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A Trove of old letters and photographs
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1705
I was looking for this, on behalf of an acquaintance who wanted some pictures I had. And I found it and opened it and...
This is a lot of psychic baggage. A lot. Digging through old photos, looking for the ones requested, looking through old letters, how to deal with this, how to deal with this...
A bonfire would be best, but it's not all mine, some of this belongs to - well, other people. But - after a night of brooding I simply begin, ripping up old letters, shredding them, they are of no interest to anyone but me and it's been a long time since I looked back, I'm not starting now. And the photos - many, just the tacky tourist photos, a few are good, many of me aren't, of my friends, most of whom the children don't know, will never, and so it's get the scissors, snip, snip, 2000 photos down to perhaps a dozen, how we edit history, pruning it to suit our needs, and I know I've not been the only one. This is a luxury few people get, and I should be taking advantage...
Social 30
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Conversations
- Hits: 2933
The daughter calls for a conversation, we've had a few of these, a bit of light banter followed by: "So, what to you think of...". I did really well in English 20 and 30 this year, now she's on to Social Studies. I don't mind, it forces me to think a bit...
..."the most important or transformative ideologies have been...", or words to that effect. This is good as I haven't given it a great deal of thought, but, running through it with her we come to 3: Agriculture, Monotheism, and Monogamy. In that order.
- Agriculture - in that we go from being one with nature to harnessing nature, agriculture allows for the growth of cities and specialization by groups in mining, metallurgy, pottery, allows for the arts, the development of science, the accumulation (for better or worse) of wealth and power, in short - we went from being one with the land to being it's master, which is as transformative an ideology as there could possibly be.
- Monotheism - 1 God. We take a pile of errors - praying to various deities, and combine them to make 1 error. 1 error, (presumptive of me - I know, maybe, then, not an error) - is better than many, and this is a huge evolution in thought - if 1 God created the world, we might by that discern the rules by which he created it; if many gods created the world there might then be many rules - as many, conceivably, as there are people - this small change in ideology makes a big difference in how we understand the world.
- Monogamy - the equal distribution of resources (women), the earliest form of Communism. 1 woman for every pot, as it were. This had the effect of reducing wars (no longer was there are surplus of idle manpower that might usurp a kings position, hence wars were a good idea to keep down the eligible competition) - and allowed civilization to proceed. It's an easy thing to shrug, but without monogamy there would be no debate about equal rights for women - so - clearly I should have 50% of the populations support right there!
I could think about this a lot more and make better arguments, revise, tinker, maybe even abandon some ideas in favor of others, but - hey, it's not my assignment.
After this conversation she'll call her brother, and sound him out with the same questions, then counter with "her" thoughts, essentially rephrasing my own, but giving him an "A" for effort...
Napoleon Dynamite
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 1238
Watched with daughter, have seen before, still holds up rather well, although the daughter found herself wishing she went to that high school - evocative of simpler times...
A bidding war
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: For Sale
- Hits: 2228
2 Clocks not working, from the locker, 1, I like the case, although the dial could use a repaint, which - in my mind, improves it - the possibilities are infinitely more than the sum of it's parts. The other, boring old mantle clock, chimes but doesn't run.
Get rid of them, both, and I list them both on Kijiji - and, within the hour I have 2 responses - one from Manitoba, clock repairman or hobbyist, he wants both. Great. Deal done.
The other, he starts by asking me about 1, then lowballs me with an offer $10.00 less..."Sorry, Sold" I reply. Funny when people try and lowball you on stuff, especially when it's only been listed an hour...and satisfying in the extreme to tell them "too late" or "sold".
Pack the clocks - a nightmare, their odd sizes mean I have to custom make a box. Think Homer Simpsons Spice rack, only with duct-tape and cardboard.
But it's done, in the mail, onto other things. Another responder on one of the clocks, I had told them their on hold, he counters with an offer of double what I was asking. Now I'm curious, I look up the clock online, sure enough, a Canadian Classic, but - no crying over spilt milk, just glad that it's gone, but it makes me pissed at the other one - the one that was lowballing me, nice try asshole...
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