Digital nomad hordes! The engineer-hero returns! The future of academia! Political realignment! Alien invasions! And do I believe in God? Like beer? Have a green thumb? Most importantly, am I single?
Fantastic commentary on digital nomads -- you're bang on with essentially every point. I was one myself for a good five years before settling down in Hungary after finding a lovely woman.
The sense of adventure, intellect, and propensity for risk-taking is something I've found in all digital nomads, though after a while, one has a sense that the hedonism of it all is a little *too much*. Some of the greatest people I've met and some of the worst embraced the lifestyle completely, though my experience is that most eventually gravitate to one particular locale, or, as you say, return home.
Given that my home -- New Zealand -- is a bit of an odd and unfavourable place these days -- especially for someone looking to find a good woman and have a few sprogs -- I landed in Eastern Europe like so many. Belgrade sounds wonderful, a lot like Hungary, really. People don't have much but they make do. Every culture has its quirks, not to mention its ups and downs. Adapting is hard, but it can be done. I'm sure some reading this may have done it.
It's interesting seeing the other side of digital nomads -- to look upon what they become when the lifestyle loses its lustre; most come out the other side as well-rounded, worldly human beings, but some can never quite let go of the golden years. I'm not sure I can: there's an undeniable thrill to making money on your laptop then strolling out of your bungalow for an early evening ocean swim in Thailand, for example.
Some can never let go of these moments, thus they are destined to try in vain to repeat them, lost in a false reality where they never truly grow up or move on. It's rare, but I've seen some guys become shells of themselves this way.
Nothing anchors you and gives you purpose like a family, at least as a (somewhat) virtuous man.
I hope you get the chance to start a family, too, one day, bro -- reckon you'd have a lot to pass on.
Now you've just gotta find a woman who's worth the time.
Finding a woman who's worth it - and willing to endure my eccentricities - really is the trick. I've been a bachelor for so long that I've gotten quite accustomed to being alone, so there's a high bar for a woman to demonstrate my life is better with her in it than not. Then of course there's the problem of timing ... I've had awful luck in that regard. Ships passing in the night and all.
Still, I’d say what you describe is eminently possible in Eastern Europe. Beautiful women abound -- as you well know -- and getting someone who is both open to compromise and who might offer you the support you need is actually realistic. A career such as yours is shaping up to be is one which is desirable to many, and when combined with vitality, intellect and the kicker of wit -- to be *funny* -- I’d say girls would be falling over for you.
Plus people are just normal. They’re not into Western politics -- they seem to have their minds occupied with more sensible things. Women here are just more feminine.
Of course, I would say that!
There’s nothing wrong with being alone, too -- I’ve done it for most of my life -- but I did find it got to me after a while. Sleeping with women just gets tiring; plus, it’s hardly worth the effort. I wanted to meet someone and I did (obviously not on an app; fuck the apps).
Different strokes for different folks, though. When you’re married you miss your alone time, but I’m lucky enough to have some time away from the family every month or so.
Think I’m just babbling now, but I reckon it’ll happen to you, too. If you want it -- and it sounds like you’re a bit indifferent -- then you can make it happen. You know you can.
I've found myself turning down quite a few opportunities for sex, simply out of disinterest. As you say, sex for the sake of it palls after a while. But then, maybe this is age catching up with my hormonal levels, and I need to go on TRT ;)
Remarkable discipline -- or indifference -- sir; I cannot say the same about my years as a digital nomad. But I always knew that above and beyond it, I wanted someone permanent. Life can get a bit dry without one, at least, eventually. I was younger then, though, and perhaps it fades more as one ages. Imagining being single in today's dating market is a shudder-inducing thought to some degree. Hard to say; the best women always seem more available when you're taken. It's just a vibe shift thing.
Wanderjahre is older than the 19th Century. It dates back to the Middle Ages and refers to apprentices wandering around and picking up work from various master so as to hone their skills. Of course, they were working.
What a great treat! Thank you for that - lots of questions and lots of answers. Just like the best kind of smörgåsbord and knytkalas*.
Beer-question made me laugh. I'll try any beer, lager, porter, small-beer, bitter, pilz and such once. And most only once. Make mine dark, heavy, and pilz-like and I'll camp out next to the tap for the evening. IPA is like intercourse in a canoe. And "light beer" is a flogging offence.
(Oh for the days of youth, when downing a crate (24 cans/12 Liters) during an afternoon and evening was no big deal!)
