Friday, April 10, 2020

pie eating contest


PIE EATING CONTEST
Today, another break from Beer Virus, because we can and because we must. I ran across the phrase “a pie eating contest in which the prize is another pie”. I can't remember the context it was used in, but the phrase was priceless. Doesn't that sum up so much of our dysfunctional behavior? Now, I'm of the mind that most of said behavior is actually necessary and useful, evolutionary speaking, but the trick is to find out the why and how. Why do we “spin our wheels”, as it were? I might have an idea, but as usual it is conjecture.
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Ever notice how we work hard so that we can be rewarded by more hard work? I'm not saying this is a bad thing, don't misunderstand me. Lazy and slacking has produced our current culture which does nobody any good. Of course, you have to laugh as you view the leisure and soft life of the elites as they look down their noses at the lazy slackers of the welfare class. Rush Limbaugh personifies this, although he is more a moneyed servant to, rather than one of the rich humpers he so diligently serves. I won't go off on a Rush tangent. I'll just say, he does kind of look like that bastard George Washington, doesn't he?
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The harder we work, the more we are rewarded with more work. Let us say you never went to college. The only reason I refused to attend, other than the only thing studying history is good for ( career wise ) is to teach history, which did not really appeal to me, was because I refused to take a couple of math classes ( such is my hatred and loathing of the subject ). School was relatively affordable at the time, and sort-of PC free. But I worked my up the food chain, instead. You work harder than anyone else, to be rewarded with more work at proportionately less pay.
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The steps above retail store management constitute LESS physical labor, true, but at the cost of your soul, your peace of mind and your stomach lining. You are still working yourself into an early grave. Every promotion is more time working, more stress, less of a personal life. What are you gaining? Mostly, money that others get to enjoy far more than yourself. Not just the corporate CEO who profits far more than you, but the gold digging wife, the ingrate children, the salesmen who sold you an illusion of a reward.
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I understand a fair number of people use credit responsibly enough, and can discipline themselves and pay off balances and etcetera. I was not one of them. To me, credit is cocaine. I do everything I can to avoid it, simply because no one likes a junkie, especially not themselves. But at least I have a modicum of pride and never debased myself completely. I never used debt to get a better credit rating so I could get into even more debt. Sure, if the fools offered me a credit card, I abused it.
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But I never played the game of paying interest far longer to get more debt. I overdosed early and then went into withdrawals and avoided the poison thereafter. But to dance to your masters tune to keep his supply of credit coming, for a lifetime of indentured servitude? No. I never could understand or condone that. I knew enough to eventually stop playing the game. And what about all that wonderful crap you bought, with that credit? What was the point? The more stuff you bought, the more stuff you needed to buy to maintain and feed the stuff you bought in the first place.
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Granted, no tool is without maintenance. Something as simple as a shovel still needs items to prevent rust and wood rot, a file for sharpening, and a shelter for it as well, with its own maintenance costs. You'll use the preservatives for other tools, as well as the file and shed, so the cost in both investment and time is minimal ( although, to minimize that cost you are just feeding the whole cycle of more stuff ). But stuff needs stuff. You cannot avoid that, only maximize effectiveness. I'm not questioning owning tools, a necessity. I'm not a dirty hippie trying to emulate Turd World monks.
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But surely you see the escalating problems? Or, look at that peculiar breed of Yuppie Scum who is deathly afraid of germs, to the point the mental condition makes them sicker from stress, feeding their need of paranoia. It almost seems those people think themselves into an early grave, after much hospital visits and needless quests for exotic vitamin sources ( and probably a crystal in there, the weirdo's. What is in the water in California? ).
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Could this just be as simple as needing a hobby? Keeping busy, to fill in the moments between crapping our infant diapers to crapping our adult ones? If there isn't enough challenges, do we create them? It almost seems so, doesn't it? No one wants another pie after eating so much pie you nearly puke. It was the contest that mattered, not the prize. The journey, not the destination. If life doesn't challenge us, we create challenges. Have you noticed the amount of drama a non-working mother creates around her? The kids are too old to look after, the robots do all the chores and she is now without a purpose.
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After WWII, in that brief period of time the average worker was rewarded for fighting to colonize the non-Soviet world, making the colonies the bankers and corporations bitches, a period barely over twenty years ( and that is being generous as the economic malaise returned in about a dozen, the cure far worse than the disease. Sound familiar? ), housewives were popping pills at a rate that would make the soon arriving hippies look sober in comparison. They were bored and depressed. That found things to do, but they still had no purpose. There was no more journey.
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The “why” of all this escapes me, of course. Although just knowing to do something is sometimes good enough. Cause and effect. Dammit! Perhaps this does tie in with Beer Virus, as we ponder life, the universe, and everything.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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16 comments:

  1. A Shovel that can be sharpened with a file, is a tool not worth owning. Musta got it at Walmart ?
    Same goes for an axe or splitting maul. A file will skip right over , barely scratching a properly hardened cutting tool.
    Buy quality , buy it once. Buy cheap tools and buy it over and over.
    BTW your hair looks good, what kind of product do you use ?
    Bye
    Just started re reading that book...asteroids , my favorite genera...we shall see if it rivals Lucifer's Hammer. Seems I must have read it while in hospital, going by the purchase date...so I excuse myself , as likely was under heavy meds when last I read it.

