Where's WYK been, and what trouble is he making?

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Been a couple of years since I've been on here. Just an old beat down firewood hack anymore, so don't feel like I have anything to contribute. Good to see you still on here Reindeer, and a couple of "neighbors" Northy, and Madhatte

Good to hear from you, Joe! Hope you are well. Was good to meet ya. I always look back at my time in the PNW fondly. What's news?

Wes AKA WYK
 
Good to hear from you, Joe! Hope you are well. Was good to meet ya. I always look back at my time in the PNW fondly. What's news?

Wes AKA WYK
Still putting one foot in front of the other. Still cutting firewood. Took some pines down for a friend in Montana last spring. Muscle memory sure isn't what it used to be, but I did manage to put them where they needed to go. Merry Christmas and a good New Year to you!
 
Just a random pic of Ireland. This is Bray where my wife's family lives.

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And the famous Tudor style Bray MCD:


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I'd like to to hearfrom you and am sorry to have dumped my medical conditions on you. Be glad you don't have a Trumpet man for you leader. Germany seems to be using wisdom or so it seems and I'm glad to hear of it. We all need to help each other, even more when thos passes. Smart folks will learn to pull and sacrifice together. Maybe bringing humanity to its knees will be a lesson in humility and cooperation? Wishful thinking. I'm glad you and yours are in the countryside, stay as safe as possible.
 
I'd like to to hearfrom you and am sorry to have dumped my medical conditions on you. Be glad you don't have a Trumpet man for you leader. Germany seems to be using wisdom or so it seems and I'm glad to hear of it. We all need to help each other, even more when thos passes. Smart folks will learn to pull and sacrifice together. Maybe bringing humanity to its knees will be a lesson in humility and cooperation? Wishful thinking. I'm glad you and yours are in the countryside, stay as safe as possible.

People are going to be tribal, and America has so many tribes. It's difficult to see through your own bias, and most importantly, it can be difficult to see when someone else is playing on the tribalism and your bias to manipulate you. And we are seeing that play out right before our eyes.
Europeans have done an amazing job so far seeing past the tribes, incorporating them into one single community to work together. It's too bad some people in the UK elite were able to play upon the fears, ignorance, and tribalism of their people to manipulate them out of the EU. But these things are going to happen.
Are people even meant to work together in such large groups? Evolution wise, it seems unlikely. We like the tribe we grew up with - the first one we knew. Understanding other tribes seems a big ask. To be able to see past our biases, be wise and calm enough so the powerful can not easily manipulate us, and to want to help and work and love each other seems too much to ask.
The joke in the end, of course, is we are all the same tribe.
 
People are going to be tribal, and America has so many tribes. It's difficult to see through your own bias, and most importantly, it can be difficult to see when someone else is playing on the tribalism and your bias to manipulate you. And we are seeing that play out right before our eyes.
Europeans have done an amazing job so far seeing past the tribes, incorporating them into one single community to work together. It's too bad some people in the UK elite were able to play upon the fears, ignorance, and tribalism of their people to manipulate them out of the EU. But these things are going to happen.
Are people even meant to work together in such large groups? Evolution wise, it seems unlikely. We like the tribe we grew up with - the first one we knew. Understanding other tribes seems a big ask. To be able to see past our biases, be wise and calm enough so the powerful can not easily manipulate us, and to want to help and work and love each other seems too much to ask.
The joke in the end, of course, is we are all the same tribe.
I guess melting pot was just a term spoken that meant nothing. Yes the human tribe is does not see itself as week and requiring cooperation to survive, much less succeed. There seem to be a sizable amount of folk that think fighting and war, economic and physical, makes us stronger. I see it as a great waste and think of the contributions some of the losers may have contributed if they hadn't been disposed of.
A Gears of War novel of all things, recognizes this. A war between two major sides of humanity takes place, wiping out a sizable amount of young men, then monsters appear out of the ground and start killing all humans. The main character's thoughts were something like "If we hadn't killed off so many of our own young men on a useless war, we'd have them now, now that we need them". Our own monster seems to have found us easy enough. Choose your battles with wisdom?
 
Don I hope all is well

as for the rest of you malcontents

let's hang in there, fingers crossed Farleyville 2020 still happens and if not I'll see you whenever, even a deeply introverted weirdo like me likes to see his friends once in awhile
All is well at this point Nate, been on vacation this week, kinda nervous about going back next week given our clientele. How about you sir? You mostly keep away from folks as I recall. If Farleyville happens, it's likely be in the fall after the dust has settled I'd bet, though that is your busy season. Let's hope not to busy. The rivers are very low right now and this is the time of year they should be the highest. Take care buddy, I look forward to seeing you again.
 
I guess melting pot was just a term spoken that meant nothing. Yes the human tribe is does not see itself as week and requiring cooperation to survive, much less succeed. There seem to be a sizable amount of folk that think fighting and war, economic and physical, makes us stronger. I see it as a great waste and think of the contributions some of the losers may have contributed if they hadn't been disposed of.
A Gears of War novel of all things, recognizes this. A war between two major sides of humanity takes place, wiping out a sizable amount of young men, then monsters appear out of the ground and start killing all humans. The main character's thoughts were something like "If we hadn't killed off so many of our own young men on a useless war, we'd have them now, now that we need them". Our own monster seems to have found us easy enough. Choose your battles with wisdom?