The Platonic to Aristotelian shift is a good way of putting it, not just because it may herald a move to realism, pragmatism and practicalism but also to ethics again becoming a real deal. 'Nicomachean Ethics' is looking at me from the book-shelf as I type. Fitting that you mention Plato and Aristotle, since to the Greeks Mars the planet was Pyroeis:
"The Fiery" - a single glowing ember can be rekindled into a fire rivalling Muspelheim itself.
If every people in Europe re-discovers the classics and lace them together with their own ur-history once more... oh, tremble would the grubbers and grifters when met with opponents who, in the face of an enemy using abstraction and greed as his only tools, respond with the iron hand of will made flesh.
As a Swedish Viking is claimed to have told a French priest once, after receiving baptism and being told it was customary to pay a gift to the church for this: "I give you your life. Would you prefer a different gift, just say so"
That kind of lakonic humour hides a very specific, very direct yet sly and keen mind.
“You should also engage with the world, with other people. Listen when people talk, even when you think they’re kind of retarded, ..”
Eighty and a bit years here, I can honestly note, I have never ever met anyone that if I kept my mouth shut and my ears open, that I couldn’t learn a thing or two, or three of four from.
---
“I’ve never been very interested in making a lot of money so long as my very basic needs are met.”
‘nough said!
-----
“Mastery of rhetoric, ...understanding of...the psychological, economic, biological, and technological currents ...mastery of the techniques of Game, and ...seduce the women.”
Rhetoric yep, & I hope most modern masters of such stop saying uh uh uh, damnit! If your thoughts are clear before you open your mouth you don’t need space filler sounds! If you lose the game don’t try to pass along the blame. Seduce women? Hard to call it seduction when it’s honest mutual attraction.
---
“So far Tokyo has been, by far, my favourite place to live.”
Different strokes for different folks but I’d say close but no cigar.
West, Saitama , all of Tokyo’s sill close but reasonably well away from the madding crowds and the rush hour sardine packed subways.
East, Osaka massive but mellower. Senrioka halfway twix Osaka & Kyoto . Whatever’s not much more than an hour away.
Me, I like Uminomoto, shan’t tell you why.
----
“Would that I had more to say; alas, never having been married, I have very little…”
Having been married for over 60 years I’ve very little to say either. I will note it it a rather serious commitment and when you say I do, mean it!
---
“My work here is done. No one likes a quitter.”
Agree as I light up a home rolled & yes it is tobacco, that I grew myself here in Alaska.
----
OK, I stared out looking at the queries & your replies, making/faking/taking my thoughts on same but, “groddlo 1. Are you handsome?” seems a good place to stop. ;-)
Good on yer mate! You’re found a way and hopefully you’ve a long way to go as you’re doin’ it pretty damn well!
Tokyojin refer to Saitama as Dasaitama, dasai being slang for 'lame'. Having visited I can't disagree, it was very dull. Now, Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Kichijoji ... These are wards worth spending time in...
Shucky darn, Tokyojin feel that way about any other part of japan.
Tokyojin Natsume Sōseki felt the same way about Matsuyama as he eluded in Botchan.
Hum no accounting for taste, yours or his (Snide grin.). I found both Matsuyama in Ehime and Urawa in Saitama great fun. Maybe you hung around the wrong izakayas.
Seriously though, I understand different folks different tastes and yep also, probably different bars.
BTW: A friend in Saitama (Actually she's in Matsuyama but I never let the truth get in the way of a good story.) just called and I told her you're opinion of her prefecture. She say's you kusojiji! ;-)
It's true, Tokyojin look down on everywhere outside Tokyo. I noticed after a bit that all my Japanese friends were from different parts of the country. I remarked on this and they said, yeah, Tokyojin won't hang out with us, either.
"the material world around us is visibly and rapidly degrading; much of our society is functionally insane. We therefore need to ground ourselves again in hard truth, which is to say the tangible and verifiable: physics, biology, engineering."
Most assuredly. Excellent getting to know you a bit more John Carter.
"Shameless, total, unrepentant apostasy towards the clay idols of the left. A clear-eyed understanding of – and ability to harmonize with – the psychological, economic, biological, and technological currents driving the modern world. Finally, mastery of the techniques of Game, and the ability to deploy these on a mass scale, in order to seduce the women."
