Life as an Anachronism

G20: 20x garbage in, garbage out. What a contrived media event ! Boob bait for the bubbas. L'appât ballot des nigauds ... L'appât nigaud des ballots ... L'appât bête des imbéciles. I need to work out how to say that in other languages.

I am a Luddite. I don't Twitter, I don't do text messages. I don't accept cell phone calls (unless pre-arranged). I cook food. I fix things myself. I know how to use tools, and do use them. I prefer paying cash for anything under $100. I don't go to the movie theater. I drink hard liquor on ice, red wine and real beer - no sweetened, "light" beverages.

I like fried eggs, Spam, Valveeta cheese, McDonald's food, big, rare steaks, homemade apple pie, hardtack with peanut butter & jelly, MREs, and turnips.

I read books - physical books, not electronic. I read newspapers - both physical and online. I read magazines - in paper. Mostly I read non-fiction, but lately I've been reading well-known classic works of fiction.

I'm trying to learn a foreign language as an adult - six, actually: French, German, Polish, Italian, Spanish and Latin. So far it's working. The human mind is the greatest tool by far.

I lift weights - the real, iron weights; practice boxing and knife fighting; and shooting all types of firearms.

I don't watch much TV. Everything I know about 21st century "new modernity" comes from South Park.

I have four dogs as pets - and I treat them as important parts of the family, not as stuffed animals or slaves.


I think the controlling ruling classes is the principal political problem to be solved. I want maximal freedom for the common man, and tight controls on antics of the rich & powerful - the ruling classes. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I am a Populist Libertarian.


Modern life hasn't changed much in its large scale structures since 1925. Read "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis. Watch "Thoroughly Modern Millie". The social issues facing people aren't much different.


With a few exceptions, no good music has been written since December 31, 1947 and no truly good recording has been made December 31, 1954.


I walk through a mall perhaps once a year and see so much crap I can't imagine ever wanting to buy.

I like movies with happy endings.

Fine, call me an anachronism. I admit it. I like the old ways better.

PS: Mrs. B points out correctly that I am using a computer to proclaim myself as a Luddite - a bit of inconsistency. I am modernizing the use to mean a rejection of superfluous equipment, machinery and software that mostly distracts from real, physical life: nintendo, video games, gameboys, wii, cell phones, Twittering, texting, on and on and on.

Actions

It's good I listened to my fears and the warning of an astute commentor by selling RIMM. It got crushed last evening after reporting disappointing numbers, particularly its gross margins. That probably reflects the high defect and return rate. Not good - that makes for poor word of mouth as consumers do talk.

Otherwise I am sitting and waiting. No changes in my thinking ... yet.

Word of the Day

"Dolorous" - adjective [$10] literary or jocular
Dolorous means 1. distressing, painful; doleful, dismal; 2. distressed, sad.
Sentence: Looking across the human landscape of the world, I feel dolorous that so much human capital is being wasted on so much nonsense.