It has been 72 hours

Charlie Kirk was murdered because he was supernaturally gifted at selling traditional, Conservative values at the retail level. Charlie Kirk was effective. That was very, very threatening to the people whose rice-bowl is chained to the legacy narrative. That is why he was murdered and why the Left celebrated his death.

Some pair-wise comparisons of comparable items in the retail space

Older, dominant modality................... New Modality

Land-line telephone................................iPhone

Company store.......................................Dollar General

Legacy narrative.....................................Charlie Kirk  

Commonalities.....................................Commonalities

Coercive.................................................Free-market    

Producer-centric......................................User-centric

Not responsive to "customers"...................Responds to customer needs

Wealth pumps.........................................Offers value in exchange

Charlie Kirk's "selling" technique

1. Invite the potential customer to tell him what is important to the customer
2. LISTEN to the potential customer. 
3. Rephrase any potentially ambiguous language
4. Validate or recognize the potential customer's feelings
5. Agree with what he can agree with. This step and the prior step establish an empathy bond.
6. Articulate his own views on the topic without denigrating the potential customer
7. Focus on one or two points where the views are diametrically opposed
8. Reference pertinent data. For instance, talk about outcomes of Native American tribes that receive casino money vs. ones that don't when talking about Universal Basic Income or Reparations
9. Observe that the data suggests that his viewpoint produces the most compassionate outcomes for the majority of the people.
10. Admit ignorance when the potential customer brings an event that he had no knowledge of. 

Most people with a brain appreciated the respect Mr Kirk extended to them. They could FEEL the difference between Mr Kirk's engaging with them on their home-turf and the Legacy narrative's "We will kick in your teeth if you disagree with us" approach.

Transgenderism and Mental Illness

The functional definition of Mental Illness 

The functional definition of "Mental Illness" is "Do your issues interfere with the activities of normal life?"

We all have "symptoms" of mental illness. We all have quirks. 

Normal, developmental stages of life also resemble the symptoms of mental illness. Most teenagers go through a phase where they compulsively argue. But that is a normal phase that nearly all of them grow out of. It is not an illness as long as they don't get stuck there. 

Those behaviors do not rise to the level of diagnosable "illness" if we, as adults, can function smoothly in modern life. 

For example: Consider somebody who is stressed by crowds. It is not considered a mental illness if they can work and shop and do all of the other things considered parts of ordinary life. 

That person might have several coping mechanisms. They might work third-shift stocking shelves or they might be a cobbler who very rarely has more than two customers in his shop at a time. Maybe they work from home as a seamstress. At that point, it is not considered a mental illness.

But if the company eliminated third-shift and the person locks-up and cannot find another job, then it becomes diagnosable because the demands of everyday tasks changed and suddenly exceeded that person's capability to execute them.

ADA and Mental Illness 

The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) was interpreted as covering mental illness and employers are expected to make "reasonable accommodations" to employ people who are diagnosed with mental illnesses. That is problematic because there are no objective tests to diagnose mental illness. There is no blood test nor imaging technology like there are for diabetes or brain tumors.

Catch 22

If a delusional behavior like transgenderism is very pointedly written out of the Mental Illness Diagnostic Manual, then why are "reasonable accommodations" still being made for it?

And many of those accommodations ended up being far more than "reasonable". There is a 125,000 square-feet factory in southern-Michigan where the single "transgender" employee is allowed to use the Plant Manager's personal restroom and shower (only accessible through a door in his private office) because they filed a complaint stating that they "didn't feel safe" using the one for their pretend gender. Having worked in a factory and knowing the near-godlike powers and the number of confidential issues (often involving personnel) that are handled in the office of the Plant Manager, that access to his office is inconceivable to me. 

The barroom lawyer cannot stand on Title XI (against sexual discrimination). Sex is in your chromosomes. Transgender is gender which we are repeatedly told is totally different than XX, XY and YY.

Which brings us back to "Transgenderism is a delusional mental illness where the patient is incapacitated when others don't play along with their delusion".

