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the worst thing you can be in life is pathetic

Let’s say you lived in a small farming village ~2K years ago. There’s maybe about 200-300 people in the local area. You grow up there. You never leave. To the point you get sick of watching that ugly looking tree on one of your village’s dirt roads as it grows old over 50 years. It haunts your dreams for decades. You imagine the wildlife that are forever on that tree are going to break down your door. At any time. They’re there to rob you of your firewood.

And after 50 years as you become an old person, you’ve just had it. You no longer give a shit. You just want to stop looking at that horrible tree. You want to cut it down in the dark of night. Because it’s not on your property. A bird flies by and promises you that in fact, in true fact, you’re making the right decision. If you cut down the tree, the bird will give you a free jug of swill. Honest.

But eventually, as much as you really, really want to?

You don’t do it.

After all, after 50 years? Whatever. You’ve got grandchildren to protect. So essentially you just do nothing. Whether it’s wise or not. And on your deathbed the tree comically laughs at you, knowing it will be alive for several more centuries while you become bones and dust.

The village is basically just left alone to do its thing. 97% of people born there never leave, not even for one day. And it’s a relatively peaceful village (aside from the basic crimes of all awfulness that humanity has done to each other since sand was created). As long as the large, but still somewhat reasonable taxes are paid to the local lord the village is left alone.

Then, every once in a while, the lord works a levy on the local young men for [insert any stupid and pointless war here]. But it’s okay. Because the lord is only asking for like twelve guys. And surely, there are enough stupid young guys who seek adventure and glory instead of a calm, happy life. So it’s all good.

The town doesn’t really have a mayor, or a town council, or anything. People just generally govern themselves and work out disputes with their neighbors. Despite what movies will tell you, almost all neighbor disputes in human history were resolved without violence.

Then, after centuries of this construct, one of two things happens. The third option (3) is the status quo, which is awesome and generally works pretty well. Then these things can happen (I have to leave the complicated details out of my scenarios, or we’d be here all day; please bear with me):

1) Normal guy in village (they all know him from birth) gains absolute power over the entire village. Everyone knew he was a little weird as a kid, but just generally a guy, he was just there. They were wrong. When he takes power, he orders the throats of all his supposed enemies slit. He rules with total authority for life. When he dies, maybe his son becomes the new “mayor”. But more than likely the village devolves into a village gang fight (aka village civil war) as people slaughter each other to claim power.

2) Some average guy with good intentions (he thinks so; but maybe he’s wrong) gains power. He establishes a town council and a series of local agents and appoints them to be the voice of the various parts of the village to him. He’s not the best, but when he needs to, he makes decisions and for the most part governs wisely. Most people don’t really like him because he’s aloof, and after so many decades in power, he’s become quite haughty. But everyone goes along with it because he does things that help the village. Even when he makes mistakes, they’re mostly still behind him. The village appreciates the stability.

These two can happen. Or, as mentioned above, the third option is the status quo. But, … what if this happens:

(4) A person is made mayor for any reason. But they don’t have the skills or confidence to do it. Instead of making decisive decisions, or getting out there and talking with people, or constructing a village organization? The person does very minor things, some of which might help, but are just a rounding error. After decades in power the “mayor” dies. The village is pretty much exactly the same. It’s as if this person never existed.

Why did I do this post? How did I not stop typing earlier?

I do get carried away here. There is no doubt. If you want to see total stream of thought nonsense? See my last Iran post.

I got carried away with this particular post. [shrugs] But basically my point is what one of my best bosses once taught me (it’s a short list). The worst thing you can decide to do: Is Nothing.

I read the BBC every day for general information. At least it’s not behind a paywall. It’s more clickbait than a normal human brain can absorb, but I don’t click on that. I think I wrote about the BBC and clickbait on this degenerate blog like a decade ago. But a lot of the BBC quite obviously focuses on Britain. As they should since they take the License Fee. The British taxpayer has to deal with this, whether they like it or not.

But it can devolve into things which are just strange or utterly pointless. Iran has been their number one topic for a month. And as such, internal British politics and the actions of the Prime Minister regarding this war are reported. License Fee.

