Dinosaurs

Simple things. Things that some people take for granted, others seem to have a moral aversion to: Like reading. One of my biggest issues of late has been the high use of video in postings. I made mention somewhere (here?) that if you are going to post a video, please link a transcription for it. I don’t want to sit here and waste copious amounts of my time watching someone that has no public speaking skills stumble over words, um-ing every third syllable, and dragging out a 30 second blurb for 5 minutes. Some people are excellent speakers and those I can handle, but the lions share of vids produced these days ARE NOT. I can read the entire message in less time than it takes for many of these things to load (since everyone wants to use the highest resolution so we can see all of their acne scars or something, I dunno.)

Books. Books have been my best friends since I was 5. When I first was ‘taught’ how to read, the executor Educator was using the ‘new method’ of memorization. I had to go to summer school where the TEACHER taught us phonetic methods and BAM!!!! I was reading EVERYTHING I could get my newsprint covered paws on.

One book in particular has been the subject of conversation in my immediate circles: Unintended Consequences.(it is a little dated now, but the gist is the same and is timeless.). Seriously, if you have not read it, DO SO. The lessons in that book are important. (and the references are still skimming around as Meme’s like mad).

Myself, others, all have tried pushing this book on people, hoping that some would wake up. I added Matt Brackens books in those too, especially the first one. BUT READING,,, Hell, I was flat told by one person “If they ain’t made a movie of it, it ain’t worth readin’. ” *sigh*.

P says its because of MTV and Fluoride in the water. My comment was “I was part of the MTV generation, but it didn’t ‘stick’. ” and as for the Fluoride, I think the jury is still out, but I have my suspicions (been on my own water supply for 6 years now and my thinking does seem clearer even for a mid 50’s has been,,,). I think its more due to video being so ubiquitous in our techworld. I DO KNOW that my granbehbie had issues with reading anything handwritten, printed or cursive as far into life as the fourth grade, but could type 80 words a minute and could read a computer screen, but if it were by hand; no go. That is all on our school systems dropping the ball (and on the parents for not stepping up. Once figured out, my Kid started the process of fixing it, SANS Schools assistance)

Yeah, us dinosaurs like dead tree editions over the flat screen.

Us dinosaurs also remember how free we were in our youth and would like to see a return to that. Those of us that grew up in the 70’s and 80’s before bicycle helmets, kneepads and shin pads. When playgrounds at school were covered in asphalt and the jungle gym made of black iron pipe was THE hot spot for fun. Especially towards end of year when that pipe had been sitting in the sun all morning and could kickstart a coffee pot with the latent heat in them. Or the ‘merrygoround’, where the biggest kid would spin the smaller kids until they spun off into oblivion squealing and skipping across that hot asphalt; usually with some ‘road-rash’ to boot. Never saw lawsuits against the school then and Moms usual question when kids came running in squalling about something was, “did you die?”

We’ve become a VERY spoiled and soft country the last few decades, and I think I can lay that directly in the laps of Cable TV and Video games. (and computing in general, but not solely. Our world has become much bigger as well, especially in information sharing. If I had access to the nets when I was growing up, my kayaking days would have been much more interesting,,,). Interestingly enough, My best and fondest memories of those years had nothing to do with either of those, but were very cerebral in nature. I was a big-time AD&D geek. Even evolved into other spheres and most definitely spurred my interests in History to even greater heights ((I was ALWAYS the DM, and had to research my ‘campaigns’ to fill in the voids to avoid the Monty Haul Syndrome.)) ((Still have my dice, and a few of my books that made it with me through Desert Storm and Ex-Wife.))

And maybe the Fluoride thing has a lot to do with our ‘going soft’. Still say the jury is out on that right now. ;-).

I like history. Dig through old pics of CW era peoples. Then WWII peoples. Then start looking around you. Do you see the iron in the people of the pics? Do you see the Squishy of the people today? I was just at one of the big box stores this AM and saw more ‘Squish’ than lean muscle mass. I look down right anorexic compared to some of those examples (and I AM 20# overweight. Its winter, I expect that.)(Paleo is perfect for my lifestyle. I have lost 10# since I started it a month back and NO OTHER CHANGES in how I go about my days. When I can start paddling on a regular basis, that number will slow down but for damned good reasons: I will be putting muscle back on.). We are SOFT.

But its 3 pm, and the temps are settled into the high for the day, and I have a kayak sitting on my truck whispering about water, lakes and sunshine. I gotta get out there.