How to Age Well

Huh.

Puppies and Complexity Theory

X is for Xing Tian

Interesting bestiary by Nathan Anderson. I'm partial to Xing Tian, myself.

The Secret to Being a Pretender

Remember The Pretender? I really loved that show. In hindsight I think it was the freedom Jarod had to be anything that caught my fascination. And now I've finally hit upon a procedure to learn quickly.

Here are my references:

Scientists have found a new trick for completing your goals

Finding what to learn next

Learning how to learn

12 Prescriptions for creating a brain-healthy life

The habits of highly boring people, by Chris Sauve

Looking into the brain: when the map isn't the territory

Mind Expansion, Right Here

What Changed You as a Person Forever?

Excel Subreddit

What is the Most Expensive Life Lesson You've Ever Learned?

The Illusion of Transparency

The Secret Kings and Queens of the World

Compulsion

Sandorkraut and the Economics of Fermentation

I found out about him since the channel I linked to in my previous post had another video about him. I found his blog in short order - color me impressed. I know what book and DVD I will be buying next...

The microbiome inside our bodies has never been properly understood; recent findings have clearly proven there are surprising connections between the state of your gut's microorganisms and brain development, gut health, anxiety, and even mental health.

The very activity of creating fermented foodstuffs actually has interesting economic consequences. I would recommend reading this blog post in the Wild Fermentation site to learn more.

Kimchi Emergency

Korea’s kimchi in danger of disappearing due to heavy competition from China

I love kimchi.

I love the smell - it makes my mouth water. I love the deeply rich medley of flavors. It's good for you too.

Even if there were nothing else Korea achieved in its long history, I would still say God bless them for bringing kimchi into the world. It is a fond dream of mine to one day travel to the country and spend my time sampling authentic Korean cuisine - including their best kimchi.

Now, it seems like that dream is in danger. I understand the economics - the mere presence of a cheaper alternative in the market drives prices down, regardless of its quality. I get that China is more effective in terms of producing the stuff. There is, and let me emphasize this, nothing wrong or illegal at all about what's happening right now.

But while we're talking economics, let's talk about unintended consequences. The recipes for kimchi from Korea have a unique history. Some may have been passed from parent to child; others may have been refined over decades to appeal to the most people. Korea's population ate their mother's kimchi as the country went through both terrible and great upheavals. Kimchi is part of Korea's culture, but the Koreans grew into their culture because of such daily things like kimchi. To have this diversity and heritage just up and lost without much of a fight to generic product... sort of hits me hard.

It's a lot like how there was a wealth of gong fu in China before the Communists; if the latter had their way all these arts would have been replaced by wushu - which is really an amazing thing, let me tell you. But wushu is not gong fu.

Online Shaming - Kafka at its Finest

The thing is, shaming is a mechanism to enforce societal rules. It serves to help solidify the lines between who is in the group and who is out, between who has a high social standing and who doesn't. Because if you weren't higher than the other person in status, you wouldn't be able to freely punish them, would you? 

And so punishing someone for a transgression, even if it weren't strictly criminal, confers status on the one doing the punishing - they are gatekeepers of what is "right," they have a role in the group, and they are willing to enforce the duty that comes with their role. For the good of the group. Not the welfare of the members, just the good of some abstract concept of "the group."

Shaming shares similarities with physical assault - in both cases perpetrators target the victim who won't track them down and butcher their families in retaliation. Both are done for gain - whether it's to fit in more or gain status or, as in the case of companies who got involved in the circus that was described in the talk above, get money. But most importantly, shaming is done by people who can't do anything else - the elites don't bother to get into these petty squabbles. In fact, doing so is all downside for them. Criminals don't have any other avenue to get their fix or get to tomorrow; in this then we see that shaming is a tool of the mediocre.

Here's another article about online shaming. Sadly, all that vitriol won't bring Cecil back. Nor does it stop the continued poaching of these endangered animals.