It means nothing. Starmer and the BBC are the little boys and girls, hand in air, begging for attention. The Royal Navy sent one destroyer to do nothing. A small amount of fighters have shot down a handful of drones. I think Ukraine shoots down ten times more drones in only one night.

But there’s Starmer, and the BBC, hand in air. Pretending to be a crucial part of a world conflict that they aren’t part of. And plus, Starmer has reputedly said is not a British war.

I got no problem with Starmer and the general scope of the British elite to not want to be a part of this. I get it. They might be mostly right. But then there’s the hand in the air: LOOK AT ME!!!

Starmer and the UK are my (4) above. They’re just there. It’s kind of pathetic. This was the British Empire. Yet as is well known, the NHS is a problematic, absolute medical disaster at home. The Empire is over. Maybe instead of focusing on Iran, in any way, is less of a priority than making sure people can get medical attention at a rate that is reasonable?

They won’t. Starmer and the UK are the (4) above. [shrugs] Become the (1) or (2) above. Or, acknowledge that you’re a failure and irrelevant. It’s a shame. France leads Europe now. The British are just there. I hope for much better, I love the country, but if you look at the litany of about two decades of Prime Ministers? I think they will be (4) forever.

The worst thing you can do in life is to be pathetic. I should know, it’s been a significant portion of my life. In the end, make a decision. Any decision. Even if you’re wrong, at least you’re doing something.

If I could put this in nautical terms, imagine this situation:

You are driving your sailboat and you’re (somehow) about to collide with a speedboat. You have five seconds to decide what to do. But based on the visual information available to your eyes at that exact moment, you don’t know what to do because you don’t have enough data or time to evaluate your options. So in those few seconds, you have to choose your immediate turn: Port or Starboard? You don’t know if you’ll be right or wrong. You have five seconds. But making no decision at all means you’ll collide.

We all have to make decisions. So we are not pathetic. Apathy is a curse. I don’t know what Britain is anymore.

In general, despite the beyond comprehension complexity, please let the killing stop somehow.

…

Damn, this post is like 17 longer than I intended. Uh, …, so, … Love Your Neighbor

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embrace nepotism as reality; it’s never going to change

For whatever reason, it just seems to me that so many people are out on the warpath to nepotism lately. Whether it be politics, sports, acting, lion tamer, business, arctic explorer, and the local butcher.

Why are all these people where they are because of their bloodline? Isn’t that unfair? It’s a valid question. It’s been one that’s been asked for over 5K years.

It’s just human. We can’t get over it. We’ll never get over it. If anybody thinks we can get over it: I refer you to Cnut and the tide.

The very idea of a hereditary monarchy is a form of nepotism. So are wills. So are people’s last names.

Is this a good thing? Probably not. But as we progress as humanity, we must always acknowledge at the beginning that we are who we are. If we deny who we are? We can never become something better.

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show your work; we at the TAP didn’t do our full job on last movies post

My Guests are pissed. But now that I’m posting again at a high rate? I am reminded that a lot of posts can be stream of thought. As in, nonsense. So, I’ll try and keep this brief (and likely somewhat fail).

We posted on the Oscar’s a few days ago. But two things. One, I should have provided some examples. Second, we did not properly give credit where credit is due.

First, the second. The quote, “Now everything sucks” I used is from Red Letter Media, specifically, Mike. If you’re into movies? This is a channel you cannot do without. Most, if not all, of current movie channels use their previous quotes. That’s how long they’ve been doing their excellent thing. I don’t even think a lot of channels realize they’re using the same words from the RLM guys from like a decade ago. It’s endemic. I realized I was using their quote a few days ago in my post, and should have credited them, but didn’t. Bad form. So here that is.

Second, the only reason people know the B movie Samurai Cop exists is because the RLM guys got into it years ago. Comparing this movie to Kurosawa’s’ Sanjuro is like asking anybody to step in front of a semi truck in motion and it’ll somehow all work out.

Samurai Cop is 1980’s/1990’s Southern California straight B garbage, but fun to laugh at. Sanjuro is pure art. If you want to know what I was talking about a few days ago? This is it. Here is an example I should have shown.

