Entropy wins again?

Much like Africa always does?

I'm something of a history buff, especially regarding the early history of Western Civilization. In my various studies, and frequent arguments with professors, I've noticed a trend. Not some obscure historical fact, I'm sure many Americans are thinking on this very trend right now.

Civilizations are cyclic.

Let's take the origins of Western Civilization, the ancient Greeks. The rose to completely dominate, sometimes, the Mediterranean, had colonies and influence in parts of Africa and reaching up North into Europe. Eventually, there were a few nations that rose and were similar enough to be grouped into Western Civ, but Greece remained at the forefront. There was Thermopylae, Marathon, Troy, and the conquests of Alexander to tell us that no matter what you think of the Greeks these days, their ability to make war was no mean thing.

Then they fell. I'll not get into all the causes of their fall, or that of others, as they are still debated widely, but the root will be the same throughout.

Next rose the city of Remus and Romulus, Rome. Growing from its humble origin as a town astride a trade road, Rome grew to dominate the ancient world. With outposts ranging from the shores of Africa, to halfway up Britain (clearly marked where Hadrian's wall was) and out East into modern day Turkey.

And they declined, fractured, and, finally, fell. Others rose up to take the reins in Europe eventually, but the true successor to Greece and Rome was the United States, starting somewhere around the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine.-

Now, with the decline of national identity resulting from rampant illegal immigration (if you don't know what I'm talking about, take a trip to SoCal), the government trampling the will of the people, seizing control of major industries, attempting to seize even more (no, forget that, from now on I'm calling it what it is, stealing. The word seize when used in conjunction with government action can impart a veneer of legitimacy), stealing more and more of the fruits of our labors in order to fund vote buying schemes and economic power grabs, and actively seeking to suppress dissent(!) many people are, quietly mostly, wondering if we're circling the drain ourselves.

Well, we're not. At least, I don't think so. If another generation or two had passed before our current contretemps that might not be the case. Today, however, as the injuries and usurpations against the free people of this country mount, people are beginning to discover that they are indeed the descendants (spiritually if not genetically) of those who screamed, "Give me liberty or give me death!" and, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Everywhere, people who never stood up to a bully in their lives are finding steel in their back bones and reserves of righteous indignation they never knew they had.

The people are pissed and are fighting back. Is it possible that the America we all love will never make a return? Yes, it is, but by all that is good and right, the bastards will have more of a fight than they can stomach.

A free people are hard to subjugate. A free and well armed people are a nightmare.

Ah the joys of the collegiate experience

I had originally planned on writing about rifles today, a topic near and dear to my heart. Unfortunately, my mornings belong to writing for filthy lucre and blogging is relegated to catch as catch can. Since I have Kenpo in about an hour, there's no way I'd finish a post on rifles.

Whilst in the Navy (ie. during my misspent youth), I was a sufficiently motivated, studious, and, frankly, brilliant (and humble) to finish a bachelor's degree just slightly before my twenty first birthday. Long story short, my education officer pulled a fast one on a bunch of us and we never got credit for most of our classes, about two thirds of them in my case. When I originally wrote this, I went into detail about the whole thing, but realized that even after all this time I remain sufficiently livid so as to be incapable of writing about it coherently.

Moving on.

A few months ago, I decided to go back to school. Doing a little math here, it's been...lessee divide the square of C by the cube root of zero (what? I live outside the flow of normal time)...aha! Eight years since the last time I took a class more academic than how to treat a sucking chest wound or not offend the women or minorities I worked around. Things have changed a bit.

Oh! Sounds like story time!

"But why do they use just zeros and ones in binary? Why not use zero through nine? You could have more information in the same space." This said with the assurance of one who is confident of revolutionizing the field.

A plethora of response came to mind. You know, such trivial things as not being able to simply imprint actual digits in the flow of electrons. Things like on...and off. Maybe a reference to Morse code to illustrate how information is transmitted with only two options. Instead I shoot back with, "What? Because the tiny little cables and electron paths are two small for bigger numbers."

I know, I know, I'm an ass. What do you expect me to say in a conversation that's taking place in a political science class?

"Wouldn't it be worth it to make them just a little bigger? You could at least use three and four."

At this point, I'm just wanting the little wart to shut his month, but since gratification in that regard was not forthcoming...

"You'd still have too many heat dissappation problems and major diminishing returns in volume to processing power and storage capacity."

"Why do we have to use zero and one though? They're the most useless numbers in the world."

I'm sure my tormentor has a vast and metropolitan experience of the world, and this is just a lapse. After all, we all know (right?) that they're actually the two most important intergers. I mean, there are entire FIELDS of study in math and science that rarely, or never, work with values that aren't between those two.

