The Curmudgeon Speaks

I first posted these thoughts in 2017. Facebook reminds you of old posts from the past and I thought it worthwhile to remind myself and others of this topic. After the past few years, I think we are all now more aware and I hope more appreciative. Empathy is such a valuable characteristic and being honest with yourself about the uneven nature of life should be an initial step in shaping the attitudes that guide our behavior. I am adding a contribution from Frankie our youngest grandchild because I thought her art had a great Thanksgiving message.

I did not grow into adulthood wealthy, but I was privileged.

– I was born white and male

– My parents were not wealthy when I was young, but they were committed to each other. They were college educated and encouraged their children in whatever personal interests we had. I followed a career path they did not understand. Rather than object, they found money to expand my undergrad training so they were comfortable that I had a backup plan. My own goals worked out and the breadth of my preparation ended up being a benefit throughout my career.

– I found a lifelong partner who supported me and who shared professional interests that magnified whatever personal talents I had.

So many struggle because they do not benefit from such privileges. They deal with discrimination because of irrelevant personal characteristics that are of no consequence. They mature in an environment of turmoil or hardship that was not of their making. They miss out on a break here or there that may have eventually resulted in great opportunities. They are unable to connect with someone who allows them to achieve far more than they would have on their own.

I take some credit for the successes of my life. I also realize that pretty much every possible break went my way.

This time of Thanksgiving should be a time of reflection. We seem to be in a time of great turmoil and a willingness by many to ignore life’s privileges. I hope the inequities generated by privileges are not magnified through the decisions politicians make.

I filled my gas tank this morning at the small town station I use when spending time at our lake place. When I selected regular, I noticed this very professional looking decal with a picture of President Biden with one arm pointing at the price and the caption – “I did that”. Another decal was positioned next to the total cost of my fill. The price per gallon was $3.19 and it was a dime higher than I remember from my last visit. I should have taken a picture before I peeled the decals off. I checked the other pumps to get a photo, but it was only the pump on the end out of the visual field of the folks working at the station that had been selected for comment.

I know little about macroeconomics, but there are some things I believe just because these arguments seem logical. First, I don’t think the government officials pocket any money when citizen costs increase. They might benefit from the gifts of lobbyists, but they don’t get a cut when the cost of gas increases. I also don’t think the government burns money. It has to go somewhere.

I happen to be reading my local paper – the Minneapolis Star Tribune and I found this story about the increased oil revenue going to the North Dakota oil fields. This was the case even though less oil was being extracted. The value of a barrel oil has gone up, the oil companies have benefited, and the state has received more tax revenue as a consequence. Of course, the increased cost at the pump has also benefited other countries and regions of this country. My point – money goes somewhere and benefits someone. So rather than blaming Biden or Pelosi, you could more accurately blame the people of North Dakota for benefitting from the increase in what you pay.

My take on macroeconomics is that we should be more worried about income inequities. The world has faced great challenges as the result of the COVID pandemic. In this time, folks are out of work possibly because they cannot find child care or their employer needed to cut back. Price increases are tough for these folks. At the same time, stock market is at a record level and the ultra-rich and even the rest of us with money in the market are getting richer. So, when you try to blame politicians consider where the money you feel you are losing goes. Get upset over why it is not going to the folks who need really need it.

I started what I call my living room garden in November of 2020 as a project to work on during the COVID pandemic. I have been interested in school gardens for years and was exploring what I saw as an option classes could use during the school year. Too often, school gardens are left with out a gardner during the summer months.

I just planted a crop I hope will be the last in my continuous streak of having the garden in operation. We hope to spend time in Hawaii in a few months to avoid the worst of the Minnesota winters. I would have to shut the garden down when no one would be around to keep it going.

The garden in the house ended up being useful even when my outside garden was available. I could grow lettuce during the heat of the summer and tomatoes during the winter and into the spring before plants in the garden would produce.

The following images may offer a perspective useful if you wonder just what this looks like. The first image shows the garden, a mature lettuce crop, and a younger lettuce planting. The lighting can be adjusted as plants grow and to accommodate plants that need more room (e.g., tomatoes). The second image shows what the newest planting (herbs) looks like. The plastic jugs to either side of the garden hold water that is siphoned into the gardens when we are not around. Plants use a lot more water than you might guess.

Worried your Twitter feed is dominated by those with political beliefs similar to your own? The Polarization Lab has set up bots that will relay tweets from politicians and journalists with opposing beliefs that are supposed to balance out your own biases.

This is an interesting approach based on research from the Lab that claims becoming aware of the position of others can moderate your own. I think there is an important difference between understanding the positions taken by those whom I find to think very differently from the way I do. I have studied work on argumentation and I know that those arguing different positions tend to write/speak more in substantiating their own positions than addressing the positions and supporting evidence taken by others. Tbere are so many issues on which my values leave me wondering just what could justify positions taken the oppose these values and I have been identifying the tweets forwarded by the bot just to see if justifications are included. So far, I have not found what I am looking for, but I will continue to try. I also have taken the proactive step of asking for justifications, but my requests are usually ignored.

