ebenbrooks

This is a friends-only post, because I don't want to deal with the nut-bars. I've opened it up to the public so that I can use it to illustrate some points to people who aren't LJ users.

1. The military: 42.2% To further subdivide this category, 28.7% is spent for the current military (all personnel, materiel, supplies, transportation, etc., including the prosecution of current wars); 10% goes to pay interest on military debt; and 3.5% goes to veteran benefits.

   Why are these good things? Well, without a functioning military, we'd be sitting ducks. Now, I personally believe that our current military is more than a little bit overfed, but I'm not one of those radicals who calls for all military spending to stop. We need armed forces. Similarly, paying interest on debt helps keep us financially solvent, and veteran benefits help retired or injured military personnel live full and happy lives. I think not enough is spent on veteran benefits, and that what is spent currently is poorly managed, but they are nevertheless important.

2. Healthcare: 22.1% This includes Medicare and all of the other government health programs, such as the medical benefits for Federal employees and elected officials and, of course, the ACA. These are all good things, because access to quality medical care is a fundamental human right. The implementation of said programs may not be ideal, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing at all. Without these programs, millions would die—mostly children and the elderly.

3. Interest on non-military debt: 10% This, again, keeps the country financially solvent. Not paying this interest would result in default, and whenever a country goes into default, economic disaster usually follows.

4. Anti-poverty programs: 8.7% This includes food assistance programs, supplemental income for low income families, foster care assistance, and adoption programs. All of these make up our "safety net", as meager as it is. There are those who say that any safety net at all makes people lazy, but the science doesn't support that position. The government can only exist with the support of the people, so it's the government's duty to support the people in turn. I feel that this category could use a significant boost, but what we have—as little and as uncoordinated as it it—is still better than nothing at all.

5. Education, training, and social services: 4.4% This includes primary, secondary, and higher education, employment training centers, and other such programs. A well-educated population contributes significantly to a nations economic power and stability. A well-educated population is also less likely to fall under the sway of demagogues. Iceland knows this: when they had their economic collapse a few years ago, they cut everything to the bone except education, which they boosted as much as they possibly could. They are now well on the road to recovery. We could learn from them.

6. Government and law enforcement: 3.9% This includes all costs of keeping the government and Federal law enforcement running, including salaries, overhead costs, facilities, etc. This benefits the court system, the FBI, government agencies, elected officials, and all the people whom these entities serve. Without a functioning government, and without enforcement of the nation's laws, everything falls into anarchy. It may be a popular pastime to criticize the government, and much of that criticism is warranted. But government and law enforcement is necessary, and we all benefit from them.

7. Housing and community development: 3.3% This goes hand-in-hand with the anti-poverty programs as part of the safety-net. These programs help low-income and homeless people get housing. All of the arguments in favor of the anti-poverty programs also apply to this category.

8. Environment, energy, and science: 2.6% This includes environmental programs (including the EPA), energy exploration, and programs and facilities that do scientific or technological research and/or development. NASA is included in this category. Without scientific and technical innovation, our economic power dwindles. With significant investment in science and technology, we "future-proof" our economy.

9. Agriculture, commerce, and transportation: 1.5% Roads! Food! Trade! All good things.

10. Foreign affairs: 1% This includes international humanitarian aid, the diplomatic corps, and international financial programs. Basically, our interface with the rest of the world. There are a lot of people who say things like "Why should we help other countries when there are starving people here?" But look at the percentage here: 1%. And humanitarian aid is only a part of that. If it were folded into the anti-poverty programs, above, it would likely only make a 10% difference at best. But by providing humanitarian aid abroad, we build positive relationships with the rest of the world. And that's important, because we are not all alone here. We have to work with everyone else, all 6.9 billion of them, in order to survive.

So there you have it. These are the reasons that I don't mind paying taxes. Yeah, it's a pain, and it's always better to have more money, but I feel that the value I receive outweighs the amount I pay for it. You may disagree, and that's okay, but this is how I feel.

ebenbrooks

1. Understand that you, yourself, are biased. If you have any opinion whatsoever on a topic, you are biased. Period. If you believe otherwise, then there is no way for you to get unbiased information, because the bias filters that you don't believe you have will prevent you from seeing anything that doesn't match your bias. The only things that you can possibly be completely unbiased about are things about which you have absolutely no opinion. And even then, it's iffy. So start with the understanding that you are already biased.


2. Be willing to examine any and all data on the subject at hand. Not all of this data will be in agreement. In fact, it is almost certain that you will find data that supports a wide variety of opinions. But you must be willing to examine all of it, even if it supports an opinion you that you a) don't believe, b) find offensive, or c) are actively working against. And the easiest way I've found to do that is to say to myself "This goes against my biases, and I find that I am uncomfortable with it, but I will only understand the issue if I know what this information means." If you find yourself rejecting data because you don't agree with its conclusion, then it is impossible for you to get unbiased information.


3. Do not rely on any one source of information. Remember, everyone is biased. If you rely on only one source, even if it's a primary source, you are basically copying the biases of that source. The more independent sources you get your information from, the easier it is to weed out the biases and figure out what the data actually point to.


