Unpopular Opinions 7

Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.

JANE AUSTEN

It has been awhile since my last edition of Unpopular Opinions. Because of this, I struggle to not repeat myself. I hope this round will break new ground. Here's number 7!

1. I do not feel sorry for people who are injured or die doing death defying activities.

If somebody eats it skydiving or rock climbing, I am not shedding tears for them. The same goes for spelunking, mountaineering, driving race cars, jumping motorcycles over buses, and on and on. I consider all of these activities when done for recreation to be a violation of the fifth commandment which says "thou shalt not kill." This would include not killing yourself.

Soldiers in the Airborne division and smoke jumpers have legitimate reasons for jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. If there is a good reason for doing an activity that has the risk of death, I don't have a problem with that. Having a good time is not a legitimate reason to risk your life. If you kill yourself doing these things, you were asking for it.

2. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb are Bravo Sierra.

I read too many stories of ride share drivers abducting and raping women, and Airbnb operators installing hidden cameras in their properties to video people showering, disrobing, and having sex which are uploaded to pervert sites on the internet. This is why you are better off going with a real taxi service and a real hotel.

3. Most Boomers are going to Hell. Let them have their fun.

The Baby Boomers are the luckiest and most hated generation in US history. Now, in retirement, they are living it up on generous pensions, retirement accounts, reverse mortgages, and Viagra. I am amused at the spread of STDs among retirees. What did you expect from the Woodstock generation? Naturally, Generations X/Y/Z look on with disgust as they struggle like their grandparents and great grandparents did during the Great Depression.

Not all Boomers live like this. Some are wise and devote themselves to their faith and preparing their souls for eternity. But for the majority, they are living their best lives with no thoughts of mortality. They are clueless that they are all going to Hell. Never envy the wicked. Their time is coming.

4. Money solves some problems, but it doesn't buy happiness.

Money is great for buying food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. It's also great for paying for healthcare expenses or keeping your internet and cellphone turned on. Money cannot buy you fitness, true love, virtue, wisdom, or salvation for your soul. In short, money covers material needs and not much else. Remember this when you see some rich celebrity in rehab or going through one of those bitter divorces.

5. You have to give up on people.

The best you can do for other people is give them advice that they will ignore leading to their peril and destruction. You can give them material assistance which will speed up that destruction usually in the form of an overdose or cirrhosis of the liver. You can always pray for them. Inevitably, you will have to shake the dust from your clothes as our Lord told us to do. You have to give up on people. Prudence demands this. For those who disagree with me on this, you are free to waste all of your time, money, and energy on these lost causes. Get back to me and tell me how it went.

6. Once you fall to the smartphone Dark Side, it will always rule you.

I have never owned a smartphone, so I live in freedom. Other folks desire that freedom and return to a dumbphone or dumb down their smartphones. These resolutions are usually shortlived as they return like the proverbial dog to their own vomit. YouTube is replete with videos of people who took the dumbphone challenge only to give up later. They all admit that their lives were better with their dumbphones. Then, they rationalize their way out of those better lives and return to their smartphone addictions.

Yes, it is sad and pathetic. I love coffee, and I love the internet. I don't waste my time or humiliate myself with talk of giving those up. Likewise, smartphone users should admit that they are hopelessly addicted and will never change.

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will. – Yoda

7. 95% of the music on KEXP is pure garbage.

I check out the KEXP channel on YouTube once in awhile to hear something new and different. I usually hear something new and dreadful. The 5% that is actually good is why I still go to that channel.

8. Most outdoor activities exist to sell you products you will never use.

I see all sorts of sporty vehicles in town carrying around mountain bikes, gravel bikes, kayaks, and camping equipment. I never actually see them on the water or on the trails. When I watch Walking With Bruce on YouTube, Bruce walks by various mountain bike trails that have no bikers. He walks by streams and lakes without kayakers. Once in a blue moon, you see that activity on the channel. What you mostly see are people walking. This makes sense because walking is overwhelmingly the most popular outdoor activity. It is also the cheapest.

You are never going to hear this from the outdoor magazines and outdoor industry trade groups. They only count the stuff that costs money and sells product. As for the people buying this product, they do so for vanity and not for exercise and enjoyment.

