Occupation of Independence

The world seems surprised by the effect that fanatical sanctions (against Russia) are having. What a shock this is for the West. People in the West have become almost completely detached from physical reality. They have forgotten that food is grown in the ground, after fertilizer and agri-chemicals have been dumped on the ground. And then the food is put in trucks that burn fuel. Where does the lumber come from?, that is needed to build their 4000 square foot house. Surely it doesn't come from cutting a tree? That would be so awful. They have forgotten what steel and stainless steel are. Does that require mining? Wouldn't that be bad for the environment? They heat and air condition their oversized homes at 72F all year long. Most of the crap in their house is made from petroleum. All of these comforts just magically appear to them. They don't know from where. Nor do they care. To the West, reality is just an assembly of pixels on an electronic screen. 'Work' consis

It is important to choose the right year to be born in. In Europe and North America, you have to give credit to so-called Baby Boomers for choosing to be born between the end of World War II and 1960. Today Baby Boomers might be fairly close to death but at least we really lived when the gettin' was good. In fact I think we experienced peak freedom, peak education, peak female attractiveness, peak mobility, and peak prosperity. There were some setbacks along the way. Case in point is the decade of the 1970s. Still, we caught the last decade or two of Good Times in America: lucrative corporate employment -- stability, pay, pensions, and benefits. We were even able to retire early. But with raging inflation, how will young people be able to retire early from now on? Look at the risks they will be running! My (Baby Boomer) age group could invest during a long bull market on Wall Street. Do you really expect a replay of 1980 -2020 on Wall Street?  We still could look forward to Social

If a dog is serious about her outdoor-lifestyle, she has to learn how to cross cattle-gates. My first dog, Pancho the miniature poodle, acted wary when he encountered his first cattle-guard. Then he walked right across on his first attempt. My second dog, Coffee Girl, is a Nervous Nellie, but she was fairly confidant in crossing cattle-guards.   I had an easy time with a friend's dog. I don't know if it was his first attempt:   So how was Q.t.𝞹 going to do on her first attempt, this morning. My goodness. She locked up and her feet were unwilling to touch the steel bars. I levitated/dragged her across the cattle guard. At least she didn't do that squeal thing of hers! It was oddly funny. Still, she does get credit for acting a little curious about the steel bars on her second effort. There is hope. Of course a dog can usually run around the cattle guardby crawling under a barbed wire fence. She is small enough to do that easily. But that requires training me to let go of th

When I thought about getting a new dog I completely overlooked how fun it would be to liberate a city-dog by turning her into Ms. Nature-dog. She is 4.5 years old but she reacts to rocky arroyos, open space, cows, horses, and wildlife like she is a puppy, seeing them for the first time. Of course there is some risk in that. There are rattlesnakes, raccoons, coatimundies, and skunks to be careful about. And city-dog or not, she wants to rub into cow poop! She can get me into such a mood watching her frolic. What a marvelous thing it is see the frantic intensity of the young at play! Think of all the hackneyed things that a nature-lover is supposed to moon and swoon over: sunsets, mountains, Lake Louise. What about Youth itself? It is redolent of the Gilbert & Sullivan song in The Mikado, "Three little maids from school are we."  Notice that I linked to a video that is just sound. When 30 year old singer/actresses try to act like little girls, it just doesn't work -- t

So what do you think? Is Europe serious about damaging their standard of living or are they just bluffing and virtue signaling? Maybe we shouldn't be so shocked about millions of people unnecessarily hurting their own standard of living. Look at all the centuries they turned over land and wealth to established churches. And the 20 years of slaughter during the Napoleonic era. And the world wars in the 20th century.  Of course the current mutual suicide pact seems to be based on such a lame excuse. Really now, 'democracy', the sovereignty of Ukraine, etc.?! Is there something about the European peasant that makes them naive about -- and blindly obedient toward --  their own elites? At any rate the people who should be happiest about the current suicide are the Environmental Elites. It won't be long before the European peasants start losing interest in Ukraine. But by then, a good test run has been done on them. The precedent has been set. They will be ready for a lower s