One is fun to laugh at. The other is pure art. You may disagree with me, but that’s for you to determine on your own. It’s great if you like superhero movies, or vampire movies, or Michael Bay laughing all the way to his mansion. I don’t mind either way. If you like something? Roll with it, joy is essential, especially in our stupid modern world. I guess I’m just telling you where my brain was at.

One is what Hollywood/(wider movie world; like Japan) used to be. The other is what Hollywood is today. Maybe I was a fool decades ago for not seeing it? The end start of the path that took decades to really happen? And it all fell off a cliff. Not sure?

Samurai Cop:

Samurai Cop Final Fight 🗡️

Sanjuro:

Sanjuro 1962 Ending fight scene 4K Akira Kurosawa

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when the idea of reality won’t last long; Iran style

The place I lived like over a decade ago (I’m “getting old”; everyone on The Internets says this all the time; I know this; I also know I’m not about to be devoured by scorpions tonight; please don’t judge me; I can’t sleep if you think scorpions are under my bed). Wait, uh, … what?

Basically I moved there back then to be closer to my relatives from another State. It’s been awesome.

If you’ve been a demented soul like me and are part squirrel, Albanian assassin, and the seven other people who have read this blog? You might remember I’ve written about that residence in the past. Then I left.

One of the reasons I had to leave was the target gunfire in the park that my second floor overlooked. They did it at about 11 or so. Not every night. I can’t remember how often it was; maybe about monthly. It drove me and my dogs nuts. Guess what? Nobody ever did anything about it. In Earth terms (even though it was not a rich USA place) it was essentially one of the richest counties on the planet.

Nobody cared.

It kinda creeps me out that I now live in one of the most rich counties in the world (this county is not the county mentioned above) and they can’t even get the street signs correctly. I’m not joking. One of the richest counties on Earth can’t produce intersections that make sense to a normal person.

This is how the planet works.

This is why everything that is wrong lately is happening. When your local or national government is so incompetent that they can’t be bothered to make the nearest traffic sign work? Why would you trust them with anything else.? Or get involved with anything else? You have to live your life, don’t you?

Iran has been front page news in the media for weeks. I myself dug into it, I kinda am ashamed about it. For what? Remember South Sudan, Syria, Burma, Central African Republic, Sudan today?

What about obscure stuff? How about continuous fighting (for decades) between the Indian government and those maoist insurgents? What about Mexico’s multi decade war against insanity, drugs, and anarchy? What happened to all the feelings about Tibet or Xinjiang?

Guess what folks, especially in the modern era of social media, nobody cares. Iran is top page news for now. In (let’s estimate) six months nobody will care. Oh, oh, … the media will tell you the war has increased your price at the gas pump this month? Hasn’t that been happening via inflation for an entire fucking half decade?

Remember Ukraine? Remember THAT? Iran is front page news. But! Every. Single. Day. At the moment, tens of thousands of Ukrainian Soldiers are under fire from Russia. Remember that?! But the media is like: Oh no, no that’s not important anymore, we need to report the current price of a barrel of oil like it’s a fresh killed deer at a medieval market.

Watch what you read, what you listen to, and what you look at on your blinky box of choice. Even if you can do nothing about it? Can you do anything, I mean anything of value to help the Iran situation? I can’t. But at least don’t let your brains be led by the media.

Reality will be changed soon. And the media will feed you clickbait of another kind till then. This is why everyone should volunteer and help their neighbors. This is why sports exist.

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watching the Oscar’s right now? bail

I got my love of movies from many sources. But a ton of it was from my Grandma. She had her VHS collection. I’ve got my Blu Ray collection.

I think on this degenerate loser blog we’ve posted about the Oscar’s probably about half a dozens times over the years.

I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie theater. Nor the last modern movie I’ve seen at all. As one of the most accurate video creators said a few years ago: “Now everything sucks.”

I think Sinners is supposed to win big? I’ve not seen it, or ever will. But I guess it’s a movie with vampires. Gee, nobody has ever done that before.

Hollywood is finished. The Oscars are nothing currently more than (forgive my language) a complete circle jerk. Where they all think they are important and matter. When they don’t.