9. Camping is not a vacation.

A lady remarked that camping is not a vacation while an RV camper is just another box for her to clean. I agree with her. I have been camping in RVs and tents, and they have been miserable experiences. Camping is something you do in the army or the Boy Scouts. It is definitely not a vacation.

I don't go on vacations because nothing is as relaxing as staying at home. But if I ever go traveling, I stay in a hotel.

10. The best way to avoid a DUI conviction is to stop drinking.

Driving under the influence is the most committed crime in the USA. Most people don't get caught. When they do get caught, they are not happy about it. There is all the talk about designated drivers and taking a cab, but this has done little to curb DUI. If you drive to a bar or a party, you are driving home drunk. The better way is to give up drinking completely. Naturally, this leads people to the conclusion that going to bars and parties is pointless without drinking. This leads them to stay home and avoid collisions with drunk drivers.

I am all done with the seventh edition of Unpopular Opinions. Hopefully, I won't wait so long again for #8.

Charlie's Grand Unifying Theory In A Nutshell With Examples

The design of each element should be thought out in order to be easy to make and easy to repair.

LEO FENDER

I have already written two posts on the Grand Unifying Theory. Those posts were me searching and fumbling to define the thing. I knew what the GUT was, but I couldn't express it in a nutshell. I did not have a thesis. I have it now. This is the Grand Unifying Theory in a single sentence. Every endeavor can be met with a simple and effective strategy.

I do not believe in perfect strategies. They do not exist. Every upside comes with a downside. I refer to a perfect strategy as a Holy Grail. Men go on the quest for the Grail, and they fail. They never find it. I think these quests are a waste of time and a waste of life. These quests are so vexing that I don't think it is possible to progress in life without giving them up.

The perfect is the enemy of the good. To achieve the good, you have to let go of that quest for perfection. Good is good enough. That insight is what liberates you in life. Once you let go of perfect strategies, you end up finding simple and effective strategies. Eventually, you see that there is a simple and effective strategy for every endeavor in life. I will now provide examples.

1. Leo Fender and the Telecaster guitar

Leo Fender was not a guitarist like Les Paul. He was an engineer who set to building electric guitars. He cared less about the aesthetics and more for the function, manufacture, and repair of his instruments. Looks came second.

Fender's first real guitar was the Telecaster. It was not much to look at. It was essentially a block of wood, a bolted on neck, and some simple electronics. That simple and humble guitar would provide the DNA for everything he built after that.

What makes the Telecaster such a great guitar? It just works. The instrument has a devoted following with many famous guitarists making it their axe of choice. Is it perfect? No, the Telecaster is not a perfect instrument. It isn't very comfortable to play and doesn't give you the tonal options of more sophisticated instruments. But it stays in tune. It is versatile across many genres of music. It can be modified very easily. It is a workhorse instrument. I'm not a guitarist, but I know what I would play if I ever picked up the six string. That instrument would be the Fender Telecaster.

2. The Fender Precision Bass

The Precision was Leo Fender's next major success, and it benefitted from the same things that made the Telecaster a great guitar. The P-Bass is a simple instrument with one pickup, one tone knob, and one volume knob. It sounds amazing. It is the preferred electric bass for many musicians, and it has an iconic sound. If I was a bassist, I would only play a P-Bass.

Leo Fender made other instruments like the Stratocaster, the Jazzmaster, the Jazz bass, and on and on. But I think his best work was achieved on the simplest of his instruments. What happened to Leo Fender is what happens to many men. He went searching for the Holy Grail of electric guitars and basses. He never found the Grail. The reality is that he got it right the first time. Everything subsequent was meeting the demand for features.

3. The Casio F-91W

The F-91W is my favorite watch. I love it so much that I own two of them. It is a cheap watch described as a "modest masterpiece" of design. It is simple. Like the Telecaster, this simplicity is what makes it so popular and loved. It doesn't do everything you can get in a digital watch, but it does its basic functions very well. Its one major drawback is the backlight that is mostly worthless for reading the watch in the dark. Other than that, it is a workhorse of a watch, and the timepiece I have relied on for years. It is also the most popular and most widely sold digital watch in the world.

Casio makes other great watches like the G-Shock except these watches have the DNA but not the simplicity of the F-91W. I find the watch is adequate for everything I need to do.

