There's supposed to be a clever blog post title in this space

Here's a completely disjointed and psychotic post. Brought to you by the fact that I'm a very accomplished bullshitter. Wherein said bullshit may sometimes be confused for actual knowledge and wisdom. Don't be fooled!

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Yesterday I said I felt like I'd been beat with a knotted plowline and pulled backwards through a knothole. Today I feel like yesterday I was beat with a knotted plowline and pulled backwards through a knothole.

The stress of dealing with hard situations does actually take a certain physical toll. In large part because the thinking and planning and listening and discussing and reassessing, and all the other stuff that goes on is simply very intense and takes a lot of energy. I mean a lot of energy. It's a testament to the abilities of the ape-lizard that we can do such things. It's amazing, really.

Amazing or not, I'm feeling just a bit weary and punchy today. But that's okay, because none of the recent drama harmed me and all of the recent drama helped grow and grow stronger.

And besides, lots of people are dealing with tough things. In Herefordshire, for instance, heavy rains, swollen rivers, and flooding are making life a bit, well, like life on an island in the north Sea.

The mess is preventing farmers from finishing harvest and making life miserable for their livestock.

Not to mention the non-farmer drivers who thought they could make it across.

On the bright side, they got Boris!

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Daily ride along. Here's a silent trip to the pasture.



In search of cows hidden in plain sight.



When the chopping gets tough the tough get chopping.



Let's drive by the east tree line and whine about the wind!



We're all farmers. You are too!



Let's see if I can actually get to a point.



Finally, here's a non-sideways chicken video. I think.



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Philosophy. I am all for it.

In case you missed it, and you did, because you're actually sane, the above line refers to (pays homage to?) a man on the street interview I recall seeing on the telemavision way back in  the 1970's.

My memory of the clip is imperfect. To put said clip in context, during that particular time in the early 1970's there was a great deal of societal concern over pollution, and rightly so. Here in America there were rivers catching on fire, lakes so polluted that only bacteria could dwell in them, and a great deal of smog blanketing urban and industrial areas. We Americans had made a hell of a mess. A lot of people were concerned, and television was a great tool for getting the message of concern out.



In addition to PSA spots, a lot of local television news outlets did man on the street interviews, asking random folks how they felt or what they thought about pollution. So in the clip I'm thinking of, which I haven't been able to make the interwebz cough up for me, a young fellow is asked what he thinks about pollution.

"Pollution," he says. "I am all for it."

I think the clip aired numerous times on shows like Johnny Carson and perhaps SNL. So one take on the fellow's pronouncement was humorous. "Look at dis guy, Marge, he don't even know what pollution is!"

The fact that a man on the street didn't understand the question and tried to bullshit his way through it was very humorous indeed, but also illustrative of the scope and complexity of the problem.

As a result of all the concern and attention, people let their elected representatives know that they wanted something done about pollution. This was truly a job for government. There really did need to be regulations laid down and enforcement schemes put in place.

Congress stepped up to the plate. Agencies were formed. In a remarkably short time pollution in America disappeared and the air and waterways healed themselves. It was a good thing.

Creating those agencies was a double edged sword though. When they had finished the real job they decided to invent new emergencies in order to justify their existence. Today we have alphabet agencies who behave like our long lost good friends the Gestapo. But that's not what any of this is about!

Look at that! Ten paragraphs and a video to set up a silly and not very funny allusion. Perfect illustration of "wordy fingers," a term Paul coined in his comment on yesterday's post. Now where was I?

Oh yeah. Philosophy. I am all for it.

Philosophy is basically thinking and writing about stuff with some intent to move oneself and one's fellows toward a more complete understanding of 42.



Speaking of Douglas Adams, I remember watching this episode of Letterman on the Boat. Letterman and Hee-Haw being staples of the television provided in videotape format to we mighty seaborne sailors by AFRTS.



Which neatly (in my mind) brings us back to philosophy. Or more properly, the good, the bad, and the ugly of philosophy.

Our term philosophy springs from Greek and Latin. The root words are basically philo, or love of, and sophia -- knowledge, wisdom or sophis, wise, learned. Taken together philosophy can mean both the body of 42 and the study of 42.

That's all good. The thinking and reasoning is the way we intellectually try to order our experience of reality and figure out hypotheses and theories which we can then test to see if we are correct or barking up the wrong tree. 

Then there's the bad, where an ape-lizard or group of ape-lizards get together and decide they're going to lie. cheat, and steal in order to make everyone agree that their pet hypotheses and/or theories are the final answer regardless of what the evidence actually shows.

And let's not forget the ugly, which is sophistry. This term is from the Latin sophistria and sophista, basically specious or fallacious reasoning or one who practices such. Examples of sophistry include legal quibbling, petty intellectual tricks, chicanery, clever lies, etc.

Why did i feel the need to share this information? Don't know. Perhaps it's something like this -- be skeptical of the reasoning and claims in this blog, be ever alert for bullshit, and don't be afraid to point out mistruths or sophistry if you find it here.

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I was going to do something else here today, but I think I'll bin that idea. Might as well throw this thing out there now, I can't make it much worse.

Be well and enjoy the blessings of liberty.