So yeah, I really was about ready to flatten this kid.

"Because they're the smallest ones with the highest value ratio."

"But..."

"No, drop it. You don't know what the FRENCH FRIES* you're talking about."

"But zero..."

"What?! What is so ALL FIRED* wrong with the current method? You know, since it's the only one that will work unless we stumble on a completely new theory of electronic operation!"

"I just don't like zeros."

Wow. All this from a...wait for it...computer science major. Guess how many classes he's failed! If you guesses 'all of them,' pat yourself on the back.

Not all my fellow students are like that though. In my stats class there are two girls, who sit way in the back of the classroom just ahead of me and the guy I sit next to. In a roughly linear (sorry stats midterm was yesterday) fashion, test scores increase with distance from the teacher. This being a statistics class, I decided to write that phenomenon up sheerly for grits and shins.

We were debating actually giving it to our teacher, until the review session last night. The teacher asked questions with varied awards (arranged ala Jeopardy), and divided the room into teams by rows. The last two rows being largly empty she teamed the four of us up. Being the older and more mature member, I decided to stop answering questions upon realizing that even if one of the other teams got every answer right, we would still win. Now it seems to hand in that little bit of observation would just be rubbing it in. Something my fellows seem all too eager to do.

Ugh, how did I become the guy who has to wrangle both the idiots and rambunctious smart guys? I used to be the rambunctious smart guy...

And now I'm almost late for Kempo. Darnit.

*Not what I really said, this is a reasonable kid friendly blog.

Ever wonder why Atlas looked so constipated?

I know, I know, weird title.

What can I say, my mind seems to be dwelling in a weird place of late. First, why is it misfortune always seems to hit me first? I'm the only person I know to have been laid off while simultaneously I've yet to get even a sixth of what they owe me from Veteran's Affairs. Predictably, this has caused a bit of financial strain at a time when prices are going up.

No worries, I am not without my resources and recourse. Things are just a bit tight.

Anyway, I've wondered off topic. Atlas. He holds up the world. Looks kind of heavy. He seems to be straining a bit. Now, it appears he's shrugging.

I am, of course, referencing the Ayn Rand novel, Atlas Shrugged. Not that I recommend reading the book. While I certainly find the scenario plausible and even a little terrifying, the book itself and many of Rand's beliefs are rather repellent. Still, in this day in age, you should probably read at least a fairly detailed synopsis of it, as well as the entirety of 1984 and Animal Farm.

Those of you who suffer through seeing me on a regular basis may have noticed that my mind seems to be working a bit differently. My priorities and outlook have changed. This is not a new phenomenon, mind, but another situational adaption I seem to be making.

I've been doing that since childhood. My own dear mother has frequently commented on how I seem to posses a much harder, callused personality than I did while in high school. Not that I am actually callus or even hard, I'm every bit as sympathetic and caring as I ever was, it just doesn't show as much. It's an adaption. I've always adapted to my situation. Heck, when I fist got to Camden, people thought I was a totally uncaring hardass. I wasn't, but that is how I'd had to act at my previous unit.

In reality, this is something we all do, most just don't pay attention to it.

I told you all that so I could tell you this.

It doesn't take the oracle at Delphi or even a crystal ball to see that we, as a nation, are in a rough patch and, unless things change, heading for worse. I don't believe all the gloom and doom prophesies I'm hearing now, about total collapse of our economy and, subsequently, way of life.

But I think we're heading for some serious trouble. When economies tank, especially when there is widespread and deeply felt resentment (like over a few stimulus packages the electorate didn't want), people often take their anger to the streets. With cutbacks coming in local government budgets, not federal of course, this will mean less police and emergency response. Wouldn't take much of a spark to cause a breakdown of civil order under those circumstances. Worse, the first time it happens will likely set up a domino effect.

Down go the dominoes.

Worst, there is no way to predict where such civil unrest will occur. True, big cities are more likely than small ones, but even small city economies are tied into the nationwide network of commerce and when the mill closes or the farms cannot by seed, people will be angry. No where will be immune.

So, now my imperative to you. Be prepared. Stock up on long shelf life foods, talk to your nearby friends and family about mutual preparations, decide where would be the safest play to try and wait things out (good lines of fire, sturdy construction, etc), buy rifles, shotguns and loads of ammo (more on this later), etc. I'll be going more in depth later, but the essence is to make ready for trouble.

To that end, I've started a (VERY) rigorous new fitness regime, stepped up my combatives practice (part of the regime), and am planning several new firearm acquisitions.

The odd thing is, I don't even feel like I'm being paranoid. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen near any of you, but I hope you don't gamble on it.