I wish it was the other way around. If a good movie I wanted to see in the theater came out? I’d watch it opening weekend. It’s not gonna happen. Culture has moved on. It’s just that the Oscar’s and Hollywood either don’t realize it or accept it.

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laughter is eternal

I was having lunch at a bar between errands today. This nice lady, based on her behavior and look, probably almost in her 80’s steps up and asks the barkeep for a $150 gift card.

On a whim, I asked her who it was for. She kinda brushed off that question and I didn’t press it. Then she says to me on the side, with her wonderful smirk, “It’s a good gift. Everyone has to eat.”

Both of us just started cracking up.

Many times, even the briefest of human interactions can bring laughter into your heart. It’s enteral.

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Kenya – when travel shuts down your brain

You can see it in every part of the world. It’s just about walking around so your eyes can take it all in. But then your brain tends to shut down, because it can’t process what you’re seeing. This is the idea of seeing the most grinding poverty imageable, then within 15 minutes you can be drinking beer with your mates in a modern bar.

Every, single, part of humanity has this situation. Every country on Earth. In the West, the kindly term is ‘homeless’. Other places it’s ‘poverty’ or ‘destitution’. Either way, you get what I mean. And then these people can live this way literally one block away from the rich, modern world and they are essentially invisible.

Let me say this up front. I don’t have an answer for this. Apparently, since this concept still exists, none of us do. This post is about observation, not solutions. But if you have watched Star Trek you know the Federation has, somehow, removed this from Humanity. How did that happen in the show? Will it always be fiction? Maybe. But if it’s not, none of us will be alive to see it.

Kenya stops my brain on all this. One of Africa’s best economies where being in parts of Nairobi can seem like you’re in Singapore. And then drive a few hours in either direction and it’s South Sudan. The mind shuts down, it can’t process this is any normal way.

This is the way it works:

Leave apartment after you’ve read this degenerate blog post with the pinnacle of some form of human technology => walk to restaurant with friends => see homeless person along the way => acknowledge that they are homeless either through their own faults or the combined faults of others => ignore them => forget within 19 seconds you’ve seen them => eat at restaurant with friends => you are happy

As I wrote years ago on this stupid blog, I did a lot of soup kitchen volunteering. Essentially, one of my points was when you help people in situations like this, if you really think about it, you could be them.

I don’t give a shit what anybody says, in our own way, everybody is trying. Even suicide is an action, ultra negative, but still an action, chosen by said person. It’s horrible. But in a way, nobody ever truly gives up. It’s engrained to our human nature.

More than anywhere else, Kenya taught me this. Except maybe Vietnam too. Same thing. Absolute modern life you see, and in the same day, the most grinding poverty in the world. But it isn’t just on travel, it’s at our doorsteps everywhere. Wherever you live.

I had a great time in Kenya. But I guess I’ll wrap up these words with the simple statement: Help someone.

Love your neighbor(s). It doesn’t matter what you do. Volunteer; give money; research other unique ways you can make this crazy planet better. Kenya is a wonderful place. Go there. The people are so kind and awesome. It makes you understand who you are.

Where does the road lead?

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you own the sidewalk, never give it up

I’m walking back from errands tonight after a good burger. I’m walking back to me apartment. I’ve walked this route hundreds of times. But there was an anti-ICE protest in my way. For whatever reason.

Think what you will of Trump or ICE or whatever. But don’t get the fuck in my way when I’m just trying to walk home in peace.

I thought about going around them. But then, like, I’m an American. This is how I get home. I’m just going to walk on. So, I walked thru their formation keeping my eyes straight forward. Any time I was blocked I just stood there staring forward and said nothing. Not matter what they said to me. When a body window opened, I just walked on like I’ve done hundreds of times.

But then this kept happening. Eventually (to their credit) the protest organizers told the others to let me pass. Like they owned the sidewalk, as in a medieval castle gate. Even though I hadn’t said a word. Then I walked home.

On one of the crosswalk signals I saw later on the way home, somebody had written in sharpie, “FUCK ICE”. I chuckled a bit. The person who wrote that probably felt a bit of happy in their spine when they wrote that. I made them feel good. Even though what they wrote means essentially nothing.