It's a very strange thing but many (not most, certainly, but a lot) of women are nearly impervious to game now. They engage with men on a transactional basis, but they're so bitter and disdainful of men as a class that their distrust and hostility make the old arts of charisma ("riz") and gentle persuasion impossible. Many of these women are gay, but many are not.
Interestingly, some of these straight kinds of women STILL date men. What is their ultimate goal? How do they conceptualize a relationship with a class of people they feel contempt for? I'm honestly not sure. They're pretty difficult to have earnest conversations with.
This is a uniquely modern mental illness. Interestingly, the values and koans of feminism and modern culture offer nothing in the way of braking mechanism or counterfactual to these women. The culture is so concerned with portraying men as bad and dangerous and unfairly advantaged that it has nothing to say to women who take those ideas to their extremes.
My impression is that by and large these women don't actually date that much. Their bitterness has made this futile, while MeToo has frightened men away from so much as flirting.
But that said, a true master of the art could apply Game on a subtle but large scale, and win enough over, I think, to make a difference.
The engineer-hero returns....thanks for your q&a post, i found this to be a nice well rounded read and fairly based for JC of B. Do you you find yourself dreaming of gears, screws, prototypes, patents and making something that Henry Ford would be proud of? I started as a machinist, went to school as a technician, read a lot on philosophy and stock markets while employed as a public servant in a technical field, but always seem to be dreaming of my first mastered skill, building stuff. Cheers!
Loved the description of Belgrade, a city I have yet to visit. Your answer re digital nomads was especially enjoyable. I've been a digital nomad for 13 years now (with one year off) and will be turning 70 next year. Settle down? I don't think so. Keep on writing, John. And that collection of essays is expected.
I think it is due to the same flawed thinking that makes people behave as if having an alarm and a fire-extinguisher prevents fire from breaking out. Or how wearing a helmet prevents accidents.
I don't understand, because I can be very stupid, why so many credentialed and educated and experienced professionals conflate and confuse prevention and mitigation.
Also, what Richard said: because they can. Maybe, because it is all they can do?
Not used to getting noticed this hard. Much appreciated response, particularly the honesty. Can't say I blame you for not having much to expound upon regarding Logomythy for now. If "liberalism is the water in which we swim" holds true, then the Logos itself is an order of magnitude beyond. Still, the concept is so grossly incandescent that its hard not to be fascinated. Heidegger's Being and Time added to the list it is.
A few comments, sparked from one of the questions/answers:
The singular best way to refine writing is to read it out loud--ideally to someone else who is actually listening; failing that, the rubber duck will do. This technique is extremely useful when you're writing stuff that must be perfect, such as proposals.
Editing books is hard, and is going to take a lot more time than anyone expects. It's not an efficient source of income unless you have nothing better to do with the time. Also, humans suck at estimating, so if you properly estimated the time to edit no one would pay you a proper rate.
That's helpful of course, however actually vocalizing forces different areas of the brain into use: you read with inner voice, then translate to spoken word, then retranslate by auditory means to listen. Doing so helps pick up structure that just "sounds wrong", as well as typos that can be hard to excise.
Humans read words not by processing each letter, but by picking up the first and last letters and sometimes a few consonants inside; reading out-loud forces the mind to slow down and read the actual words on the page, not what our internal AI fills in.
Which is why we used to to it at school. A large part of the growing problem of illiteracy in the West is due to not forcing children to read at least 10 000 pages during compulsory school years.
During the last three years of comp, we read one full length novel every other week, in Swedish and English class (and the poor sods what did French or German did one in the resp. language as well).
When my son was in comp. it was one or two novels, adapted for school, per semester.
Now, in many schools, it's zero to one per semester.
Is it any wonder Sweden now sports over 100 000 analphabets? That's a higher percentage than during the 16th century!
Very much agreed: my sons, in Canadian schooling, read essentially zero novels, and precious few short stories, in their entire career. It's been an amazingly difficult challenge to get them to read long-form text of any kind.
At least they have returned to penmanship as a requirement. That will help... something, but not the raw literacy that comes from absorbing the printed word across many variations.
Hey Carter, old editor Monika here. You're a charismatic writer and I was fascinated by your comments re marital status, women, etc etc. Allow me to tell you this one thing: when you feel love, the kind that happens on a soul and the quantum entanglement level, none of your lower level concerns will matter one bit. You will simply be your best self with that woman and once you have had that experience you will want it forever. It's really simple. And one day, it will happen to you when you least expect it and aren't looking for it. I had to wait a long time for this deep connection and I didn't even know what it was at first. Love is a stranger. Be patient...
