55th Reunion

Best reunion I have been to, and it did not begin auspiciously. There were many fewer than at the 50th - no surprise - and just a lot of brief conversation and moving on. Pleasant but shallow, I suppose. But over the first two hours all forty of us had a chance to touch base with just about all of the others, everyone having a longer conversation with a few. In the last hour it narrowed to about 20, all around one table with some side conversations and switching places when people went to get another drink or had a longer goodbye.  But no one was far from the center, and more of the conversation was addressed to the whole group, a few lines here and there. People waited for each other, listened to each other, told stories. It ended softly, slowly. 

Mongoose Vs Cobra

The Slo-Mo is fun

 

Salt and Pepper

I am no longer shocked that prepared supermarket foods have too much pepper and salt, nor that cheaper restaurants lean on those ingredients.  They are cheap, flavorful, and cover a multitude of sins.  I'd rather have a try at those supposed culinary sins they are covering myself, but it must be working or it wouldn't keep happening - and maybe getting worse.

We went to an expensive restaurant on Friday, and my tenderloin and potato based dish had way too much pepper. This seems to be happening everywhere these days. Do the majority of people like that much? Does it spur people to buy more drinks, as the salt does? Has everyone forgotten how to cook food? 

In contrast, we went to a coastal seafood place tonight and I had fried scallops, discerning no pepper. There was likely some salt in the batter, but it didn't taste salty. It was just simple and very good. It is the sort of place with an overhead chalkboard menu where you order at the counter and pick it up when they call your number. It was busy on a Monday night in October.

Sponge-Headed Scienceman has had it with garlic being added to everything, and I am beginning to come around to that idea, after years of saying Gimme More. But first, back off on the salt and pepper.  I have started to mention it, especially at fancier places which might have more reason to fear negative word-of-mouth. There are salt and pepper on the table for a reason, I thought. 

The Land of Milk and Cookies

I had a pastor who years ago used that phrase in a sermon, along the lines of "and then we will all go to live in the land of milk and cookies."  I thought it was charming, capturing the spirit of joy, calm, and abundance that the biblical phrase milk and honey intended, but in a modern context.  I mentioned it to a co-worker who was one of Those Christians who launched into a correction that this was not actually something that should have been in a sermon, because the honey part of the phrase represents something-or-other about Messianic prophecy which shouldn't be left out because then you are missing the whole point...

Well, no. Keep it simple.  Honey refers to foraging.  Milk refers to agriculture, possibly settled but more commonly nomadic. The Israelites moved between these economies, and at varying times God was quite clear where they should be.  No, Cain, do not bring me an offering of broccoli. Yes, Nehemiah, it is time to rebuild a city. The Land of Milk and Honey covers the territory.  Everything is here.  The foraging is good, the cows are contented, be at peace.

Noticing

Steve Sailer's book Noticing is built around his decades-long observation that there are things you are not supposed to notice, and simply noticing them out loud gets you in trouble.  There is a reason no one was noticing and it wasn't an accident.

So I have long noticed but only occasionally mentioned how often people - meaning especially my age, especially women, and ones I know/knew - show how kind and good they are by how often they mention that they hate Trump. The oftenness provides ample evidence that they don't actually criticise both sides, and leads to wondering why they have to say essentially the same thing so often.

The other side spreads it around to a somewhat larger circle of "stupid things liberals do," with a variety of targets.  

Yogi Berra supposedly said "You can see a lot just by looking." 

Links from 2015

From October and November.  It now looks as if all 11,702 posts of mine have been visited 150-200 times this October, including some to dead links. 

 Boomer Youth Culture a simple theory on how it developed that I still like.

Community Versus Communism  I was refining the idea at this point.  As I read, I sometimes thought "That's how I still say that now," while at other times I thought "I hit upon a better way to say that." Good comment from T99.

Bamfield's John Vanden Music from The Bills with great harmonies. Bamfield is a tiny community on Vancouver Island, facing the Pacific.

Star Wars Villains  The Assistant Village Idiot explains to you why it's morally inconsistent and confusing.

Two extended posts about College Protests that are still green

One Thought  Starting with an analogy I still like.

Life Is Hard  Good responses, closing with a highly complimentary spam comment I left up.

Porcupine

A woman was running back up the road from her truck, looking concerned at the small animal that was wandering and looking disoriented in the road. It was a young porcupine.

A warm-hearted woman. What could possibly go wrong. 

Traffic

My overall traffic has suddenly gone up 100x, with this last week up 3x, all of my posts from May 2025 visited two hundred times each two days ago, and a similar weirdness for Oct 4-9 targeting other months in the last ten years.

They come from phones in South America and Southern Asia, but except for one American Osteopathy site, the majority come from the vast category of "other."  

Whatever it is, something automated is looking for something here, and I doubt that's good. 

Controlling The Weather

Conclusive Evidence Found of Jew Controlling the Weather - Babylon Bee

Winchester Cathedral

 

New Education Model! Using AI!

 So you know it must work, right? Except Boy, Was I Wrong About Alpha School by Wess Trabelsi at AI ∩ K12.  This is someone who wants the tech revolution in education to work.  He is sympathetic.  

But he has also seen other promising results blow up before, and calls 'em as he sees 'em.

I have long since learned not to be surprised when new educational marvels look like they work, because the news that there is selection bias and results that don't scale is just around the corner. Deception.  Some of it may be salvageable, but it doesn't look likely.