Bonus argument

Many mental illnesses are cursed with accompanying comorbidities. There is a cascading effect of suboptimal "maladjustments" as the brain tries to cope while still cherishing the original bad decisions.

Even proponent of the transgender movement admit that transgenders are a bundle of mental illnesses although they attribute those mental illnesses to society "not accepting them".

It is interesting that kids are diagnosed with autism before they decide they are transgender. How can society's discrimination work backward in time? 

The day I was a typo, and the crowd cheered

I gave blood today.

Yes, I am Type O Positive.

Retting

This is a follow-up to the post on hemp fiber.

Good post HERE written in very readable English.

Short, interesting video showing mechanical retting (not hemp).

Retting is actually two processes. The first part of the process is to separate the fiber bundles from the core. That part can be very fast. The second process is to delaminate the fiber bundle into its individual fibers by breaking down the gel that glues the fibers together. The second part is similar to making paper from wood.

Long, academic paper. 

Upper Orchard notes

The tree in the picture is an apple tree that was originally grafted to a very early apple. Then two water-sprouts were grafted to Melrose. The grafts are about 8' above the ground. Then the tree was given zero attention for more than a decade.

A couple of years ago the orchard came under my care and I mentally marked this tree for culling. The reason that I dislike very early apples is that it seems like there is a three-day picking window. If you miss that window, they fall to the ground and make a mess. They are also magnets for stinging insects. Finally, they just don't taste all that good.

While reviewing it mid-fall 2024 I noted the branches of Melrose apples in the dense thicket of branches. I picked the apples and marked the two branches by tying face-masks to them. Hey, I was working with what was in the truck and it seemed like a good use for them.

Pruning out the branches of the early apple left two, gangly whips that were much too tall. I made the executive decision to leave them as they were because I needed to leave some wood to leaf-out to support the metabolic needs of the trunk and roots. My hope was that more shoots would sprout lower on the gangly whips and I could start taking some height out of the tree.

The branch on the east side of the tree surprised me with a bumper crop of apples. Maybe it is saying "Thanks!"

Hunting blind update

The sheet-metal went up without a hitch. Potential issues were identified ahead of time and I put plans into place to remediate them. Working alone can be a challenge when you have to handle sharp and awkward items like 8'-by-3' sheet steel panels.

One of the features I added is that I capped the header with a 6", 5/4" decking plank with rounded edges and I tilted  the outer edge of the header a quarter inch downward so any rain that falls on it will run OUT of the blind. It is also closer to parallel with how the firearms or crossbows will be tipped when shooting.

Now I have two more sides to complete.

Palmer amaranth and water-hemp

PA and WH are similar species of amaranth that are weedy. I imported them when I purchased bags of "composted" cow manure.

Many species of amaranth have edible greens. These two species are nominally edible but the tips become fiberous quickly. In the wild, they are often contaminated with pesticides and during dry-spells can have issues with nitrate accumulation (the cause of Blue Baby syndrome) and possibly hydrogen cyanide.

I spent part of yesterday walking the orchard and grubbing out the PA and WH plants I saw.

Shift in orchard priorities

The priorities shift with the season.

Obviously, harvesting fruit is the major priority but there are also other tasks. 

One task is to identify the varieties of the trees. The two trees in the west row immediately north of the newly grafted Enterprise might be Spigold or Sweet Sixteen. They are late, large, crunchy and already sweet. They also appear to have corky-spot. Corky-spot is a fruit quality issue where the tree cannot deliver enough calcium to the fruit. The fix is to spray the trees with multiple sprays of calcium-rich solution.

"Why not just add calcium (limestone) to the soil?" you ask. Because Corky-spot is often a transport issue. For some reason, the stems cannot or will not ship the calcium to the developing fruit.

In the third row, counting from the west, the two northernmost mature trees appear to be Jonafree.

Another task involves armoring the baby trees against mice/voles eating the bark. That involves removing all of the deer and rabbit guard fencing and wrapping several wraps of paper or metal window-screen around the trunks before re-installing the rabbit and deer protection. I expect that to take 15 minutes a tree so that will absorb a lot of time.