This approach should interest others who care about social media and wonder whether there is hope for meaningful discussion of issues.

I can understand why a candidate for Governor might want to make public education a central issue. Teachers are drastically underpaid in many states, schools are underfunded, the gap in achievement between kids coming from poor and wealthy families is increasing, etc. However, when a candidate focuses on a vague and pretty much made-up issue such as critical race theory, even a very pro-public education person like me must just shake his head. A perspective has been falsely translated from the training in law schools because it has a scary sound to many white Republicans to issues such as the topics of history class and the selection of literature in English. At least, forget CRT and decide if you are against denying slavery and want to ban books by recognized scholars. Such topics are less important than the discussion of the Common Core and Modern Math and I am guessing voters have little clue what these topics involve either.

The Wall Street Journal has generated content based on the documents the whistleblower has offered. Reporters have done the work of reviewing these documents and offering summaries. Here are links to two such summaries – one in text and the other a series of podcast episodes. The full podcast series is unique to Spotify so you may not be able to find it with your favorite podcatcher.

Podcast

Facebook files

Facebook has some obvious problems and now frequently draws the attention of politicians and news sources describing how Facebook spreads tainted information and stokes negative emotions. There are things any user can do to limit personal damage. The first would be to be aware that Facebook feeds our personal biases to increase our engagement and time spent in order to show us more ads. In other words, we are complicit in the damage that Facebook does, but awareness offers the opportunity to limit the damage.

I have recommended my personal strategies before, but here is a quick review. First, I limit my purpose for using Facebook. My focus is on political discussion. Yours might be on sharing with family. Mixing the two is probably not a good idea. There are plenty of social media services you can use for other purposes. Second, understand that Facebook learns your biases from your actions – what you post, like, comment. I try to respond rarely and do so mostly by providing comments. The easy, mindless likes give away too much information for little value. Avoid all of those silly requests for input such as identifying a dog name that does not contain an A. Third, I friend quality news sources and not just people. If you use Facebook to keep up with the happenings in the world, it is probably best to do more than tap into the biases of your friends. Select some solid news sources to broaden your perspective (e.g., New York Times). In the search box where you might occasionally search for people, enter the names of news sources you trust. Friend these sources. Finally, I don’t block people no matter how much they irritate me. Inane comments are a reminder that Facebook is not about factual information and it is helpful to be constantly reminded.

You can limit the damage done by the Facebook algorithm. Switch your feed to “Most recent” so you get the input from all of your sources arranged by time and this will eliminate the prioritization of the news feed by the algorithm. You may have to search a bit, but “Most Recent” should appear somewhere in the left side column (on a computer) of the Facebook display.

Here is an interesting hack you might explore. There is a way to arrange the Newsfeed on the fly. Use this link to connect to Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr instead of your normal link. You should be able to evaluate whether you are seeing a chronological list rather than an algorithmically controlled list by the dates/times associated with the posts in your feed.

Mask mandates have resulted in contentious interactions among parents often boiling over at school board meetings. Video from news stations has portrayed physical confrontations as parents attack administrators and other parents claiming their children have a right not to wear a mask.

The “side” being most aggressive in this battle kind of surprised me. I thought it most logical parents seeing masks as a way to protect their kids would be most demanding. I have long thought that resistance to a mask mandate given the scientific data on the value of masks would eventually result in legal action taken against organizations unwilling to require this protection. This story from NPR describes how Wisconsin parents with some assistance are now taking action in the way I predicted.

For those of us lucky enough to live in a northern state, the mention of Fall colors generates a consistent response. The phrase brings up images of colorful leaves decorating beautiful hillsides. I was at the Minneapolis Farmers’ Market yesterday and realized there was an equally colorful option.

I saw this guys for three straight days working in the same trail head parking lot. You can’t see it very well in this image, but his jeep is equipped with solar panels and a satellite antenna. I finally decided I needed to have a conversation.

“Is that a satellite antenna on your roof”, I asked.”It is for Star Link”, he responded.”I have seen you working here for three days”, I said. “I am guessing you are a writer or a programmer”.”Software engineer”, he said.

I have heard both job titles and I am not certain how they are different.

I asked whether he had worked remotely for long and he said that this has been the case for a while. I said I had heard about people who lived the digital nomad life style, but he was the first I had met. He said he likes the combination. He said he is based in Colorado, but was working his way across the country to Maryland to visit friends. I asked whether he worked as an independent or for a company and he replied that he was employed by a company that let him work in this way.

He looks like my stereotype of a programmer. When I asked about his vehicle he said that it was has “latest build”. What a programmer thing to say.

Another of the cool experiences you have on the road.