Our modern Western culture is about words and outrage and cultural conquest. Actions are irrelevant. As long as you say and write what you think (on either “side”) that’s enough. Then they go home and feel happy about themselves. Even though they have accomplished absolutely nothing.

I was just trying to walk back to my apartment.

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Bahrain – when you don’t know what to think

At least at some level, I hope most humans anywhere, everywhere have heard of our great civilizations that at this point are thousands of years old: Sumera, Babylon, Egypt, China (in so many forms), Assyria, Hittites, Songhai, Inca, and on and on and on.

In what we now (incorrectly in my opinion) still call the Middle East and its surrounding areas you hear tell of a mysterious island at the center of Earth’s trading empire. Bahrain. Some references refer to it as Elam. There is an argument to be made that this is true as a civilization across the Persian Gulf from Bahrain was called Elam.

History at these eras goes far too back for comprehension. Maybe Bahrain was once a client state if not conquered by Elam. But the general consensus is to refer to that ancient island as Dilmun. It was never an empire or had any real power. It was essentially a permanent city state. It’s wealth and importance came as a trading post between parts of the world. In what we now (incorrectly in my opinion) call globalization, Dilmun was essential. In the world of the citizens of Dilmun, ‘globalism’ to them meant ‘life’, every single day.

If you ever have a chance to visit Bahrain, even for a brief flight layover, your one and only destination needs to be the National Museum. It’s a quaint swell place, and does a really, really good job of portraying the entire course of the island’s history.

When your island is inhabited by humans for almost five thousand years, things change. It is possible that Dilmun was once semi tropical, and in time turned to the blank desert it is today. But regardless of the weather, Bahrain being only a city state, and at the border of so many empires became what happens to people in their positions: A Doormat.

The number of different civilizations and cultures that conquered Bahrain are innumerable. Even today, the royal family ties their origins not to Bahrain. They came from Kuwait. They are Sunni. Yet the majority of Bahrain’s citizens are Shia (since the island is so close to Iran), this is the central reason why things don’t work quite so well there today.

Then maybe as much as a little less than half the people living there are South Asians who also make up so much of the people across the Arab world. They come for the money. They have essentially no rights. They put up with it because they earn many times more than they could at home.

There is so much more I could write about the above two paragraphs. But I just don’t feel the energy to do it. It can quickly devolve into a sad tale. Where you want to bathe in the misery. But when you talk to all these people, they aren’t broken. They’re trying, each and every day, regardless whether they are a citizen or not.

Also, sandstorms suck. So does the heat. Bahrain is surrounded by relatively shallow parts of the ocean. Which allows the humidity to skyrocket. In Kuwait even if it’s 120 degrees the dry heat is at least somewhat tolerable. In a 90 degree Bahrain morning with 100% humidity it will end you. It would be so hot that first thing in the morning I’d leave my flat for work and the entire pavement would look like it was drenched. Even though there was no rain. It kind of broke me I think. Even all these years later, I kinda really fear a lot of heat.

I went to Bahrain for work, and had to stay here a long time. I did not enjoy. Mostly because I missed my family. I also just had a hard time connecting with the entire idea of the island. More than once I walked thru the Shia zones where I was told never to go. They did not kidnap me or kill me. They barely even acknowledged my existence. They had their lives to live. Sunni verse Shia politics are there, but it doesn’t change their lives.

Then there are the South Asians. The best meal I ever had in Bahrain was at a Thali place with some coworkers that was in a dirty back alley and was completely packed. It was incredible. And this is coming from a guy who would want to play curling in traffic before being a vegetarian.

I never met a single person in Bahrain that I hated. Some people I didn’t like, but never hate. These people, regardless of their skin color, race, culture, history are all just trying to muddle through and improve their lives and the lives of their families.

But even with this wonder of human light, I still can’t put my finger on why I feel so uncomfortable with my time there. I don’t understand why. I guess all I can do is acknowledge that I definitely would never want to go there again. I would never recommend anybody travel there. But I don’t have a clear answer even to myself as to why.

But, they have a future. Let’s see where it goes.

my own shot, from my flat balcony; good luck to them all, I truly hope for the best