SOB_Van_Owen

Tiger got to hunt

Bird got to fly

Man got to ask himself "why, why, why"

Tiger got to sleep

Bird got to land

Man got to tell himself he understand

Vines will constrict young trees in such a spiral.

I often wonder about all these little coffee shops around here (Appalachian Kentucky). Almost all of them seem to have a religious bend. They inscribe bible verses around your cup like some kind of incantation. Would bet it's store policy and not just them wanting to inject gospel into your day. Is coffee even mentioned in the Bible?

I have a neuromuscular demyelinating disorder called CIDP. And some other health complications including getting COVID induced pulmonary embolisms and being on a blood thinner that has interfered with my normal regimen of managing CIDP.

I'm chronically ill. My ability waxes and wanes. When folks see me out doing something challenging, they tend to assume I'm just fine and must be some shiftless malingerer. Rather than understanding I've sunk a lot of time and preparation into trying to be ok for that occasion.

Late to the party but I'd say something about this. Sure looks like folks are plenty aware we've been on a downward track for many decades and now it's plain enough that folks are naming it "polycrisis" or "metacrisis". Baked into the material conditions of life how such as it is, I don't reckon folks want to see an END but rather see no brakes on this express elevator of combined existential threats. There is now a concentration of power such that it is so much toothpaste impossible to get back in the tube -failing awful violence or catastrophe. A divided, hopelessly propagandized culture that can never get on the same page for collective action. I hear friends talking about lifeboats and doing what one can as communities. Maybe that's all we have left now.

Terrific really. He is for sure upholding the folk tradition in the spirit of Guthrie and Seeger.

Except it's not just very stupid people. It's a big demographic swath. Some folks know what psychological buttons to consistently push and keep pushing those very reliable buttons. These are old tricks, but they're now amplified by the technology of new media -and these dillweeds have great feedback now thanks to social media to know if this week's shenanigans are playing well so they can adjust accordingly. A mess. Humankind's evolutionary biology weaponized to the benefit of a few. It's where we are.

There's also an interesting Greg Bear novel called Blood Music about computational cells that take over. Worth a read/listen.

"I cannot permit this to continue".

New acquaintance: "Why the Hell are you staring at me like that...? What's wrong with you?"

In the pre-digital age when most of this was pencil markings, it was not uncommon to see someone had drawn the teeth in.