I've spent the better part of the evening worrying a chancre sore with my tongue. It's on the lower right side of my mouth; inside, on the gums. The sore feels huge, but I don't think it's really as big as my tongue thinks it is. Tongue feels huge. My whole head feels big.

There is often a low-hanging mist in the air when you drive into the small town of Los Molinos. We like to play the guessing game: “Smoke, or fog?” Lately it's been mostly smoke. I wouldn't take a bet on fog for less than five to one odds, and even then I think it would be a giveaway.

Starting to get a glimpse of some of the movements swirling around. We got into a strong current of dissatisfaction and demonstration, and that seems to be disseminating towards debate and strategy. “Strategy” is probably too conscious of a word to describe it – the thing is more fluid than the word strategy evokes. It is sometimes painfully confusing.

Sign of the Times

Word on the street has it that Representative Wally Herger is retiring from Congress, after something like a quarter of a century of service. I've written to Herger on occasion, and always received a prompt and polite response. They typically include the phrase: “and even though we may not see eye to eye on many of today's important issues...” somewhere in the closing paragraph.  I appreciate the effort anyway, and the stationary is very nice – thick, quality paper.

Representative Wally Herger has announced his plan to retire from Congress

I'd read that as a sign – the old way moving on. Even though another old-way advocate will likely take his place, it's still a dramatic shift. It's something worth paying attention to. Old people in new roles might be more receptive to change. But I am afraid sometimes that these guys play the same game. They've become entrenched. One begets the other begets the other. Even when one side takes power from the other, the arguments still stay the same. You could have followed the same thought processes in 1970, or 1930. Are we moving forward at all?

Dance for Rain

There's very little moisture in the soil and less in the air. Even though the plants and trees are mostly bare and dormant, they still need weekly watering. Water is what we need right now, in any form: snow, rain, sleet, fog, hail, drizzle, slush; we need it to knock some of this smoke out of the air.

Phenakistoscope - Waltzing Dancers
 click image to view animation.

The Quiet Revolution

You know I think, I hope, I pray that we can do this thing, that we can make this transition here with a minimal amount of violence. Violence, some people say it's necessary, but I don't know about that. That seems to be a circular way of thinking. It's a logical loop; someone is committing violence against you, you strike back at them. But it's endless, and hopeless. Violence always begets more violence, until someone decides to walk away... Can you really walk away?

I think you have to.

madbob@madbob.com

$16.50 The Hard Way

Scrap Metal Yard - Recycling at it's Most Basic

After eggnog season I had a few days off.

I had piles of rusted, tangled barbed wire coiled in heaps around the yard. I managed to jam all that wire into the bed of my Toyota pick-up, and on Thursday morning I headed to a surplus metal buyer in Orland. First I drove into the yard, where  two men unloading material informed me I had to go get my truck weighed first. No big deal, I reversed the truck on out and waited for the scale to clear.

I parked on a metal plate and went into the office where a  young woman adjusted a series of metal plates and weights to determine how much the truck weighed. She said I was good and off I went, into the yard, to unload my scrap.

I was eager to help and I'd brought my gloves with me. The wire was all in a tangled mess that I felt uneasy about. I started wrenching and pulling the metal out. I had really rammed it in there – my strategy was pure laziness: instead of having to tie the load down, I'd let the wire do the work; and so I'd stomped it down into the truck to make sure it wouldn't pop free. It was tough, but I was making progress, pulling out the chain link fencing one roll at a time. Then I got to a pocket of barbed wire. It was tangled and interconnected with some hogwire and some more barbed wire. I was pulling hard, and it wasn't budging. I gave it a real powerful tug, and then I glanced something flashing by, and then there was a feeling of pulling on my nose.

A loose end of the barbed wire had shot free from the truck bed and whipped into my face, in such a way that a barb entered into my nostril, pierced the nostril's inside wall, and then the end of it poked out through the fleshy end of the septum. I was effectively hooked.

