The free world realized in the twentieth century that gulags couldn’t break the human spirit. So it invented traffic.
Posts in: Short posts
Take Kent Rollins’ two ingredient biscuit recipe, add a half cup of raisins and two teaspoon of cinnamon (maybe some powdered sugar icing if you’re into that) and you have cinnamon raisin biscuits better than Hardee’s had back in the day.
The computer used to mean the world to me. The computer was a portal to the world I wished to be in. Times change, and I no longer wish to be in contact with much of the world that’s in my computer.
I feel this. The internet of 1995 to 2010 changed my life. It opened up the world to me in wonderful ways. I loved blogging. And even though Twitter killed blogs, early Twitter was a lot of fun. I made some good online friends and we had fantastic conversations. And while everything has changed, I’m thankful for my great little circle here on micro.blog.
To my surprise, it doesn’t look like I’ve ever urged you to listen to John Lithgow’s reading of The Monkey’s Paw. Allow me to urge you now.
We’re living in the age of Trickster—and The Emerald podcast has re-issued an episode on that subject that is worth your time. As discussed in the episode, when Trickster is not ritually recognized as a necessary renewing force, he shows up in more destructive ways. The repressed returns as symptom.
The meditation app Headspace has added an AI therapist to help you process your emotions. And, again, we see promoters of these services saying they should be used “with care”–as it rolls right along. My employer provides a subscription to Headspace and it’s a cheap way not to cover therapy.
Dismay at irrational human behavior is a mistake rooted in two false beliefs:
- That rational abstraction is or ought to be a normal mode of human thought, and
- That any of us ever engage in such a mode more than occasionally, for ends other than self-justification.
French chicory as a decaf coffee substitute
I love coffee. I could easily be one of those people drinking pot after pot, but I limit myself to one or two (large) mugs per day. On the two-mug days, I can tell that it makes me a little buzzy; probably not good for me. I started buying decaf but heard that there may be health concerns with the chemical used in decaffeination. Recently I bought a bag of French chicory, which is often touted as a naturally caffeine free coffee alternative.
A footnote in the book I’m reading led me to The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences, an academic work currently on sale in Kindle format for $3.99. I hate reading on Kindle but if the subject matter interests you, it’s hard to pass up that deal.