You know the feeling. You are awake, or not, and your mind is a blank, but it is casting about for something to think about. And for some reason it seems to want to think about something that will cause you to worry yourself to pieces while sitting inert, rather than find something useful to ponder about, or something to actually fix, that is within your ken.
Patrick McManus, who wrote many an hilarious tale, with titles like They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They?, and Real Ponies Don’t Go Oink!, had a piece somewhere in his prolific writing about having a worry box in his head that could only hold 7 worries. So if he had a really bad one in there, he would replace it with a much nicer worry, and effectively evict the problem worry. It fits in with Dr Covey’s theory, he of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective [and therefore annoying] People, about your circle of concern compared to your circle of influence. If you focus too much on your circle of concern, your circle of influence will shrink or atrophy. And vice versa, being the whole point.
Focus on what you can do, and your circle of influence tends to grow. Also, you worry a lot less.
I really got the lesson a few years back when an intractable family problem flared up, and it got me … pointless worry and circular worry. And one morning, as cortisol shot through my body, I was acutely aware of what a dangerous hormone it was, causing heart attacks and being associated, vanity never lets me forget, with hard belly fat. And what if my hair went grey [er, ed.] because I was thinking about what someone had done that I could not fix? Or they killed me from a distance because I was stupid enough to fret at 3 in the morning when I could be getting high … er, I mean … having some Ovaltine? That would be classic. So I started to think about all the things I couldn’t fix in a different way … that they were out to kill me.
And thus began my list of things I cannot fix, at the moment, and which I will not allow to ruin my day. Not because they are things I don’t think should be fixed, don’t get me wrong. I am not an uncaring callous old coot. I am caring. About starving babies and species loss and the sun slowly going out. But there are so many immediate problems not to think about too that it really can be quite the list at times. I should really have stuck to only 7 like Mr McManus, who I might add [and did, ed.] always, and I mean always, referred to his sister as The Troll throughout his writings, which endeared him to me greatly. He also explained that if you are lost in the woods you can easily be found if you just take off your clothes. I believe he even has instructions on how to get lost in the woods.
So there you have it. Don’t let cortisol be the agent that gets you through pointless worry. Either worry pointfully, or don’t worry at all.
And please excuse me while I go get myself some more of that Ovaltine …
how did you get put on moderation EO? even if you insulted our gracious host, her ego is normal sized, and i believe you would have been warned beforehand. besides, it’s safe to assume that Xty isn’t in it for the money, so any perceived threats to her revenue stream would be illusionary, or as in the other case, delusionary. (spell check doesn’t like either)
i like the tin hats with protuberances, which can function as lightning rods, so i’m thinking that the German spiked helmet fashionable during the first world war would be my favorite tinfoil hat prototype.
another tune from
‘s playlist, steely and 
were always true companions, kiko as well.
Everything in moderation except for EO! I didn’t moderate anything, including my own behaviour.
modulated, but not moderated, mutilated, nor replicated.
Xty – now that i’m assured that Aerosmith meets/exceeds your high bar, and moderation has been cast to the wind… well at least get to the 35 second mark where Steven Tyler has an Anthony Kiedis moment.
No. No knock on xty for moderation. I think it’s one of those automated WordPress thingy’s. Too many links, or I screwed up the links, or some such. But it was a substantive post, so I’ll try it again.
“Well, Piketty’s book is the talk of the town. Here are two reviews, one from the left and one from the right. It will save you (as it did me) the toil of plowing through 500+ pages of small type.
Just in case anyone was unclear about where I stand, the greatest thing about Obamacare is the extra taxes on the wealthy. Extra taxes for wages over a certain amount, and extra taxes on investment income over a certain amount. For all his failings, Obama will go down in my history as a hero for pushing this through. In my view it wasn’t nearly enough, but given the practicalities, half a loaf is vastly better than none at all.
And don’t be fooled, these taxes are the real battleground. Why would the GOP be so dead set on denying people health insurance? Because at their very core they know they have to find a way to repeal these taxes. It hits their paymasters where they live. And on the left, we all know these extra taxes have to be defended at all cost. Nobody talks about it. Everybody will argue about every peripheral issue under the sun about Obamacare, but it’s all a sham. It’s about those taxes.”
Here’s the left link. Keeping it one at a time, to keep WordPress happy.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117429/capital-twenty-first-century-thomas-piketty-reviewed
And here’s the right link. Complete with scaremongering about Marx. Oops, my lack of objectivity is showing through again…
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303825604579515452952131592
Holy shit, DP. That Little Feat vid from up above is a real find! You’ve got Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt singing frickin backup on there! I’m sorry, but either one of those is bigger than Little Feat ever was.
you have to pay attention EO. i found that video a few weeks ago and played it here. great finds on you-tube these days are fleeting. i find it interesting that Emmy Lou is much more reserved, even shy, while Bonnie kind of manhandles the mic.
i have been following the Piketty reviews. yes, it is again reduced to a left/right dynamic, which is really depressing. the pendulum has swung right ever since Reagan, as the population aged. what it really comes down to is the power of money, and also the voting block that has enough of it. this country is heading for revolution, that’s for sure. i’ll bet my two pennies on the strong and hungry kid over the racist fat pig, even if the IRB types have all the guns.
yeah, Bonnie’s got me in the mood
A few weeks ago I was lost in a maelstrom…
Tried the pizza at Angelo’s tonight. Not too damn shabby I must say. With a Hamm’s chaser, of course. 😉
i have been using Hamm’s in my pizza dough, in place of the water, and the results have been fabulous. we have had pizza now three days in a row. i have about 7 of those beers left, but we are getting sick of pizza finally, and so i will dry dock the rest. i thought maybe Hamm’s was as good as Pabst, especially at first, but then began to notice some secondary or even tertiary side effects.
one last tune, just to make sure you’re sleeping EO.