4. The pickup truck

I do not care for sports cars, Jeeps, or SUVs. I like a good old fashioned pickup truck. I am not partial to a brand. I just look for a bed and a cab. Those two elements are what make the pickup truck the most utilitarian and versatile of vehicles. I don't know why a man would drive any other vehicle.

The pickup truck is simple and effective. It's not so great for hauling people around. It is mostly for hauling stuff. There has been a move to make the pickup truck capable of doing everything with extended cabs and the like. I think this is a mistake. They turn the cargo space in the back into an afterthought. I prefer a simple truck.

I don't know who invented the pickup truck, but I imagine it was a natural consequence of the automobile. Somebody decided that hauling stuff mattered more than hauling people, so they cut a car down to a front seat and put a bed on it for hauling that stuff. That was genius.

5. Playing defense

In football and basketball, it is generally acknowledged that defense wins championships. Defense is not fun and can be grueling at times. Yet, defense is what turns players into champions.

I don't think defense should be confined to the court or the field. I think it applies to other endeavors in life. For instance, thrift is a form of playing defense. Instead of always seeking to earn more, you learn to spend less and live on less. For many wealthy individuals, this practice of thrift is what has made them wealthy.

I define defense as winning by not losing. With sports, you play defense by trying to keep your opponent from scoring. This may not always look pretty, but it is effective. An average team of capable defenders will beat a flashy team that focuses on offense and coasts on defense.

6. The writing style of Ernest Hemingway

I am not a massive fan of Ernest Hemingway, but I will admit one thing. He changed English prose forever with his spartan style of writing. Before Hemingway, writers used too much flourish in their writing trying to sound eloquent with their words. Hemingway's only real training as a writer was as a reporter on a newspaper. That journalism background informed his writing style. Hemingway cut the crap and told the story with simple declarative sentences. This influence would exert itself on later writers who also chose to cut the crap and tell it plainly and simply.

I have learned with my own writing to keep it simple. Whenever I write a sentence that doesn't sound right, I make it simpler. That always fixes the problem.

7. The music of AC/DC

AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson nailed it when he said,"I'm an out and out basic man and AC/DC are one of the best rock'n'roll bands in the world, doing things just to the basics." The basics are what make AC/DC such a great rock band. They weren't sweet and lovely like the Beatles. They weren't progressive rock like Yes and King Crimson. They weren't punk rockers like the Ramones. They weren't heavy metal like Iron Maiden. They weren't hair metal like Poison and Motley Crue. They just found the sound they liked and never deviated from that path. That sound can only be described as good old rock and roll.

AC/DC is a simple band. They never tried to be anything else. As lead guitarist Angus Young put it, "I'm sick to death of people saying we've made 11 albums that sound exactly the same, In fact, we've made 12 albums that sound exactly the same." They don't sound exactly the same, but they stayed true to their formula that never fails to work. It was never broke, so they never fixed it.

8. The FlyLady Housekeeping System

Through my wife, I have become a fan of the FlyLady and her system for housekeeping. The essence of her method is to get rid of perfectionism and accept that good is good enough. In other words, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. By embracing imperfection, your house ends up much cleaner than the pre-defeat of perfectionism. This mindset can be applied to other areas of your life. This system is simple, and it works. I recommend it.

9. The Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey is the ultimate plot in fiction and movies. The original Star Wars trilogy follows this plot. You can see it in The Karate Kid and the Harry Potter series of books and movies. It is Lord of the Rings. It is the classic story, and it never gets old. When people abandon this classic plot, they gamble and lose.

Hero's journey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey

10. The Glock Handgun

There is no such thing as a perfect handgun, but there is the best. Glock is the best. Like the Fender guitar, the Glock is a simple and effective handgun platform. It is easy to clean and works every time. I have heard stories of it working in less than ideal circumstances including being buried in sand. Naturally, you have two groups that hate the gun. The first are old timers who deride a "plastic" gun and prefer carrying a 1911. The second are New School types who prefer the sexiness of a Sig Sauer pistol. Ignore these people. Get yourself a Glock.