“The result of this is that I end up being a heretic no matter what religion I look at.”
I would venture to say that it has been profitable to me to separate the concepts of church and religion.
As religion is the true experience of eternal realities, churches and bodies of doctrine are neither necessary nor sufficient for it. Many are the churches without religion, and, likewise, religionists without churches. Churches are fine, but given the choice between a religionless church and a churchless religion, the latter is, at least to my way of thinking, far preferable.
Your IPA rant was very amusing and exactly correct. That stuff is everywhere in the shops here in the UK now, but at least they have the grace to label it as New England IPA; because it bears no relation-other than being a liquid-to the original IPA, brewed with extra hops and to a higher OG to survive the trip to the colonies under sail in high temperatures. It is also clear and pleasingly amber-hued. A proper English cask ale is a thing of rare beauty, but those Germans sure do the cold beer thing well, I have to admit. Helles hits the spot for me, being a touch more malt than the hoppy bite of pilsner. I expect you have sampled plenty of both in your travels.
Fantastic commentary on digital nomads -- you're bang on with essentially every point. I was one myself for a good five years before settling down in Hungary after finding a lovely woman.
The sense of adventure, intellect, and propensity for risk-taking is something I've found in all digital nomads, though after a while, one has a sense that the hedonism of it all is a little *too much*. Some of the greatest people I've met and some of the worst embraced the lifestyle completely, though my experience is that most eventually gravitate to one particular locale, or, as you say, return home.
Given that my home -- New Zealand -- is a bit of an odd and unfavourable place these days -- especially for someone looking to find a good woman and have a few sprogs -- I landed in Eastern Europe like so many. Belgrade sounds wonderful, a lot like Hungary, really. People don't have much but they make do. Every culture has its quirks, not to mention its ups and downs. Adapting is hard, but it can be done. I'm sure some reading this may have done it.
It's interesting seeing the other side of digital nomads -- to look upon what they become when the lifestyle loses its lustre; most come out the other side as well-rounded, worldly human beings, but some can never quite let go of the golden years. I'm not sure I can: there's an undeniable thrill to making money on your laptop then strolling out of your bungalow for an early evening ocean swim in Thailand, for example.
Some can never let go of these moments, thus they are destined to try in vain to repeat them, lost in a false reality where they never truly grow up or move on. It's rare, but I've seen some guys become shells of themselves this way.
Nothing anchors you and gives you purpose like a family, at least as a (somewhat) virtuous man.
I hope you get the chance to start a family, too, one day, bro -- reckon you'd have a lot to pass on.
Now you've just gotta find a woman who's worth the time.
*Good luck*! (taken voice (: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zNdw4DaUM8)
Finding a woman who's worth it - and willing to endure my eccentricities - really is the trick. I've been a bachelor for so long that I've gotten quite accustomed to being alone, so there's a high bar for a woman to demonstrate my life is better with her in it than not. Then of course there's the problem of timing ... I've had awful luck in that regard. Ships passing in the night and all.
Hope springs eternal and all that.
Still, I’d say what you describe is eminently possible in Eastern Europe. Beautiful women abound -- as you well know -- and getting someone who is both open to compromise and who might offer you the support you need is actually realistic. A career such as yours is shaping up to be is one which is desirable to many, and when combined with vitality, intellect and the kicker of wit -- to be *funny* -- I’d say girls would be falling over for you.
Plus people are just normal. They’re not into Western politics -- they seem to have their minds occupied with more sensible things. Women here are just more feminine.
Of course, I would say that!
There’s nothing wrong with being alone, too -- I’ve done it for most of my life -- but I did find it got to me after a while. Sleeping with women just gets tiring; plus, it’s hardly worth the effort. I wanted to meet someone and I did (obviously not on an app; fuck the apps).
Different strokes for different folks, though. When you’re married you miss your alone time, but I’m lucky enough to have some time away from the family every month or so.
Think I’m just babbling now, but I reckon it’ll happen to you, too. If you want it -- and it sounds like you’re a bit indifferent -- then you can make it happen. You know you can.
