Blackmoor Vituperative

I watched a squirrel making its nest today. It would climb down to the ground, grab as many leaves as it could stuff in its mouth, climb up a tree next to its nest, jump over to the nest-tree, stuff the leaves in, and then climb down to get more leaves. It did this for as long as I watched it, which was only a few minutes, but it made several trips. It was really interesting to watch.

Susan saw a group of four bunnies this afternoon, chasing each other and playing at the feet of a couple of deer. No photos, alas.

HYPOTHESIS: People who care about facts look for them before expressing an opinion. People who don’t care about facts retain their opinion regardless of any facts presented. In either case, pointing out that someone’s opinion is not factually based is a waste of time.

People who blame weapons for crime or movies for violence have no interest in criminology, any more than people blame homosexuals for hurricanes have any interest in meteorology.

The wildlife around here is pretty amazing. Other than the usual birds and squirrels, in the last 24 hours I have seen a bunny, a deer, a huge possum, a tiny frog, and some kind of tiny, ground dwelling yellow-jackets.

The possum led us to the yellow-jackets. Last night we were watching Cabin In The Woods (which isn’t bad, if a little slow and predictable). Suddenly, the motion-sensing light on the balcony came on, startling us. Looking out, we saw a huge grey skull-faced animal walking along the railing: a possum! It wandered around, but had meandered away by the time I got the camera.

This morning I was out back, spreading grass seed and generally looking around, and I found a huge hole. Could this be why the possum was on our deck? Had it taken up residence? Crawling closer, a bug flew out. I backed off, and it flew back in the hole. Huh? I crept closer again… and a bug came out again and flew toward me. I backed off again.

I retrieved the camera and took some zoomed-in photos. Examining the photos, it’s clear that these are yellow-jackets. Did they take over the possum’s hole and drive it away? If so, where has it gone? In any case, tonight I’ll need to do something about the yellow-jackets.

P.S. Here is a photo of that tiny frog.

I write to my Congress people every so often asking them to abolish the TSA (not reform, not privatize — abolish). If more people did so, at least the corruption would be more obvious.

I have been so busy with the house fiasco and work, I haven’t been feeding my fish as often as I should. Two of my larger fish are missing, and there are suspicious remains in the back of the aquarium. Apparently, even a normally placid fish will eat its brethren when it gets hungry enough.

They are the 99%.

Went to the dentist today and found out two interesting things. First, my left lower wisdom tooth is chipped. I have a rather less pleasant dentist visit scheduled for next week.

Second, I learned that one’s fillings can act as anodes and electrodes, and generate an electric current using one’s saliva as the electrolyte. The hygienist poked my gums up near one of my back teeth, using her pointy tool of dental stabbityness, and it shocked me. Then she did it again! The dentist explained that what I was experiencing was an unusual but not unknown phenomenon caused by the difference in electrical potential between the stainless steel dental pick and my silver filling.

Science!

“Well, once again, my friend, we find that science is a two-headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other modern conveniences… But the other head of science is bad. Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur! It bites!”
– The Tick

Today’s “My favourite song” is “Ich Bin Ein Auslander” by Pop Will Eat Itself.

I am going to post a photo of a coffee mug every day in August, and talk a little bit about where we got it and why I like it.

You might think this is just an ordinary plastic travel mug. Au contraire! This mug is special. This mug is made from corn.

Susan works in the environmental field. From lead and asbestos, to recycling and greenhouse gas emissions, to domestic and international carbon trading programs, she’s done it all. She was given this mug while doing her environmental thing at Philip Morris a few years ago. It’s made entirely from corn plastic.

You see, when we run out of oil in a few decades, we’ll run out of plastic, too. The USA uses something like 200,000 barrels of oil a day on plastic packaging alone. That’s right: 200,000 barrels of oil a day, on stuff we throw away after we unwrap it. In theory, corn plastic will be the substance that replaces all that petroleum-based plastic when the petroleum is gone. Of course, corn plastic isn’t perfect. We still throw away an enormous amount of, well, everything. But you have to start somewhere.

P.S. “Degesch America, Inc. is located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley town of Weyers Cave, Virginia, USA. Degesch is a worldwide leader in the specialized field of stored product pest control.” In case you wondered.

I’m not sure people are aware of these numbers. Global warming? Maybe I’ll see it; maybe not. Running out of oil? Running out of helium? Unless I die much sooner than I intend, these things will happen in my lifetime. You think maybe we should be doing something about that?

I have been thinking about the wisdom of engaging in pointless arguments. From time to time, I find myself getting spun up over what I perceive as the irrational and hateful behaviour of other people. Recently it’s been people who dislike the Tea Party, or President Obama, or Ayn Rand, and so they make up or buy into ridiculous and illogical fantasies that reinforce their opinions.

I point out that the racist crap purported to be associated with the Tea Party was actually committed by saboteurs, such as Jason Levin, and that when a genuine example does surface, the racist is universally condemned. I point out that even if President Obama had been born in Kenya, that his mother was a citizen, and he is therefore a “natural born citizen”. I point out that although Ayn Rand had her faults, she wasn’t responsible for the subprime mortgages and the housing bubble that was at the heart of the late-2000s financial crisis. And so on.

The most immediate effect of these arguments is that other people lump me in with the target of their irrational hatred. I get accused of being a Republican. I get accused of being an Obama worshipper. I get accused of being a Randroid. I never manage to change anyone’s mind. No amount of logic, no amount of evidence, is ever enough. A guy whose work I like actually unfriended me on Facebook because I didn’t buy into his irrational hatred of the Tea Party.

I believe that human beings are generally good. By that, I mean that if faced with a choice between helping another person or hurting them, most people will help. However, this only holds for what people see in front of them. Once you get past what people can see with their eyes and touch with their hands, human beings are poor at telling fact from fiction, which causes them to make bad decisions, decisions based on emotion rather than fact. And hate is a strong emotion.

I am not immune. I am as emotional as anyone; perhaps more so. Irrational, too. Who am I to tell people that there is no Easter Bunny, that President Obama’s birth certificate is irrelevant (because his mother was from Wichita), or that most of the people who hate President Obama would hate him just as much if his father was from Arkansas? I believe things that are every bit as ridiculous; perhaps more so.

Human beings are not wired for logic and reason. It is as unnatural to us as ice skating is to a bear. In the USA, one of the most technologically and culturally advanced societies on Earth, half of us believe in ghosts. A third believe that myths and stories that were made up in the Bronze Age are literally true. All but a tiny fraction believe that there is one or more “gods” controlling everything from elections to the weather to who wins the lottery. This is in a country that has had mandatory science education for its citizens for over a century. Just imagine what it’s like in a place like Afghanistan.

Futurists have a concept they call the singularity — the point at which technological progress will have exceeded human understanding. The assumption is generally that this point lies off in the future. Personally, I think that this point occurred in the 19th century, around the time that light bulbs and pasteurization were invented. We are just too stupid to realize it.

The point being, arguing solves nothing, and does not increase my happiness nor that of those with whom I argue. So I will make an attempt to avoid such arguments in the future.