Slavery seeking control freaks?

In one of the many blogs I read there was an entry about a clever way to try to get around the social pressure, and sometimes actual rules against... wait for it.. those evil clotheslines.. Er, what? Clotheslines? Really? There are people who have so little going on in their lives that they hate clotheslines?

Well, yes. Sadly I actually know some people for whom this is an important issue. Why? I cannot fathom why...

However it comes down to control pure and simple. All rational persons want a measure of control over their lives. To be rational in the most basic sense means to seek to avoid the five basic harms: Death, pain, loss of freedom, loss of ability, and loss of pleasure. Yes there are times when it is rational to trade off one for the other (when the pain is too great, it is rational to seek death) but without going into the complexities of how these all can relate, we are safe in recognizing that we all seek to avoid these five harms. This is normal, and is behavior found in all moral agents..

But somewhere along the lines in our culture we have gone FAR beyond these basics. We tend to seek to control every aspect of our lives.

So how do we get from clotheslines to seeking to control every aspect of our lives? Well the only complaint about clotheslines is that someone (either the complainer or someone else) may actually see the clothesline.. So the complaint really spelled out is that such persons want to control not only every aspect of their own lives so as to avoid those five basic harms, but they want to go so far as to control the very particular photons which may come into contact with their eyes! Worse yet, they want to control the photons which may come into contact with the eyes of others...

They want this control so badly that they seek to be controlled so as to never be faced with the possibility of others not being controlled.. This is at the core the only explanation for governments, including but certainly not limited to Home Owner Associations...

If that is not frightening to you.... well, honestly I have no idea what to say other than to say that I wish to control no one, nor do I ever want to be controlled.

People, learn to respect others enough to allow them to live their lives.

Working again.

After all of the delays on my own build, it is nice to actually make progress on something once again. Currently I am working on a kitchen remodel, which includes removing two walls, new cabinets, new flooring, and a custom island. The walls came down today, with all of the lumber, except for one piece about two feet long, being salvaged for future projects or as needed on this project. The door frame is becoming part of the island/bar, and all of the wiring, except for one outlet, is also being re purposed into the island or along another wall, so as to make it more usable and to save on the cost of sub-contractors.

The homeowner has given me almost carte blanche to design the space as I see fit, as long as I also do it on a very tight budget. All in all a fun project that will have a great deal of impact when it is complete.

Travel

It's been a while since I have done any traveling, and though I am certainly not going anywhere exotic, I do leave tomorrow for the Great (??) plains.. Wheat fields and evolution deniers here I come..

If you know me, and live in doodah, give me a call or write.. I'd like to catch up.

Tough few days

Its been busy here in the Backwoods of Hell..

Between planting the garden, adding rice hulls for mulch around all of the plants, including the berry bushes put in a few weeks ago, getting ready to travel to do a kitchen remodel job in Kansas, getting seedlings started, and of course taking care of cattle, I've had little time to myself, except for the long nights when I have not been sleeping...

But what has really made this a tough time is that in the small herd I am caring for, we lost a calf a few days go, and then his mother today. It is incidents like this, where you lose an animal, despite your best efforts, that make me wonder if I will ever be able to raise any livestock myself. It may well be that I simply do not have the demeanor for it. Time will tell..