Stop the presses!
Hey all- I know it has been a bit of a spell since I posted. Started a new job, in an office, and am working out when I am going to write. Somehow haven’t been able to get up early enough to do so, but am working on it. Will start posting more before and after work, starting next week.
At least that’s the plan, but as they say, when man makes a plan, God laughs and laughs and laughs. Honestly, it kills him. He just doesn’t stop. It’s really weird.
Back to regular posting soon.
Shooting Irrelevance 
Hey Brian I’m happy your back. Figured life got in the way of the blog. With everything you put into your posts it would seem, for me, almost impossible to do anything else that day. Your in-depth which means to comment alone requires research. Just finished reading the piece by Lanchester you pointed to in your 9/19 post. Love his point about fire. It’s one of my favorite comebacks to both god fearing folks and vegetarians alike. But to compare modern civilization to the Bushman is just plain silly. They are basically an extended family. Far from multi-cultural and probably slaughtered any intruders or outsiders. Always hear that about how sweet and wonderful life was with tribes and nomads until they crossed paths. And agreed luck is a factor but I think making your luck and being cleaver is certainly more sustaining. There is always so much to say but more importantly there is so much more to listen to, learn, accept and adapt. Is there ever a truth? An exact right way? we can only try
Oh yeah, and congrats on the what I’m thinking is a new gig.
Hey Tom- you are absolutely right about the myth of “the noble savage”, which was almost as patronizing and destructive as the colonial impulse. People are always violent and tribal, no doubt. You’re also right about me overstating the role of luck. That obviously isn’t the only, or maybe even the primary factor in life. Resourcefulness, hard work, seizing opportunity: those are all hugely important and can overcome bad luck. But even the hard-workingest guy in the universe can cross an intersection at the exact wrong moment and get t-boned by some doofus fiddling with his phone, and have a lifetime of pain, spiraling medical bills, reduced earning potential, etc. Sometimes you walk past that falling piano, with its shadow growing on the sidewalk, and sometimes you stop to pick up a lucky penny and it hits you (note: this may only happen in silent movies). The problem, I think, is that a lot of our politics assumes that if it hits you, you deserve that.
Thank you as always for your insights and comments. I always look forward to them, and they make me sharper as a writer and a thinker. I appreciate it, my friend.
Hey Brian thx for taking the time. having an actuary or a politician decide any of our medical fate is out and out ridiculous and simply not something any of us should accept. Your dead on with the “falling piano” analogy. There is far to much of “it’s all fun and games until it happens to you” and/or you and your loved ones are not only fighting for your physical but your financial well being is something we should be way beyond as a committed society. The money’s there and it’s not going to the right places. Most other concerns pale by comparison. Not sure where to start except to say we start with providing care no matter what. Medical staff paid to the highest standards and not having their bookkeepers compensated at higher rate then the actual caretakers. It’s currently not the case. We have a whole medical billing industry. Maybe we asked for this. I’d like to start there. Can’t figure out how “Bob Cratchit” pulls as much weight as Florence Nightingale in medical care. Going to rial folks on both sides of the aisle with that approach but it needs to start happening