I've found myself turning down quite a few opportunities for sex, simply out of disinterest. As you say, sex for the sake of it palls after a while. But then, maybe this is age catching up with my hormonal levels, and I need to go on TRT ;)
Had to google TRT. (:
Remarkable discipline -- or indifference -- sir; I cannot say the same about my years as a digital nomad. But I always knew that above and beyond it, I wanted someone permanent. Life can get a bit dry without one, at least, eventually. I was younger then, though, and perhaps it fades more as one ages. Imagining being single in today's dating market is a shudder-inducing thought to some degree. Hard to say; the best women always seem more available when you're taken. It's just a vibe shift thing.
Wanderjahre is older than the 19th Century. It dates back to the Middle Ages and refers to apprentices wandering around and picking up work from various master so as to hone their skills. Of course, they were working.
Yes, the "year of traveling" is a very old thing in the trades. But it took on a more ideological note with the Romantics.
What a great treat! Thank you for that - lots of questions and lots of answers. Just like the best kind of smörgåsbord and knytkalas*.
Beer-question made me laugh. I'll try any beer, lager, porter, small-beer, bitter, pilz and such once. And most only once. Make mine dark, heavy, and pilz-like and I'll camp out next to the tap for the evening. IPA is like intercourse in a canoe. And "light beer" is a flogging offence.
(Oh for the days of youth, when downing a crate (24 cans/12 Liters) during an afternoon and evening was no big deal!)
The Platonic to Aristotelian shift is a good way of putting it, not just because it may herald a move to realism, pragmatism and practicalism but also to ethics again becoming a real deal. 'Nicomachean Ethics' is looking at me from the book-shelf as I type. Fitting that you mention Plato and Aristotle, since to the Greeks Mars the planet was Pyroeis:
"The Fiery" - a single glowing ember can be rekindled into a fire rivalling Muspelheim itself.
If every people in Europe re-discovers the classics and lace them together with their own ur-history once more... oh, tremble would the grubbers and grifters when met with opponents who, in the face of an enemy using abstraction and greed as his only tools, respond with the iron hand of will made flesh.
As a Swedish Viking is claimed to have told a French priest once, after receiving baptism and being told it was customary to pay a gift to the church for this: "I give you your life. Would you prefer a different gift, just say so"
That kind of lakonic humour hides a very specific, very direct yet sly and keen mind.
"I was going to give you your life, but you can pick something else" is a brilliant line. I may steal this.
I too will try any beer once, or even twice. I enjoy many things and hate few, but the things I hate, I hate with great intensity.
Steal away!
I recommend trying mead, at least once. Home-brewed is best, but there are commercial brands of varying quality I'e been told.
I've had mead, many times, when I was in Sweden. Divine stuff.
Reading your essay/replies and…
---
Fact not fiction Haiku
Take any Canuck
Put him almost anywhere
It’s better than there.
-----
“You should also engage with the world, with other people. Listen when people talk, even when you think they’re kind of retarded, ..”
Eighty and a bit years here, I can honestly note, I have never ever met anyone that if I kept my mouth shut and my ears open, that I couldn’t learn a thing or two, or three of four from.
---
“I’ve never been very interested in making a lot of money so long as my very basic needs are met.”
‘nough said!
-----
“Mastery of rhetoric, ...understanding of...the psychological, economic, biological, and technological currents ...mastery of the techniques of Game, and ...seduce the women.”
Rhetoric yep, & I hope most modern masters of such stop saying uh uh uh, damnit! If your thoughts are clear before you open your mouth you don’t need space filler sounds! If you lose the game don’t try to pass along the blame. Seduce women? Hard to call it seduction when it’s honest mutual attraction.
---
“So far Tokyo has been, by far, my favourite place to live.”
Different strokes for different folks but I’d say close but no cigar.
West, Saitama , all of Tokyo’s sill close but reasonably well away from the madding crowds and the rush hour sardine packed subways.
East, Osaka massive but mellower. Senrioka halfway twix Osaka & Kyoto . Whatever’s not much more than an hour away.
Me, I like Uminomoto, shan’t tell you why.
----
“Would that I had more to say; alas, never having been married, I have very little…”
Having been married for over 60 years I’ve very little to say either. I will note it it a rather serious commitment and when you say I do, mean it!
---
“My work here is done. No one likes a quitter.”
Agree as I light up a home rolled & yes it is tobacco, that I grew myself here in Alaska.
----
OK, I stared out looking at the queries & your replies, making/faking/taking my thoughts on same but, “groddlo 1. Are you handsome?” seems a good place to stop. ;-)
Good on yer mate! You’re found a way and hopefully you’ve a long way to go as you’re doin’ it pretty damn well!