4. Be wary of outliers. Don't dismiss outliers, but be aware that the farther away from the "average" a piece of information is, the more likely it is to be biased. This does not mean it's untrue, so the best thing to do with outlying information is to test it. For example: Is it anecdotal? Then it's probably not valuable info. Is it scientific? Check up on how rigorously the scientific method was followed. Is it statistical? Go look at the raw data that the statistics are based on, then try to find out if there are any inherent biases in the data selection. Et cetera.


5. Above all, be willing to accept that you, your family, your friends, your mentors, and your role models may all be completely wrong. Believing that we are right is a survival trait. Believing that our figures of authority are right is also a survival trait. As social creatures, we have a strong instinct to believe as those around us believe. No one is immune to this. One can overcome it, but it takes effort and determination. And unless one overcomes this instinct, one's bias filters will prevent one from seeing information that doesn't agree with what one believes is right. This is why it usually takes generations for new ideas to take hold: sometimes, enough people who believe the old thing have to die before the new thing can be accepted, because sometimes people would rather die than stop believing something. Don't be one of those people.

ebenbrooks

1. Breathe


2. Breathe


3. Breathe


4. Breathe


5. Breathe


6. Breathe


7. Breathe


8. Breathe


9. Breathe


10. And then, if and only if the idea is actually dangerous . . . fight!


[update, 9:44]

11. And if it isn't dangerous, just idiotic . . . remove myself from further contact with it.

ebenbrooks

...I would offer the following teas:

1. Made of Assam
2. Pu-Ehr Baby
3. Mr. Green in the Dining Room with a Teapot
4. The Twelfth Ceylon
5. "I'm Drinking a Sticky Rice Ball" Genmaicha
6. Long John Silver Needle
7. Can't We All Get Oolong?
8. Good Enough for Jasmine
9. I'd Swear That This Is Darjeeling
10. Chamomiles to Go Before I Sleep
11. Curse of the Black Pearls

ebenbrooks

1. Don't let your motivation levels get too low. It's easier to top off frequently than it is to address a motivation that's in crisis.


2. Don't eat when you're not hungry, or you'll get fat.


3. The quality of your bed has a direct impact on the quality of your sleep.


4. You can't see your friends' motivation levels, so don't assume you know what they want. Try asking.


5. If being in a particular room makes you unhappy, decorate it.


6. Say "Hi" to people who walk by your house every once in a while. You never know what wonderful new friend you might make that way.


7. Praise your pet for doing what they're supposed to do, like eating the right food, using the litterbox (or the tree) appropriately, and staying off the furniture. You'll both enjoy it, you'll strengthen your relationship with your pet, and you'll reinforce the desired behavior.


8. Create. Even if your painting looks like a child's crayon sketch or your novel reads like a disjointed blog, you'll have fun, and you'll get better at creating.


9. Explore. Sometimes you find treasures that way.


10. Comfort and fun are just as important as food and sleep. Make sure you have enough of them.

ebenbrooks

I called these lists "An Ideologue's Idea Log" because of a) the similarity in pronunciation, and b) my penchant for running off at the mouth about things, especially things having to do with how society works.

But recently I've decided that I really need to stop doing that. It wastes my time and annoys the pig*, as the saying goes. As Gabrielle Reese once said, and I paraphrase here: Of those whom your message reaches, thirty percent will love you, thirty percent will hate you, and thirty percent won't give a shit no matter what you do.

That leaves ten percent to be moved by what I say or do. Yeah, not really worth it, is it? So, in that spirit, I'm making a list of ten things I need to remember, pretty much all the time, and especially when I come into contact with ideas that I don't agree with:

1. Ninety percent of all people have already made up their minds about any given subject.

   That leaves me a ten percent chance of actually changing anyone's mind about anything. And I don't know about you, but if I know ahead of time that I've got a one in ten chance of something working, I'll usually decide to exert my effort on something with a higher chance of success.

2. Of that ninety percent, one third will love me, one third will hate me, and one third won't care.

   If someone sends me a nastygram on my LJ or Facebook, there's a three out of four chance that nothing I can say in response will make them happy. So it's best to ignore the nastygrams.

   Now if someone's relatively polite in bringing up objections to what I say or do, then there's probably a good chance that they're not in the "hate me" category, which probably increases my chance of coming to some sort of agreement with said person.

3. People don't operate on logic.

   The scientific method works this way: a) form a hypothesis, b) test the hypothesis rigorously, c) conclude based on the data from the tests. But people work this way: a) form a hypothesis (or, in most cases, be given one by an authority figure), b) conclude based on gut instinct or what someone else tells you, c) filter all incoming data based on whether or not it fits your conclusion.

   This is what makes socialists like me able to dismiss the successes of capitalism as "the corporate masters manipulating the system", and it's what makes libertarians like some of my friends able to dismiss the success of nationalized heath care systems as "the government masters fudging the numbers". Neither of these things are true, but try telling that to some people . . .