11. Humility

One of the things I have learned about the Grand Unifying Theory is that it demands humility. Humility itself is a GUT strategy, and the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a perfect example of it in this parable:

And he spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honourable than thou be invited by him: And he that invited thee and him, come and say to thee, Give this man place: and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee, cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.

LUKE 14:7-11 DOUAY-RHEIMS

You can never fail with humility. Always take the humble path and the lowest seat. This will save you so much grief in life.

12. The Bic Lighter

The Zippo lighter is a great tool. Unfortunately, it tends to leak. This is a big problem if it leaks in your pocket. The humble Bic lighter solves this problem. It is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive lighter, but it just works. Campers bring all sorts of flint and ferro rods with them for starting a campfire, but their real secret is a Bic lighter. Those other methods are just backups to that Bic. I am not a smoker, but I appreciate the reliability and convenience of the Bic lighter. If you need fire, it is hard to go wrong with a Bic.

13. The Double Edge Safety Razor

One day, I got fed up with the high cost of cartridge razors. I remembered my old man having one of those old fashioned safety razors, and I googled up if I could still get one and use it. Fortunately, the answer was yes. That changed things dramatically for me.

The safety razor has been around for over a century, and it was introduced as a safer alternative to the dangerous straight razor. I don't care to ever use a straight razor. I like safety and appreciate why it is called a safety razor.

The safety razor's main advantage is economy. Combined with shave soap, safety razor shaving costs pennies per shave versus the dollars of cartridge razors and canned shaving cream. I have to wonder what made men abandon the safety razor for the cartridge. The DE safety razor is cheap, safe, and simple. It is worth your time to try this option.

14. Sun Tzu and the Art of War

When it comes to strategy, the ultimate guide is Sun Tzu. The Art of War is a stone simple strategy for battle, but don't let it fool you. It is the best ever devised. It can be applied to many endeavors. It will change your life.

Conclusion

I give these examples to show that there is a simple and effective strategy for all endeavors. These are not perfect strategies because I don't believe any exist. I think they are the best strategies. If you can accept the imperfections, you will find success with them over and over again. They always work. Consequently, I seek out the Grand Unifying Theory in all of my endeavors. When you find it, you lock onto it and never stray from it. Deviation is the only way you can fail.

Why I Do Not Use A Step Tracker

It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.

WARREN BUFFETT

I do not wear a FitBit, an Apple watch, a smartwatch, or even a cheap pedometer off of Amazon. I do not walk for steps or distance. I walk for time, and I use a basic Casio G-Shock watch as my fitness tracker. This practice goes back to the 1990s when I took up running and bought a Timex Ironman Triathlon watch to keep track of my runs. That watch was actually more watch than I needed because the only feature I used on it was the countdown timer. I never used the splits feature, but I did enjoy the Indiglo backlight. The G-Shock I use has a stopwatch, a countdown timer, and the Illuminator backlight. It is the Ironman watch without the needless features. I walk for fitness now, but I retain the use of the watch as my preferred fitness tracker. I do not care for a step tracker. Here are my reasons why.

1. Step trackers are not accurate.

This may come as a newsflash to some FitBit wearers, but the step counter you are wearing is not 100% accurate. You can test it by counting your steps manually for a minute and comparing that number with what is on your watch. You can wear it to bed and find you got steps in your sleep. You can wear multiple step trackers and see that they all differ. Step trackers are not useless, but the number you get is more of a rough approximation than an exact figure. This is why I just use a digital watch and walk for time. I know that walking for 1 hour and 40 minutes will give me approximately 10,000 steps. This is a vital bit of information going forward as it supports my other points.

How Accurate Is Fitbit?

https://www.lifewire.com/how-accurate-is-fitbit-4775512

2. Step trackers are expensive.

The basic FitBit costs almost $100 on Amazon. My Casio G-Shock costs almost $50. I didn't pay that amount in 2018 because Bidenflation hadn't hit yet, and I am still using that watch today in 2024. When the battery goes, I will replace it myself at a cost of $2. As for smartwatches, the Apple Watch will set you back $150 for a cheap model or $300 for the mid-tier model.

3. Step trackers need recharging.

FitBit wearers can tell you horror stories of forgetting to recharge their devices and losing their step counts for the day. My Casio watch doesn't have this problem. Plus, I own four Casio digital watches with stopwatches, so a dead battery is a minor inconvenience.