You don't have to read fiction to make a point. There's evidence all around us. One of the best ways to illustrate tribalism is WWII. I mean, the Japanese and German rulers literally want to go and destroy and enslave as many of their neighbours that don't speak their language as possible because they think they are the better people and more deserving. And the main drive for them is human pettiness and hubris, even the Japanese were doing well trading for resources. I would argue those are not really the very best attributes of mankind. In the process, they ended up nearly destroying everything, and their people suffered deeply. Malcom Forbes, who was supposedly worth over 500million when he died, and was an infantryman with a bronze star and purple heart in WWII, said that the character of a man can be judged by how he treats those that can do nothing for him. Still, he wasn't much of a philanthropist himself, which goes to show how much words are worth ;) But, I digress - all we need to know about the Japanese and German leaders and many of their lieutenants of the time is how they treated their prisoners. And we we were not without sin. We disenfranchised and imprisoned over 120,000 our own citizens as well during WWII with almost no warning, many of which helped interpret Japanese war documents and questioned Japanese prisoners for the US military, and when the black soldiers who fought for their country returned in 1945, they were once again treated almost as though they were not citizens. Which goes to show, even in a land where resources were nearly uncountable, we can still find a way to do wrong to one another.
Which leads me to a nice segue. I was speaking with a friend of mine who is an academic. The topic was human expansion in to the universe. And he covered all the typical points of evolution, resources, survival of the species in the face of catastrophic destruction or the sun eventually dying, and spread of our culture, create a human catharsis, manifest destiny even snuck in there, etc etc. I said, 'What would you think about us as a race if we were having this conversation immediately after WWII?' His response was that it would be understandable why some would not want us to spread to the stars then. I then said - as far as the stars are concerned, it is still immediately after WWII.
 
You don't have to read fiction to make a point. There's evidence all around us. One of the best ways to illustrate tribalism is WWII. I mean, the Japanese and German rulers literally want to go and destroy and enslave as many of their neighbours that don't speak their language as possible because they think they are the better people and more deserving. And the main drive for them is human pettiness and hubris, even the Japanese were doing well trading for resources. I would argue those are not really the very best attributes of mankind. In the process, they ended up nearly destroying everything, and their people suffered deeply. Malcom Forbes, who was supposedly worth over 500million when he died, and was an infantryman with a bronze star and purple heart in WWII, said that the character of a man can be judged by how he treats those that can do nothing for him. Still, he wasn't much of a philanthropist himself, which goes to show how much words are worth ;) But, I digress - all we need to know about the Japanese and German leaders and many of their lieutenants of the time is how they treated their prisoners. And we we were not without sin. We disenfranchised and imprisoned over 120,000 our own citizens as well during WWII with almost no warning, many of which helped interpret Japanese war documents and questioned Japanese prisoners for the US military, and when the black soldiers who fought for their country returned in 1945, they were once again treated almost as though they were not citizens. Which goes to show, even in a land where resources were nearly uncountable, we can still find a way to do wrong to one another.
Which leads me to a nice segue. I was speaking with a friend of mine who is an academic. The topic was human expansion in to the universe. And he covered all the typical points of evolution, resources, survival of the species in the face of catastrophic destruction or the sun eventually dying, and spread of our culture, create a human catharsis, manifest destiny even snuck in there, etc etc. I said, 'What would you think about us as a race if we were having this conversation immediately after WWII?' His response was that it would be understandable why some would not want us to spread to the stars then. I then said - as far as the stars are concerned, it is still immediately after WWII.
Wes, I kinda think the human species is broken, or certainly appears so. If it cannot widely recognize and agree on it weaknesses and improve through cooperation it will not evolve. Maybe it is time for another dominate species, this one will have failed. Hell, maybe this world is just a Kobayashi Muru test? We as a species certainly now have greedy children in charge of a lot of governments and cooperation world wide. Seems to me a strange form of child worship. Instead of picking leadership with wisdom, we seek it with popularity or appearance of strength. The virtue of humility is now seen as weakness. Jesus, Budda, Ho Chi Minh, and Ghandi all died with no material possessions. Today, who would see this as successful? These men are touted as either gods or next to it, but their examples of sacrifice are not often followed. Are the world's billionaires the new gods? They are viewed as successful and what a large portion of the population wished they were.
 
Driving a city bus means I see a lot of people at different points in life. Some folks I years ago, thought were clean cut and hard working I now see differently and am not as comfortable around any longer. Others, though not many, who are homeless, down and out I now look at differently than I once did. I see strength in the appearance of weakness and vice versa. Over the years, often I've found that giving, and demanding, respect, gains respect, even amongst most of the real hardened criminals. People are people and most have something positive to contribute. If a person shows that they recognize this, it can really help pull folks together that would otherwise be very uncomfortable around one another. I personally am very slow to adapt to the lesson of humility and sacrifice, life is trying to teach. Those of us that have survived close to, or over three decades of my job have learned that how we treat others is a much better shield than any physical barrier designed to protect us.
 
All is well at this point Nate, been on vacation this week, kinda nervous about going back next week given our clientele. How about you sir?

They actually had us at work as if nothing was wrong until this last Thursday. Just a week ago in a televised townhall meeting they had the audacity to claim that we are somehow "an island of safety". I was on the verge of sacrificing leave to GTFO but finally cooler heads prevailed and they have us teleworking now. It's an exercise in futility, of course, but one must keep up appearances. I am dreading fire season: no crew, likely still quarantined, called up as "essential", few if any ancillary services available. It's gonna be grim, I think.
 
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