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    1. I confess, cheap tools. For as little use as they get, it seems a fair trade. And I was going for quantity.

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  2. Means to an end. There is some trade offs for engaging in the pie eating contests for sure. The key would be for a disciplined Minion to run on that hamster wheel of our economic systems, only as a necessary part of a larger macro plan, i.e. long game. (Possible in oil age, probably dicey nowadays) If a fellow is mentally grounded and basically uses the extra income and upper position >perks< to apply specifically towards his 'secret closet life' of prepping and building one's self up (financially, gear and kit, domicile, skill set and resume strengthening etc) it would be a justified pursuit even though the grit your teeth costs are there. The systems in place are the only game for many, as we all can't go off pioneering in the mountains fully divorced from society systems and constricts. Straddle the realms so to speak. Dabble in junior managerial or such just for the more pay, benefits, access to goods or intel, etc not for ego, trophy wife, bubba toys, and always be keen for oportunities as related to prepping and strengthening your base operations in your own world. Perform like a secret agent, or deep mole in plain sight, since as a deplorable caste, it is a necessary proviso. Whistle while working, all the while with a cheery smile for the bosses, as you palm that lighter in you pocket, at the ready to burn things down. Stay frosty while having a slice of pie.

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    1. A slice of pie, extra spicy. Ha! I did the above working at the casino as slots manager. Lived like a barbarian, investing in land, Hippie Bread Van, PM's, ammo, etc. Very high stress job, but worth it in its reward.

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  3. Lord Bison, while your hair may be fair, your choice of melee weapon in your newsletter is not. If it is the zombie apocalypse time, and we need to stop the horde, a Halberd would make the best weapon to dispatch those walkers.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halberd

    I'd rather keep them a Lil' bit farther away from me, while I poke'em in the eye.

    You know what I mean Vern?

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    1. Fair? FAIR? My hair is awesome-sauce! Upon rereading, I've decided to expand this into a short book. I have much more to say. I expect the comments to be invigorating.

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  4. James, totally off topic. I always wanted to read Rancho costa Nada? whatever the name is but didn't want to buy it. I just read your 2-15-19 post and you had a link to it. I read the whole thing today. I see where you got alot of inspiration from. Great read. Thank you.

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    1. Good deal. Yeah, one of the best. "How to survive without a salary" by Charles Long was another great one, but more conventional living. "Possum Living" you might find an online version of, sits about in between the two above.

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    2. Yeah, Rancho Costa Nada, has to be in at least the top 10 of my all time favorite books. Another inspiring one is Travel Trailer Homesteading for Under $5k. Both were Loompanics publications. The Travel trailer book is very similar to Jim’s process (Cheap land, abode, hauled water, etc.)

      I remember the good old days, when all that I needed was some tasty Loompanics books, a cool buzz, and I was fine (Psst. But don’t tell Nightshift above. Apparently, he’s a cop :D )

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    3. Just checked-TT Homesteading is no longer cheap. $25 & up. I wonder if the guy is dead-a forth edition should sell well at this point, and he has JIT printing to get the cost to near zero

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    4. I noticed that when I was looking for a copy of TT Homesteading Jim. I got lucky, and found one cheap, but there were a lot of scalper types charging $75 or more for a copy! I think the real reason it’s priced as such, is that it’s simply out of print, and there’s a lot of greedy people out there. Usually, books such as this, eventually find their way onto an archive site, and are free as a PDF. I didn’t look though.

      And please don’t tell me that my Spicoli, fast times at Ridgemont high quote, went over your head :D

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    5. Yeah, dammit, sorry. The quote escaped me, and even would have post-coffee. Good movie, but I only watched it twice, and many years ago. I usually need far more views to start getting quotes from it. And even then, I can butcher the quote if it's only been three or four times. Like I did with the Robin Williams line on the assault rifle in "Survivors"

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    6. Spicoli had the right idea about conventional employment Jim, and set the trend for many:D

      Brad: Why don’t you get a job Spicoli?

      Spicoli: What for? (1:04)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAiFSHfMeio

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    7. You don't have to worry about me. I can't Partake in the green buzz but I don't hate. Jim I have read some of the possum living stuff. I retired 8 years ago and was offered half time, 1040 hours a year at much than I can make at other PT jobs. Not in the enforcement division any more.

      BTW a friend has a link to buy a $20 thumb drive to purchase something like 420 loompanics books. I need to check it out.

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    8. 4:12-ya gotta love his attitude. Just not, perhaps, his mode of recreation. I barely have any wits about me, and need them , so no reality alteration :)

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  5. Yep. There is going to be a whole lot of down to earthers as a result of or after this melodrama. But it will not be enough to change the course of things or society posture. The easy way and satan's siren song-so to speak will pull the proles back to the hopium dens. At least Minions may have more fellow travelers later on instead of combatant adversaries, maybe anyway. Rally the tribe, build. BEGIN.

    Stay frostiest.

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