Branches and brush still need to be cleared out to facilitate mowing. 

Mowing

I removed one of the blades from the mower at the Upper Orchard site and sharpened it. When I returned to reinstall it, the adaptor that is supposed to be on the end of the spindle was gone. That is baffling because I immediately replaced the bolt and washer after pulling the blade.

While searching the internet for a replacement I learned that the blade is supposed to be 20" instead of 18", so the mower has the wrong blade, too. Used equipment is full of surprises. The right answer is to get the proper adaptor and blade which will work if the spindle is still original. 

Ground blinds

I also put up a ground-blind on the edge of a grassy, goldenrod filled field. I was disappointed with the size of the stakes that came with the product so I need to purchase some real tent-stakes.

You can see the traces of the deer trails in the upper, right corner of the image.

The distance between the blind (the green diamond) and the extreme, upper-left corner of the image is about 40 yards.

Charlie Kirk

A brave man. He knew there were grave risks and he answered the call of what he saw as his mission anyway.

The 72 hour rule is in effect.

I find that the best way for me to deal with stress is to throw myself into something productive. Fight, flight or work. And of the three, I prefer work. 

Canary in the Coal Mine?

France paralyzed.

Protesters set fires as they blocked highways and gas stations across France early Wednesday as part of a new nationwide movement. Authorities deployed 80,000 police, who made hundreds of arrests and fired tear gas to disperse crowds.

The "Block Everything" movement was born online over the summer in far-right circles, but spread on social media and was co-opted by left-wing, antifascist and anarchist groups. It now includes France’s far-left parties and the country’s powerful labor unions.

It seems suicidal to cut off the flow of food, fuel and medicine between cities. Do they WANT the cities to burn? "Three days from anarchy" and all that.

There is pent-up energy in every country right now. The unwinding of that energy is likely to play out in different ways in every country, perhaps varying at the state and county levels as well.

What will not change is your need for oxygen, clean drinking water, protection from the elements, food, for most of us at least 5 hours of sleep a night. We need some certainty that we and those closest to us are safe from harm.

For my readers in Michigan who are in dire need of a shotgun, this auction of property confiscated by the police has a large number of shotguns. Most of them are on the bottom of page 3 and and the top of page 4 of the catalog. The auction closes on September 24 and the property dispersal is in Battle Creek.

Rust, rot and depreciation are eternal

 

An old hunting blind is getting re-sided

One of my younger brothers originally fabricated this hunting blind. He had a friend whose girlfriend's father sold garage doors. Being a charming fellow, my brother had a limitless supply of garage door "tear-offs" and he frequently made use of them in his projects using batten-and-screw methods to attach them to framing.

Bugs, woodpeckers, squirrels and time have had their way with those panels and it is time to replace them.

I am using dimension lumber and sheet steel siding. Another thing I am doing is lowering the sill to approximately 38". It is kind of stupid to have to get out of the chair because you cannot depress the elevation enough. Elevation is easier to add than to subtract. 

I don't think I will be hunting from a 10' high, elevated blind in twenty years, but who knows. 

So, doctor, how do I feel?

I was dragging the last three or four days. I was tired. I had aches and pains. I could hardly pry my behind out of my recliner.

I wondered if it was low blood-sugar, so I ate more. Nope, that wasn't it.

I mentally reviewed my caffeine consumption wondering if I had somehow missed drinking the required amount of coffee. Nope, that wasn't it, either.

Maybe I got cold while sleeping. I wore a hooded sweatshirt to bed but was still dog-tired the next morning. Nope, that wasn't it. 

Finally, I put the pieces together. "Mrs ERJ!  I think I figured out why I haven't had any energy" I exclaimed. 

She raised an eyebrow bidding me to continue.

"I think I caught Quicksilver's cold" I said.

"I knew that" she said, eyes darting to the depleted box of tissues next to my chair. 

Of course she knew. It had been obvious to her for days. She pays more attention to my health than I do.