Tokyojin refer to Saitama as Dasaitama, dasai being slang for 'lame'. Having visited I can't disagree, it was very dull. Now, Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Kichijoji ... These are wards worth spending time in...
Shucky darn, Tokyojin feel that way about any other part of japan.
Tokyojin Natsume Sōseki felt the same way about Matsuyama as he eluded in Botchan.
Hum no accounting for taste, yours or his (Snide grin.). I found both Matsuyama in Ehime and Urawa in Saitama great fun. Maybe you hung around the wrong izakayas.
Seriously though, I understand different folks different tastes and yep also, probably different bars.
BTW: A friend in Saitama (Actually she's in Matsuyama but I never let the truth get in the way of a good story.) just called and I told her you're opinion of her prefecture. She say's you kusojiji! ;-)
Hahaha
It's true, Tokyojin look down on everywhere outside Tokyo. I noticed after a bit that all my Japanese friends were from different parts of the country. I remarked on this and they said, yeah, Tokyojin won't hang out with us, either.
Also, nice haiku!
"the material world around us is visibly and rapidly degrading; much of our society is functionally insane. We therefore need to ground ourselves again in hard truth, which is to say the tangible and verifiable: physics, biology, engineering."
Most assuredly. Excellent getting to know you a bit more John Carter.
"Shameless, total, unrepentant apostasy towards the clay idols of the left. A clear-eyed understanding of – and ability to harmonize with – the psychological, economic, biological, and technological currents driving the modern world. Finally, mastery of the techniques of Game, and the ability to deploy these on a mass scale, in order to seduce the women."
It's a very strange thing but many (not most, certainly, but a lot) of women are nearly impervious to game now. They engage with men on a transactional basis, but they're so bitter and disdainful of men as a class that their distrust and hostility make the old arts of charisma ("riz") and gentle persuasion impossible. Many of these women are gay, but many are not.
Interestingly, some of these straight kinds of women STILL date men. What is their ultimate goal? How do they conceptualize a relationship with a class of people they feel contempt for? I'm honestly not sure. They're pretty difficult to have earnest conversations with.
This is a uniquely modern mental illness. Interestingly, the values and koans of feminism and modern culture offer nothing in the way of braking mechanism or counterfactual to these women. The culture is so concerned with portraying men as bad and dangerous and unfairly advantaged that it has nothing to say to women who take those ideas to their extremes.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/the-fantasy-of-female-power
My impression is that by and large these women don't actually date that much. Their bitterness has made this futile, while MeToo has frightened men away from so much as flirting.
But that said, a true master of the art could apply Game on a subtle but large scale, and win enough over, I think, to make a difference.
The engineer-hero returns....thanks for your q&a post, i found this to be a nice well rounded read and fairly based for JC of B. Do you you find yourself dreaming of gears, screws, prototypes, patents and making something that Henry Ford would be proud of? I started as a machinist, went to school as a technician, read a lot on philosophy and stock markets while employed as a public servant in a technical field, but always seem to be dreaming of my first mastered skill, building stuff. Cheers!
Sadly, I've never been very technically inclined myself ... The only machines I've ever made were built of software...
Loved the description of Belgrade, a city I have yet to visit. Your answer re digital nomads was especially enjoyable. I've been a digital nomad for 13 years now (with one year off) and will be turning 70 next year. Settle down? I don't think so. Keep on writing, John. And that collection of essays is expected.
I need to find an artist to illustrate such a collection...
Wild that you're still doing it at 70!
Thanks John. Keeping fit (or thereabouts) is the key. I'm not an illustrator but I'll put the word out.
Staying fit is very important!
question: WHY is it ( do you think? ) that the 4th Amendment is routinely violated at every airport in the U.S.A.?
.
anybody?
Because your government follows the Constitution when it's convenient for the government.
Because they can. It is also violated routinely in New York for the same reason.
because of alleged terrorists? . . . . WTF?
I think it is due to the same flawed thinking that makes people behave as if having an alarm and a fire-extinguisher prevents fire from breaking out. Or how wearing a helmet prevents accidents.
I don't understand, because I can be very stupid, why so many credentialed and educated and experienced professionals conflate and confuse prevention and mitigation.
Also, what Richard said: because they can. Maybe, because it is all they can do?