There was almost no pain; but there was blood, and I couldn't figure out how to get the wire out of my nose. My initial reaction was to pull, but that was wrong, because the barb was pointing down. I had to figure out from which direction the wire had entered, and then push it back that way. It took me a while to figure this out. I removed my glove to free my fingers. Slightly panicky, I tried pulling on the wire a couple more times, straight down. I felt my nose stretching, but the wire was not even close to pulling through. The attendant in the yard was getting concerned, and he called to his colleague, but then I got the wire moving in the right direction and was freed. A few thick droplets of blood ran down over my lips and mouth, and then onto my jacket.

“Man, I hope your day gets better.” The attendant told me sincerely.

madbob@madbob.com

Some Conspiracy Theory Links...

These are links explaining how to construct a good conspiracy. Anyone who finds themselves believing the bevvy of conspiracy theories swirling around out there today really ought to read through a few of these.

First there is the word

Pareidolia

http://www.skepdic.com/pareidol.html

Here is a really good article that goes into detail about the various elements that conspiracy theory authors will use to convince an audience of their story:

http://warp.povusers.org/grrr/conspiracytheories.html

Here is a great, concise article on how not to be suckered by the people pushing conspiracy theories:

http://warp.povusers.org/grrr/tools_against_conspiracy_theories.html

You know I'm really getting tired of trying to debunk bad logic. So many conspiracies are based on a negative assumption. I can't prove a negative. I can't prove to you that Bill Gates is not trying to euthanize the world with vaccines. I can tell you with 99.999999% certainty that he is not, but there is always that minute possibility that he is in fact an evil serial killer and so good at it that no one is catching him.

I can't prove to you that the government is not rounding people up ad hoc and forcibly vaccinating them. Sure there is absolutely zero fact-based evidence to prove this is happening, but that doesn't mean the government isn't doing it, and they are just so good at covering it up that no one has found out.

Staggering. It is amazing to me what people will choose to believe. I shake my head...

What’s with the Fear?

An Examination of the Motives behind Fear Mongering

I’ve been tripping out lately on all the fear-mongering and paranoia that has been percolating up on the internet and elsewhere. It’s easy enough to disprove a lot of the whacked out nonsense you hear, but ultimately it had me asking the question: Why?

Why are there people out there who are hell-bent on spreading fear and generating an climate of distrust and paranoia? Well I think some people probably do it just for kicks, for the ego stroke, for the challenge of writing a story that becomes accepted by a segment of the population. I’m a writer of fiction myself. I’ve made false documentaries; I’ve published phony news stories. My work is generally tongue in cheek and, even if the falsities are not detected, more of a goof than a nefarious tool of chaos. But still, I can understand the mentality of the creator of fiction who gets their rocks off by spreading falsehoods. It’s fun and satisfying to write a piece that is constructed well enough to be believable.

But there is a more pragmatic motive behind some of the misleading information out there: loyalty. If you monger in fear, and paint yourself as the shining ray of truth in a sea of lies, and if you do it well enough, you will eventually attract an audience of people who trust you, and only you.

This loyalty can be used for a variety of different ends. If you are the host of a radio program that purports to tell its audience the truth behind conspiracies and weird phenomenon, that loyalty manifests itself into an audience that boosts your ratings, and allows you to sell advertising to your sponsors.

If you are a self-proclaimed health guru who exposes to your audience the schemes and cynicism behind modern health care, you can use the loyalty of your audience to sell health supplements and books.

If you are a government, you can use fear of insidious enemies lurking in the shadows to foster loyalty to a police state, all in the name of “security.”

The problem with loyalty is that it comes at the expense of freedom. You trade your free will when you pledge your allegiance to a figure or cause. You lost your rights when you give into fear. Not just your government guaranteed rights, but your ingrained human rights – your right to be in harmony, to be at peace, to be happy. Fear destroys those rights.

The truth will set you free – because the truth is the truth. It is not disputable, it only is. Seek the truth and you need pledge no other fealty.

madbob@madbob.com

Is Bill Gates Aspiring to be the Greatest Mass Murderer In History?

Misconceptions and Paranoia in a Culture of Fear and Doom

I have been hearing a variety of vicious and insidious rumors of late regarding vaccinations. Three recent conspiracies have been proposed to me for consideration.

