Tag Archives: psychology

Bees, Furguson, Fictional Horrors, and Needed Distractions

Posted on by
Reply
This entry is part 80 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I spent more time than I probably should have discussing the goings on in Furguson, MO, today.

Can’t say that before yesterday I’d really ever heard of that St. Louis suburb before, but after today it’s going to be hard to forge.

You see, there’s some massive police action going on there. That’s in reaction to some massive public action–including looting and riots. And that’s in reaction to a shooting that left a black man definitely dead and a cop reported injured.

Chains of events like this aren’t all that uncommon.

It’s a symptom of the ongoing and underlying racial and economic divides we’ve got going on here. That we’ve had going on here pretty much forever.

It’s tragic all around.

First that there’s any legitimate question that an altercation with a law enforcement officer was uncalled for or that the cop’s response was out of scale. Further that pretty much any any event between white people and people of a different race will far too often set off protests and riots.

I’d like to say “It didn’t used to be this way…” But that’s not entirely true. There is a tremendous history of those in power (who have always happened to be white, and almost always male here in the United States) abusing those of different races, genders, and sexual orientations. So much so that any “event” involving a minority has to be deeply questioned and, in many communities, serves as a flashpoint for the pent up frustrations of the population.

In Fuguson, the death sparked riots (which, in and of itself is an utterly counter-productive reaction–“Let’s mess up our own town to protest the actions of the powers that be!”). Those riots sparked a highly militarized police response (which, in some cases, was definitely called for–if you’re setting things on fire and robbing stores, the cops are kind of supposed to stop that). The problem is, because the police force itself was seen as the aggressor in the ongoing tension in the town, having them show up at even peaceful gatherings looking like an occupying military force and then moving in on the crowd isn’t going to do anything but incite resistance and more distrust.

Which is exactly what’s been happening over the past four days.

It’s a problematic and unfortunate situation that has done near irreparable damage to the community in many ways. Law enforcement and those in power are going to have a very difficult climb to even get back to the strained point of tolerance they had with the residents before this all fell apart. The residents are going to have to deal with numerous issues this is inevitably causing in their own community–when neighbors of yours are burning down buildings you shop at, there’s going to be some lingering frisson there.

And then the country, not as a whole but as a divided population of “us” and “them”, has yet another example of why they shouldn’t trust those we’ve put in power. That brings us one step closer to collapse… and that helps no one get anything positive done.

Anyway, there are 70 or so back and forth exchanges, all filled with fantastic and diverse opinions attached to the articles about it in the feed. Definitely check those out.

Also, there are baby ducks swimming in a sink.

And a dancing tree.

Just to balance things out.

Here’s the feed…

X-Men, Marshmallow Men, Puberty, Fire Phone, Isolation, and the Clown Motel of Your Nightmares

Posted on by
Reply
This entry is part 48 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Technically, I’m still in the middle of my last big road trip.

See, the plan was, after quitting my job at the newspaper up in rural NY (with nothing else lined up), I was going to cruise down to Atlanta for Dragon Con that year, then continue on down to Florida for a little while, bounce back up North (stopping to visit people I knew from college who were in the DC area), then up through northern New York, across the top of the country, down the West Coast, and then back east via a southern route that would let me hit Florida and DC again.

I’ve kind of been “stuck” in the DC area for the past decade. Never did make it all the way back to the northern New York bit. (Even though I’ve been back to my home town nearly two dozen times.)

So, technically, still in the middle of that trip.

Over the past week, two road trip ideas have come up. One, a return to New Orleans with some of the people I was with the last time I was there (back in 1993). The other, prompted by the Clown Motel item in today’s feed, with some new(er) friends who I know are good for adventure (and share a quirky, twisted, sense of humor).

I’d like to say both of those will happen.

But the last bunch of road trips I’ve tried to do have fallen short of actually being do-able. Mostly for financial and scheduling reasons. Sometimes, the problems aren’t even mine (though lately, they really have been).

Sure, I’ve managed a Dragon Con trip or two in the past decade… but not recently. And there was that one trip out to the Jersey Shore (which only happened because a friend has a house there and a bunch of us were heading out from the DC area). But, other than those rare exceptions and the trips home for holidays, my wanderlust has been seriously unsatisfied.

I like travel. I really, really do. What I don’t have is one of these three things at any given moment: time, money, or traveling companion(s).

Currently, money is tight and I have no paid vacation. I do, though, have a handful of people willing to go on two different trips. A while back, I had time and people, but seriously lacked money.

It feels like I really can’t win.

Not that that’s going to stop me from continuing to dream about these trips and trying to pull off miracles so I can do them.

Miracles are just few and far between these days.

(As are teleporters… which would really make all this a moot point.)

Science, Madness, Ice Cream Truck Music History, Slowly Impending Doom, and More

Posted on by
Reply
This entry is part 26 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I’m really not much of a programmer.

Yes, my job title technically does have “developer” in it, but I’m really not happy when I have to build things from scratch. I much prefer to mix already working things together in ways that get the job done in a quick and effective manner. Hopefully something that’s at least “close enough” at worst.

That’s not always possible.

And that’s what I’ve been dealing with at work on this one project.

Because I’m not much of a programmer, there’s no single language that I’m awesome with. At best, I’m mediocre with a few. And when it comes to some things, I’m really not that good at all. So I run into a lot of problems as I’m trying to get things to do things they don’t normally do.

But! I do have my own way of working through things. A lot of it relies on letting my subconscious bang it’s head against the issue while I occupy my conscious mind with something else (like, say Facebook, or another project).

Nine times out of ten, the solution pops into my head in less than an hour (sometimes much sooner). Sometimes it’s not the whole solution, but it’s enough of a perspective changer to shake loose the right fix from the aether (you know, where all computer programs already exist, right?).

On the surface it doesn’t look particularly “worky” or efficient. But it is terribly effective most of the time. Mainly because I’ve been using a similar method to work through all sorts of other problems–both life and work related–for a couple of decades now.

Compared to the times when I try to “buckle down” and solve problems like we’re told we always should–in some iterative, methodical way that other people can understand–things get done in about the same amount of time (if not more quickly) and I don’t get particularly stressed out about it. (When I’m actively banging my conscious head against a problem, the stress level just skyrockets and, eventually, totally gets in the way of coherent thought… which isn’t all that productive.)

The process basically goes like this:

  • Identify the problem
  • Do a bit of research (so I’m sure I know that there’s no simple solution out there)
  • Set the subconscious on the task
  • Fiddle around with other things for a while
  • Immediately switch gears when the solution pops in
  • Implement to solution
  • If it works, awesome… if not, see how it’s changed the problem
  • Repeat if necessary

So, yeah, that’s what I’ve spent most of my work life doing… especially when it comes to programming.