Not used to getting noticed this hard. Much appreciated response, particularly the honesty. Can't say I blame you for not having much to expound upon regarding Logomythy for now. If "liberalism is the water in which we swim" holds true, then the Logos itself is an order of magnitude beyond. Still, the concept is so grossly incandescent that its hard not to be fascinated. Heidegger's Being and Time added to the list it is.
I have to read that myself. Famously difficult book...
Tokyo sounds lovely. I suppose I should try and visit at some point.
Tokyo is incredible.
Indeed, but not only that, in regards to:
"Yet to live there is to always be a foreigner."
Increasingly, we of the West are treated like foreigners in our own countries, so that this becomes less of a downside in comparison.
Yep. Expat life is much like home life when your home becomes a foreign country.
A few comments, sparked from one of the questions/answers:
The singular best way to refine writing is to read it out loud--ideally to someone else who is actually listening; failing that, the rubber duck will do. This technique is extremely useful when you're writing stuff that must be perfect, such as proposals.
Editing books is hard, and is going to take a lot more time than anyone expects. It's not an efficient source of income unless you have nothing better to do with the time. Also, humans suck at estimating, so if you properly estimated the time to edit no one would pay you a proper rate.
I read my writing aloud in my head, a habit I picked up when doing spoken word poetry.
That's helpful of course, however actually vocalizing forces different areas of the brain into use: you read with inner voice, then translate to spoken word, then retranslate by auditory means to listen. Doing so helps pick up structure that just "sounds wrong", as well as typos that can be hard to excise.
Humans read words not by processing each letter, but by picking up the first and last letters and sometimes a few consonants inside; reading out-loud forces the mind to slow down and read the actual words on the page, not what our internal AI fills in.
Which is why we used to to it at school. A large part of the growing problem of illiteracy in the West is due to not forcing children to read at least 10 000 pages during compulsory school years.
During the last three years of comp, we read one full length novel every other week, in Swedish and English class (and the poor sods what did French or German did one in the resp. language as well).
When my son was in comp. it was one or two novels, adapted for school, per semester.
Now, in many schools, it's zero to one per semester.
Is it any wonder Sweden now sports over 100 000 analphabets? That's a higher percentage than during the 16th century!
Very much agreed: my sons, in Canadian schooling, read essentially zero novels, and precious few short stories, in their entire career. It's been an amazingly difficult challenge to get them to read long-form text of any kind.
At least they have returned to penmanship as a requirement. That will help... something, but not the raw literacy that comes from absorbing the printed word across many variations.
Hey Carter, old editor Monika here. You're a charismatic writer and I was fascinated by your comments re marital status, women, etc etc. Allow me to tell you this one thing: when you feel love, the kind that happens on a soul and the quantum entanglement level, none of your lower level concerns will matter one bit. You will simply be your best self with that woman and once you have had that experience you will want it forever. It's really simple. And one day, it will happen to you when you least expect it and aren't looking for it. I had to wait a long time for this deep connection and I didn't even know what it was at first. Love is a stranger. Be patient...
I hope, one day, to feel such a connection. Cosmos hasn't seen fit to grace my life with this experience, yet...
“The result of this is that I end up being a heretic no matter what religion I look at.”
I would venture to say that it has been profitable to me to separate the concepts of church and religion.
As religion is the true experience of eternal realities, churches and bodies of doctrine are neither necessary nor sufficient for it. Many are the churches without religion, and, likewise, religionists without churches. Churches are fine, but given the choice between a religionless church and a churchless religion, the latter is, at least to my way of thinking, far preferable.
I wholly agree.
Fascinating stuff. Especially about digital nomads.... hmm fruit for thought. This was an especially awesome essay good sir.
I need to find the time to read this all, but...
Metamaterials - mode manipulation...radiation escape hatch
Heretic - be hot or cold; God detests lukewarm
Keith's is an IPA. Lol.
I'm glad someone got the joke.
(Although Keith's is only very lightly hopped, and doesn't taste at all like an IPA).
Your IPA rant was very amusing and exactly correct. That stuff is everywhere in the shops here in the UK now, but at least they have the grace to label it as New England IPA; because it bears no relation-other than being a liquid-to the original IPA, brewed with extra hops and to a higher OG to survive the trip to the colonies under sail in high temperatures. It is also clear and pleasingly amber-hued. A proper English cask ale is a thing of rare beauty, but those Germans sure do the cold beer thing well, I have to admit. Helles hits the spot for me, being a touch more malt than the hoppy bite of pilsner. I expect you have sampled plenty of both in your travels.