Please, sir, may I have some more

“It may be my bias, or my imagination, or my distaste for toil, but from here America looks like one big workhouse, “under God, indivisible, with time off to shit, shower and shop.” A country whose citizens have been reduced to “human assets” of a vast and relentless economic machine, moving human parts oiled by commodities and kept in motion by the edict, “produce or die.” Where employment and a job dominates all other aspects of life, and the loss of which spells the loss of everything.”

The Iron Cheer of Empire

Just the average goodness from Joe Bageant, who’s always worth reading.

 

Fare thee well…

So today was the day that my brother crammed the last bits of stuff into a 17 foot U-Haul and headed off into what would be the sunset if they weren’t driving south and it wasn’t early afternoon. But, hey, they’ll eventually turn west and they’ll be on the road for at least 24 hours, so there will be a sunset involved.

More mixed feelings after the jump.

The return

If you’re one of the few people who appears to stop by here now and again, i would like to offer my apologies for being so, er, completely uninvolved with my own project.

I’m back and look forward to putting some honest effort into this joint; it could use a little work.

There’s a back log of writing that has appeared at Scholars and Rogues. I’ll be putting that up here and working in new writing and random thoughts.

Yeah, a little scrubbing…maybe a coat of paint. The place has potential, which is always in direct proportion to effort isn’t it?

Evolve

Kevin Kelly has published a 13,000 word essay on evolution at The Technium.  It is engaging, interesting and well worth your time to read.  He makes two assertions; one evolving from the other.  First, he says that evolution is directional, towards complexity and becoming optimal.  Evolution is then “ordained-becoming”.  His second assertion is much less developed, but states that technology follows the same path as biological evolution towards complexity with, apparently, pre-ordained outcomes.  You may have learned from the likes of Stephen J. Gould that if we rerun the great experiment of life, it would not bring about the same results that surround us today.  Kelly disagrees.

I disagree with Kelly, not because his train of thought is faulty but because it seems incomplete and because his thesis requires overlaying the evidence with value statements and judgments.  It’s amazing that the eye has evolved independently on multiple occasions, but i’m not ready to say that life must evolve eyes…which may, or may not, have been Kelly’s assertion.

Who’s there?

As it turns out, i got a little sun today.  It seems too early for the “second knock” (in the Russian system of predicting when spring will come to stay…”Spring must knock three times before Winter lets it in.”)  Maybe counting the February thaw was wrong, but it was a week of warm temperatures…too much to discount.  The forecast looks pleasant ten days out – with some spots of around freezing highs – and the low pressure front looks like it’s running north of the Lake.

I guess we’ll see, but given that my face took on some color after today it is probably time to lose the beard.  Fucker’s hot in a greenhouse and methinks that a beard tan would be a strange way to start the year.

I can hope that we’re into the second knock, even considering that in these parts winter usually slams the door when it finally does leave.

The greenhouses are filling up, and these sunny days mean pretty amazing growth.  It has been hot enough in the houses over the last few afternoons that the doors need to be flung open and (in some cases) fans turned running.  Outside, however, tis the season of mud.  That’s life, eh?  To hear the birds pretty well makes up for the puddle jumping.

How about this?

Image credit: Greta Oto

More

Change

This (and several variatons on the theme) is available as a T-shirt here zazzle storefront, and the explanation for the idea/where the money goes is here.

Only in the UP

This one’s going out to Jeff.  Today at the gas station i saw some Superior surfers…strange sight, guys probably finishing up a day of surfing with windchills into the negative numbers.  But these guys were a strange sight all around.

First, they were driving a Lincoln Town Car (mid 90’s or so) hearse.  Not only were they driving a hearse, it had a brush guard and KC lights on the frong.  It was also bedecked with decals of hibiscus flowers.  And there were four surf boards strapped to the top.  There was also a snowmobile on a trailer connected to the back of the hearse.

Like i said, only in the UP.

Knock, knock

And today’s weather report for the Great White North is greatly white, bordering on insanity.  It might have snowed all day, but the 35+ mph winds make it hard to tell exactly what’s new and what’s just moving from place to place.  Visibility – if you really want to call it that – varies between “hey, it’s white” and “where am i?”.  I’ll have to fix a 5′x8′ fence gate that caught a gust and got blown apart and off the post.  And i made one turn on the way home by figuring that it was about where i always turn. (Boldness is in direct propotion to ground clearance, disregarding the ability to drive all four wheels.)

Beauty and philosophy after the break…

Busy, busy

I feel bad for not having put anything new, word wise, up in a few days.  I’ve got plenty of ideas but not as much time and energy…plus it may be time to break down and buy a second computer.

The stream of infant plants into the greenhouses is quickly moving from a trickle into a deluge.  They all need homes and to be put into those homes.  Petunias, bidens, some million bells, and a variety of others have arrived…mostly destined for hanging baskets.  We’ve always got the most amazing hanging baskets (pretty cheap too, considering) because we start them so early.  By the time Memorial Day comes around (generally the earliest that plants can be set out here), our 12″ petunia baskets are monsters.  Sticky, annoying monsters…but the customers love ‘em.

But the best news is that the begonias have started arriving.  I love begonias, both the classic bedding variety and those used as houseplants.  I have a cane begonia with giant leaves speckled by metallic silver polkadots.  Usually i take a leftover plug or two home and keep them in the house to get some early flowers…and i had planned on doing some breeding this winter but just never got around to it.

Rumor has it that we’re to be buried in snow again over the next few days.  We’ll see, i don’t believe weatherpeople until i see it with my own two eyes.  In a way it would be for the best, as the dog sled races are this weekend and our previous winter wonderland was degraded by the near week of 40 degree temps.