The first is the idea that Bill Gates is using vaccinations around the world as some sort of plot to either sterilize, or exterminate, 10 to 15% of the world’s population.

The second is that vaccinations are being used to intentionally spread cancer, and were used to introduce AIDS to the population.

And the third is that citizens of Maryland are having their children rounded up and forced into sort of vaccination detention camps, complete with armed guards and “attack dogs” to ensure that the populations receives their shots.

I am pretty well convinced that all three of these theories are completely bogus, and are being peddled by the fear mongers who are bent on fostering an atmosphere of paranoia and chaos. I will take them one at a time:

Is Bill Gates a Mass Murderer?

This one makes me shake my head. The fuel for the fire is a quote, clearly taken intentionally out of context, from Bill Gates regarding the effectiveness of vaccinations in helping to curb population growth. Here’s the quote:

“If we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 per cent.”

People have interpreted this phrase to mean that Bill Gates is either actively sterilizing, or actively euthanizing, poor people around the world.

Here’s another idea. Preventing childhood diseases lowers infant and child mortality. Reducing child mortality means families don’t have to have a dozen children in order to ensure that three of them make it to adult-hood. The downward pressure to procreate reduces population. Do you really think people in poor countries really want to have large families with extra mouths to feed?

Do Vaccinations Cause Cancer and AIDS?

The only “proof” I saw of this claim came in the form of a dubious article from an “alternative news” site, and a hackneyed YouTube video. The reason I even clicked on the video link is because the article said there was proof of vaccinations causing AIDS in the form of a vaccine scientist actually admitting as much “on camera.” The video was typical paranoid drivel – a series of still photos with the ominous underlying music: gruesome photos of dead bodies and mayhem. The doctor “speaking on camera” was voice only, and a scratchy recording at that, running underneath the still photos. At that point, any credibility the article might have had was already dashed – but don’t let the facts stand in the way of a good rant.

Are Unvaccinated Children in Maryland being Herded into Detention Camps?

God, enough with the detention camps already. I don’t know who started this stuff, but give them credit, they sparked a real wildfire in the fringe communities on the far left and the far right.

In this twist on the story, unvaccinated children are literally being herded into camps staffed by armed soldiers and “attack dogs,” where they are then forcibly inoculated.

As with any good conspiracy story, there is a germ of truth to this one. A sheriff in one county of Maryland did indeed issue subpoenas targeting the parents of unvaccinated children. These parents are meant to have their children vaccinated within a certain time frame, under threat of a fine, or possible jail time.

First, it isn’t state wide. Second, I’m pretty sure it’s not legal, and that under legitimate legal challenge, these subpoenas will likely be dropped. Still, makes for some good fear mongering.

My Thoughts on Vaccinations

Look, I think there is plenty of room to question current vaccination policy. I think we likely over-vaccinate. My understanding is that some of the vaccines administered routinely are for diseases that rarely manifest. I think it is important that we critically examine the connection between vaccine administration and “Big Pharma.” Do I think vaccines can cause autism? Maybe. It seems to me that most studies say no, some studies say possibly. Intuition tells me that giving an infant or a child 40+ doses of vaccine at once could have harmful side effects. So the amount we vaccinate, and how we apply those vaccines, is ripe area for debate.

But do I think vaccinations are an insidious form of population control, that spread cancer, sterilize people, kill people, cause AIDS? No, I think that’s ludicrous. Vaccines have staved off incredibly destructive childhood diseases: Polio, mumps, measles, rickets, and more. Why would you target those diseases for eradication, only to replace them with cancer or AIDS? It makes no sense.

That’s the thing with all of these conspiracy theories; they  start with a theory in mind, then use circular logic, twisted logic paths, innuendo and conjecture to bolster that theory. It’s bad logic, junk science – it preys on the innate desire of the human mind to make connections. The conspiracy theorists peddle fear and confusion; they seek to make chaos out of order. They seek to spread fear and loathing through the population.

madbob@madbob.com