The good news is that about noon, yesterday, I got my energy back. It was almost like a switch getting flipped.

I might not have gotten more work done but it didn't feel like I was walking through wet concrete while I was doing it. 

Nihilism

Note to my core audience: This post is intended for the sprinkling University students who accidentally find this web-site every month. 

"Nihilism" is a philosophy whose name has the same root as the word "Annihilate".

Nihilism claims that "all facts are relative" and it rejects all moral creeds as hopelessly corrupt since they presume to be based on absolute truths. Furthermore, it holds that "values and morals" are fictions and do not exist except as ploys used by powerful people to manipulate others.

Various social commenters point to "Nihilism" for such diverse phenomena as motivating school shooters, the decline in the birth-rate and the increase number of "deaths of despair": Suicide, Drug overdoses and Alcohol related deaths.. 

The total rejection of "old" moral traditions appeals to some young people. So does the contention that every decision and action is "morally equal" since Nihilism claims morality does not exist. It is also a cheap-and-easy way to look sophisticated because nobody is more cynical and decadent than a Nihilist. 

In some circles, embracing nihilist is the cost of being accepted into the tribe.

The costs

Nihilists seem to be very unhappy and unfulfilled. Their motto is "Nothing is real. Nothing matters".

They believe that nobody hears their screams of pain and anger, fatigue and despair. They cannot even hear themselves scream.

They are very, very lonely. 

Opportunity costs

Anybody who chooses Nihilism rejects the Judeo-Christian moral code because the two are mutually exclusive.

Without writing a book, "What are Nihilists walking away from?" 

Psalm 139 (abridged)

Lord, you have tested me and you know me:
you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
You have been with me through my travels and my rest; with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue, Lord, you know it all.
Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.
Where can I flee from your spirit?
From your presence, where can I hide?

 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Death, there you are.
If I take the wings of dawn and dwell beyond the sea,
Even there your hand guides me, your right hand holds me fast.
If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light”—
Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day.
Darkness and light are but one.

You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.
My bones are not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret,
fashioned in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me unformed; in your book all are written down;f
my days were shaped, before one came to be.
How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them

<snip>

Test me, God, know my heart; try me, know my thoughts.
See if there is a wicked path in me; lead me along an ancient path.

Psalm 139 is a love-song. It is an eruption of joy that articulates God's real and intimate love for you.

Nihilism says you are nothing. Your birth meant nothing. Your death will mean nothing. Your current existence is less than an already fading pixel in a frame on a screen playing Grand Theft Auto.

Psalm 139 claims that the infinite God personally knitted you, as an individual, together one cell at a time. It claims that He shaped you and your character as you navigated through your life. He is with you in your darkest hours. It says that He cares about even the minutest details of your life.

And since the Judeo-Christian ethos claims that God is infinite, He has enough bandwidth to do that with every human. Every human is "His favorite" because He is not limited by CPU or RAM or Graphics Processing. 

"Empty words! Psalm 139 is nothing more that words" the Nihilist scoffs

So the 28 year-old grad student who was teaching Freshman Humanities used words to sell the wonders of Nihilism and the horrid corruption of all other moral codes (with Christianity being the most stained). Were her words any "better" than the words of Psalm 139? Did they give you comfort?  Were you energized by a sense of purpose or mission? Were you uplifted?

And by what authority did the grad student speak?  Had she ever REALLY studied Christianity from original sources? Most likely she was using her "personal, lived experiences" as her authority. She had looked at the bleak job market for Humanities Ph.D.s and was crab-bucketing you down.

Finally, was she smart enough to realize that "Nihilism" is a self-canceling script? If everything is empty of meaning then words have no meaning. And if words have no meaning, then how is it possible to articulate and communicate the tenants of "Nihilism" ?

A.I. Summary

This posts contends that choosing Nihilism as your life's guiding philosophy will make you profoundly depressed and unhappy.

Conversely, it contends that if you choose to follow the Judeo-Christian ethos that you will feel uplifted and will likely find yourself surrounded by like-minded people.