DP’s video still lovely in the morning
And good morning. Today is forecast to be much warmer than yesterday, which is good because it is below freezing outside.
There was a mention of being off topic somewhere upthread, and I would have to say there really is no topic, this being the Seinfeld of blogs. A certain smattering of hate the rich lurks, one must admit, and an argument over economics which we are side-stepping, because it looks like EO would tax the rich to death, whereas I want to starve the government beast, but our goal seems the same … to stop the excess that is destroying our lives … so we can work towards figuring out the means with out getting into a hate fest. And of course it is the bankers that are at the bottom of the problem, and they must be stopped. And I am okay with taxing the rich, as long as I am not considered rich. If that happens, then I will promptly change my views, like a libertarian tycoon after drinking from the public trough.
That the argument over Obama care would actually be one over taxation at higher levels is certainly bolstered by Congress having exempted themselves if I remember correctly.
The major flaw I see in Obamacare, living as I do in a socialist paradise, is that you are still going to have the doctors paid by the insurance companies which is actually worse than having them paid by the government it appears from the outside. You do get better innovation, but at an enormous cost. I have become a firm believer in accepting what we call two-tier health care where there is both pay for service and a public option. Yes, some of the better doctors will drift towards the higher paying but it leaves great room for young doctors in the public realm. And if we had the option to pay, then the rich could get off the wait lists and free up space for the not so rich. But unfortunately ideology rules the day, and any mention of pay for service results in cries of attempts to dismantle and destroy our healthcare system, despite the fact that when I was younger, doctors could charge an extra amount over the amount the government was going to reimburse them. So you might have to fork over 10 bucks, and the gov’t covered the rest. But lots of doctors didn’t charge. And I wish our emergency departments could charge a small fee for people who show up and are not in an emergency – even ten bucks would keep out the stomach aches and lonely folk.
good morning! nice tune selection,
would give thumbs up, if he had some. pretty sure EO plays banjo on this one.
tax ’em first, then eat ’em
Oh yes, O’care has it’s warts. Some are structural, and some are simply in need of a routine technical corrections bill (which the republicans refuse to entertain because it is in their interest to have the program work as crappily as possible).
But as long as those tax increases are in there, I will support it unto death.
All in all, it’s better than we had. And all the individual components of it poll very well in popularity, but if you ask generically about Obamacare, all of a sudden people say “oh, no, I’m against that“. Propaganda from the Oligarchy has taken it’s toll.
Pete, I think John Hartford wrote that song, though I don’t know if that’s him on the banjo for the recording.
“Sobering” news guys- my 30 pack of Hamm’s just went from $11.69 to $11.99. Yikes!
This is a test, since my O’ Care reply went poof on me twice already!
Pete, I’m pretty sure John Hartford wrote that tune, though I don’t know if he played on the record or not.
That’s a discontinued penny a bottle, the bastards.
P.J. O’Rourke also wants to
OK, so posts that went poof into the netherworld an hour ago suddenly appear! Fine!
I restarted my machine, maybe that’s why.
jfc! can’t say i’m surprised. i am really beginning to hate the USA. these so called patriots can cram their freaking flags up their collective asses.
and good morning.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/gop-scrambles-condemn-ranchers-remarks-race-n88556
see you guys later. i think i’m going to hibernate for a while.
and hey Pailin, you are a tremendous disappointment to me, and i am sure, to many others as well.
Yeah, it looks like Cliven Bundy’s 15 minutes of fame are over. 😆
Hope that doesn’t take any of the shine off of Bundyfest. That was shaping up to be a rootin’ tootin’ good time.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/22/burning-man-organizer-plans-anything-goes-bundyfest-to-mock-scofflaw-rancher/
EO was getting sent to spam, but I have no idea why. I think it might all be okay again, too, but I did nothing, except manage to find the comments and approve them. But they don’t show up in my mailbox either, so it is a bit of a black hole. So if you post something that doesn’t appear, please do email me. I am unlikely to censor a comment without letting you know. Believe me, you will know why if it happens.
i’m still in hibernation mode, but this is too good to not post. this is what 10 bucks a month gets you. must be some sort of snob appeal type of marketing strategy – charge money for the same worthless shit that you used to give out for free…
“I was all prepared to type another “very confused by being wrong” posts, like back on April 15, when suddenly reality actually intruded upon The Banking Cartel’s plans.
So let’s start with what I thought I would be writing about today. Not the full post but the bullets:
* ALWAYS REMEMBER that the precious metals markets are 100% manipulated
* KNOWING this is what makes me Turd and has afforded me this website
*When I am wrong, it is always somewhat surprising to me because I know them so well”
and i will sign off with my new favorite tagline…
” i’m off to go blow some smoke myself now, but no, it ain’t going up my ass!”
DP, i hope your Sunlight eventually hits up there. You sound just miserable and that ain’t your style.
He gets that way sometimes DN, but usually a few sessions in the back yard is all it takes to get him back on track.