Stormbringer's Thunder

This one's for the male readers. I've been in some discussions about "nice guys". Some people don't get it, so I'm going to explain as concisely as possible. The way I have it figured, being a nice guy depends on your motivation . Being kindhearted, helpful, considerate and so forth are all admirable qualities and should be cultivated in everyone. And then there's the guy who is being "nice" because he thinks it will get him laid.  I'm going to talk in generalities, because there are always exceptions. The "nice guy" thing that bothers me is Nice Guy Syndrome. (No, not all psychologists accept this, but I believe it anyway.) These fellows often have self-esteem problems and are out of touch with their own masculinity. They do not know what they want, or do not care. What matters most is pleasing others, especially the women. Essentially, they feel that if they are nice and act like Helpy Helperton all the time, women will be attr...

Buona sera. Yours truly is a little bit steamed today. I have heard and written about things that go on where my friend Neil works. He told me some things, and I feel the need to rant. Maybe a manager with some sense will take the advice that I offer and make his or her company a better place. Some teams don't have to fake it with a forced smile. You take care of them, they take care of you, show mutual respect, everyone does what needs to be done and is happy. There are several things wrong with the organization where Neil works: Untrained managers. People will be hired to boss a department that have no knowledge of the job; workers know the job inside out and managers have the skill level needed to be a Wal-Mart greeter. Too many managers. There are managers, CEOs, COOs, Corporate Officers, Team Leads, Managers, Supervisors — plenty of management, but most of them are not leaders. Capice? Managers are off-site. This company is very large, but does not pay to hire manage...

"It takes an awful lot of people, working together at an awful lot of jobs, to keep a civilization running. Smash the installations and kill the top technicians and scientists, and the masses don't know how to rebuild and go back to stone hatchets. Kill off enough of the masses and even if the planet and the know-how is left, there's nobody to do the work. I've seen planets that decivilized both ways." from The Space Viking, by H. Beam Piper Interesting how this comes along while I'm looking at material on simplifying and on minimalism. In this far future story, the survivors of a planet's war devolved into barbarism. This came about because nobody was able to take care of what was needed to keep the technology going. In times of power loss, we realize how dependent we are on technology that is driven by electricity. Once the power is restored, we can watch television, make telephone calls and go online. Some people are only slightly inconvenienced from t...

Buona sera . As you know, I've been examining minimalism. It turns out that there are several sites devoted to discussing the subject. Some writers have made statements that made me uncomfortable. I began to wonder, "Am I getting into something that looks good on the surface, but is a plank in a platform that I cannot sanction?" Not really. The philosophy of minimalism is disparate . One writer seemed to advocate something resembling communism, where everyone shares what they have, and nobody owns anything. Ummmm....yeah.Who regulates? Well, there is no overseer. Oh, I get it: anarchy. That may be your goal, Poindexter, but you're probably alone in that (people are selfish at heart, you see). Another advocates "social change through minimalism". That won't happen, Cupcake. You need some kind of uniform code and many like-minded people. A third writer on minimalism is a Christian. He finds that the philosophy fits in with Christian values. I have sta...

Buon giorno. One of my goomahs sent me an e-card for Valentine's Day. (Kinda gets you right here, doesn't it?) Although I don't like sending e-cards very much (aside from embarrassingly sappy stuff, some of them also spam people), I clicked on "send a card back" button. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a requirement that I install their toolbar . I don't need a toolbar installed. And I am insulted that Egreetings requires their toolbar to use their service. Oh, sure, they claim it's "spyware free" and so forth. But by it's nature (being required to use their service), they become spyware by default. Plus, they crow about it being free. Yes, because of the advertising. Egreetings is insulting our intelligence. "Why do you hate toolbars so much, Cowboy Bob?" Several reasons, Skippy, if you didn't catch on the first time. First, they clutter up your system and slow it down. Second, they are often spyw...

Buon giorno. I'm getting irritated. Not only do I get a marked increase in spam, but I'm getting people sending me viruses and phishing attempts. I learned long ago (and I think most of my readers know this by now) that your online company will not ask for your account number, social security number, bank account number, password or other personal information. (Also note that you should not give that kind of information over the telephone to someone who calls you and asks for it.) But at least I can share my experiences with the world and, hopefully, save someone from grief. When you get hit with something, you can contact the company yourself if you think there may be a legitimate question on their part. More likely, it's a spoof (phishing) attempt. Report them. Go to the site of the company itself, find the address that most of those companies give you, and then turn in the scumbags. Here is a cute thing that I got from "PayPal". Or so it claims: They...

The thoughts just keep on rolling! But I think this will be the last one on "Minimalist" philosophies for a while because I have some other things to talk to you about. Let me remind you that I am still working through these things. As far as I can figure it, a Minimalist is the ultimate clutter reducer. Leo Babauta describes it this way: “Minimalism isn’t about having or doing nothing – it’s about making room in your life for the things you love doing most. In this way, by getting rid of all the clutter in our lives – physical clutter and commitments – we are freeing ourselves, so that we can focus on what truly matters, and not all the extra crap people tend to do and have for no good reason”. You can read some more interesting discussions on that here , here and here . Note: Use your right-click and "Open in New Tab" feature on Firefox so you don't get lost and forget to finish this article that started you off. As I said before, Leo takes things further t...