4. The more emotionally invested people are in an idea, the less likely they are to change their minds about it.

5. The more vociferously that a person proclaims that their zeal is not emotional in nature, the more emotional in nature their zeal is.

6. If someone gets angry, they're emotionally invested.

7. Anger is never the first emotion.

   Anger is always the child of another, more primal, reaction: fear, pain, or shock. It may happen so fast you don't notice it, but psychologists and neurologists have tested this to death, and they're pretty solid on the idea. First you feel the fear/pain/shock, and then you react with anger towards whatever scared/hurt/shocked you. This means . . .

8. Anyone who's angry with me is scared, hurt, or shocked by something I did or said.

   Puts things into a different perspective, doesn't it? Think about the last time someone was really angry with you. Now think about what happened to provoke that anger. Did you do or say something that might have caused the other person to react with fear, pain, or shock? Whether or not it was a logical or reasonable response?

   For instance, when my boss got angry with me, I thought he was just being a hard-ass. But once I put it through this thought process, I realized that he was scared. He was scared that something I did would reflect poorly on him to his boss. This is why some managers are so bad at managing. They know that they're responsible not only for what they themselves do, but for what everyone they manage does, too. And that scares them into being tyrannical.

   I've got boatloads of other examples. But, then again, so do all of you.

9. Whatever a person's politics or religion are, each person is trying to live a happy life.

   Didn't the Declaration of Independence say that one of our "inalienable rights" is "the pursuit of happiness"?

10. Everyone else's happiness is just as important to them as mine is to me.

    If something I'm doing is in opposition to what someone else thinks of as their "happiness", then they're going to try to stop me. However, if they just politely let me know why they don't like what I'm doing, I'll usually try to accommodate their concerns in some way, either by doing what I'm doing a little differently or by attempting to assure them that their fears are unfounded**. It may not assuage them, but it's worth the effort, in my opinion.

    And I'm aware that this may sound like a contradiction of one or two of the other items in this list, but it really isn't. As I said earlier, someone who's being polite is likely not in the "hate me no matter what" category. It's not a guarantee, but it tips the odds more strongly in my favor.

Yeah, this is a big list. Maybe I'll make a wallet-sized version and keep it in my pocket so I can look at it whenever I feel I need to.

Or, you know, enter it into my smartphone. That could work, too.

-------

*From the saying "Never teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." No, I'm not calling anyone here a pig. It's a figure of speech.

**Or, rarely, if they bring up a factor that I've missed, and which sheds entirely new light on what I'm doing, I'll stop.

ebenbrooks

The purpose of these idea logs is to make my brain "sweat". That is, to give it a good workout, just like a physical workout, so that my problem-solving, brainstorming, and creative skills become easier. These ideas, loosely related to some kind of theme for each list, are supposed to only be ideas where I know what the first step is. I might not know anything past that, but if I know what Step 1 is, then it's something that I can feasibly do.

So, to that end, here's today's Idea Log:

Ten Eight* Unfinished Projects that I Can Finish This Year

1. Publish UnCommon Women

   I actually already took the first step on this one. Yesterday, I looked through all of the photography I've done to date and identified the ones that I can definitely include, the ones that I might need to get an updated model release for, and the ones where I have no model release at all (yeah, yeah, I know, but hey, I was a talented amateur—didn't always remember all the niggling little details, ya know?). The next step is to contact as many models in the second two categories as I can.

2. Move my office into the front room

   My office used to be in the second bedroom. Then Caleb moved in, and it became his bedroom, and I moved all of the stuff into other parts of the house. The front room is currently a storage area. So the first step is to get everything out of the front room, figure out where it really goes, and then put it there.

3. Finish the first draft of my novel

   This is a daunting one. Writing the end of this book scares me. But I need to do it. And the next step is dead simple: just sit down and write. As one author put it: "Two steps to being a novelist: 1) Have a great idea for a novel; 2) Butt in chair and write!"

4. Doctor, Captain, Dovakiin, Chief

   Next steps: finish recordings of "Smells Like Beam Rifle", "The Too Much Skyrim Blues", "O'Brian's Mongolian Barbecue", and "The Old Dun Cow"; finish editing other tracks, doing spot re-records as necessary.

5. Won't You Scatter My Ashes?

   This is In My Humble Opinion's story album. Next steps: edit tracks, doing spot re-records as necessary; record all dialogue and background.

6. Put up foam on walls in studio

   Ideally, I should do this before I do any more recording. First step: cut foam into manageable pieces.

7. Get filing in order

   Next step: gather all files in one place.

8. Sod it!

   My yard, that is . . . . Next step: kill existing grass, weeds, and scrub with black tarpaulin.

*Yep, brain ran out of steam at eight. But hey, better than not doing it at all.

ebenbrooks

1. Ginger.
   
2. Tea.
   
3. Soup.
   
4. Steam.
   
5. Go to bed early.
   
6. Melatonin, to facilitate the above.
   
7. Don't do anything that will keep me up, like games, reading, or Netflix.
   
8. Norco (the drug, not the cow-town in Riverside County) if the pain gets bad.