4. Step trackers are fragile.

My Casio beater watch took a real beating in the accident I was in back in 2018. That watch is all scratched up and is on a new NATO watch strap. The thing is still keeping time. I doubt a FitBit or an Apple Watch would have fared as well. Plus, the software updates make the old watches worthless. Smartwatches are really dumb.

5. All steps are not equal.

A stroll through the grocery store is not the same as an intentional walk, walking uphill, a power walk, or climbing the stairs. Your step tracker counts all these steps as equal which is why many fitbitters wear their trackers all day to get their steps in. I don't think this is in the spirit of exercise. When I walk with my G-Shock, it is a serious walk.

6. Step trackers promote OCD behaviors and vanity.

It is 10 minutes to midnight, and you are 500 steps shy of 10,000 steps for the day. What do you do? Many will pace in their living rooms to get those last steps in. Really? Then, these people will post their stats on a website like Strava to share with the world. I suppose this helps motivate people to walk, but it amounts to developing anorexia for weight loss. Just because it works doesn't mean it is sane.

7. Henry David Thoreau didn't wear a FitBit.

Thoreau may have carried a pocket watch when he walked. I don't know. What I know is that he didn't live the quantified existence produced by step trackers and stop watches. His walking was more contemplative and spiritual. I find this more motivating than a number on a device.

Conclusion

Regardless of how you quantify your walks, you are only going to be roughly right. This is why I like walking for time. What matters to me is that I get out there. I also enjoy my walks. When I miss a day, I feel that I lost that day. When I walk that day, that day is a success even if I don't do anything else. You don't need to know how many steps you stepped to get the benefits of walking. You just need to do it daily. My watch tells me when I need to return to my grind.

Squelching Ambitious Desires

It's no secret ambition bites the nails of success.

U2, The Fly

I am not a fan of ambition. I have lived long enough to consider ambition to be a temptation for disaster. This does not change the fact that I am afflicted by ambitious desires. When they come, I learn to squelch them. This is because having a desire for something does not equate to having that something. It is free to dream, but those dreams end when you have to start the work. This is when dreams turn into grind.

When it comes to ambitious desires, I remember the story of the rock band KISS and the concept album they made called Songs From the Elder. The public mostly rejected that album, and critics consider it a failure. Looking back, KISS should have stuck with the meat and potatoes rock and roll that made them successful. They made simple songs that people still enjoy today. KISS was not prog rock.

You will never see a prog rock album from AC/DC. Like KISS, AC/DC is a meat and potatoes type of band except they valued consistency over creativity. AC/DC reined in ambitious desires and gave their fans what they wanted.

Ambitious desires run counter to my Grand Unifying Theory that guides me in life. Once you have locked onto a GUT strategy, you want to stick with it and not stray from it. This requires discipline. I think you should change a strategy if it isn't working. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The first great temptation to ambition comes from boredom. People get tired of winning. I know this is hard to believe, but it is true. I see it when men who are married to good women throw it away for a fling with an exciting whore. That is really dumb, but many men do this. They are bored with living, so they need risk and destruction to make it exciting again. People who constantly crave stimulation like this can never be happy in life.

The second great temptation to ambition is greed. People will see that things are going well for them, but they think they can get more instead of being satisfied with what they have. In pursuit of satisfaction for this greed, they bite off more than they can chew and end up with less than they had before.

The third great temptation to ambition is vanity. People want greater achievements in life to burnish their egos. This is when the popular director decides he wants an Oscar by making an art film. Or, he is allowed to indulge a personal project because of his past successes.

The fourth great temptation to ambition is loss of confidence. A great example of this is the man experiencing a mid-life crisis. He sells the Buick for a Corvette and leaves his wife for a woman half her age. Eventually, he realizes his mistake, but he is stuck with the consequences.

The antidote to ambitious desires is to know thyself. Know who you are. Disaster comes when you forget who you are. You need to know what you are about. If you do this, you will spare yourself many disasters. This self-knowledge requires humility.

Daydreams turn into nightmares. I tell myself this all of the time. I have learned that the real challenge in life is to be satisfied with enough and to be honest with yourself. In the long term, modesty and consistency triumph over ambition.