It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
JAMES THURBER
Here is a Q & A post with various questions that I have gathered from many sources. I give my best answers.
Q: Should I dumb down my smartphone?
A: I would tell everyone that you are better off with a dumbphone, and you should get rid of your smartphone. Unfortunately, some people have jobs that require the digital leash of a smartphone. I would strongly consider quitting that job. If you can't quit that job, you should make them pay for the phone and the phone bill. I would keep a private phone that was a dumbphone.
If you have a smartphone, you need to dumb it down. The best way to do this is by getting rid of your social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, etc.) and deleting the apps for the social media. Social media is the number one distracting element on a smartphone. Most workplaces require email access, but I don't know of anyone who is addicted to their email account. You should only have apps on the phone required for the job.
If you make the switch to a dumbphone or a dumbed down smartphone, you will immediately become the most productive employee in your workplace. You will be the only one not wasting time on smartphone distractions. It might even catch on, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Q: Should I cut the cord on cable and switch to streaming?
A: You should cut the cord on both cable and paid streaming services. They are both expensive wastes of time and money. But if you have to choose, I think cable is the better deal as these streaming services are as expensive as cable now. The streaming services also have ads just like cable. And they have the nasty habit of ending a program you like before you have watched it all. We are at the stage where subscribers to streaming are expressing buyer's remorse and yearning for the return to cable and Blockbuster video.
Where cable shines is sports. No one watches sports on a recorded basis but live as it happens. Streaming has the advantage of convenience as you can watch programming when you want on your schedule. This is not true for sports. Consequently, you should decide which is cheaper for watching those sports. I don't watch sports at all, so I don't care to do the deep research on this topic.
OAB TV is an option, but the broadcasters are too busy immolating themselves with a push for ATSC 3.0 and schemes for charging people for the content they now watch for free. Basically, they want to turn broadcast TV into cable TV. I won't pay for that.
Q: Are you a Luddite?
A: No, I am not a Luddite. I am someone who is not a technophile which is someone who believes that all tech is good and demands your submission to the constant cycle of upgrades. The reality is that tech has turned into a scam that doesn't improve your life but drains more money from your wallet. Believe it or not, you don't have to put up with this crap. I know I don't. This is when I get called a Luddite. It is better to be a Luddite than a sucker.
Q: What do you do with a bad pope?
A: You can pray for his repentance. You can call him out in person or in the media. Other than that, you can do nothing. This rankles many people especially those Catholics who converted from a background in Protestantism. The reality is that the Roman Catholic Church is not a democracy. Conversely, most democracies have the same deficiency of having bad leaders. It is my belief that God allows bad leaders in both the Church and the political realm as a chastisement. We endure these bad leaders and offer it up. In season and out of season, we are called to be faithful to the Lord.
Q: What do you think of Substack?
A: I don't care to publish on Substack at this time as this blog fulfills all of my publishing needs. I do read various Substacks through my email account, but I pay for none of the content there. If it is free, it is for me. If I have to pay, no way, Jose!
If I published on Substack, I know I would make little to nothing. I would have to offer my content for free, but I already do that here on this blog. But I will keep a note for future consideration if Google ever pulls the plug on this platform.
Q: Why did men stop wearing hats?
A: I don't think men actually stopped wearing hats. I think they stopped wearing certain styles of hats such as those with wide brims and high crowns. This would be the fedora and the cowboy hat. Men still wear baseball caps and watch caps. I think the reason for this shift is the automobile. These brimmed high crown hats obstruct your vision a bit and get crushed into the roof of the vehicle. With a baseball cap or a watch cap, this isn't an issue. I usually remove my cap and put it under my leg when I don't wear it in a vehicle. Boonie hats are also good in this situation because they can be rolled up, folded, or what have you. Basically, any hat that can be crushed and permanently disfigured is going to suffer a loss of popularity. Men care more for practicality than fashion.
Q: Why did Columbo always wear that raincoat?
A: Despite living in sunny Southern California, Lt. Columbo knew that weathermen sucked at weather forecasting, so he always came prepared for the rain. I made that up because I am never prepared for the rain because of the horrible forecasts I get now. I just keep an umbrella handy at all times.
Q: Should parents buy smartphones for their kids?
A: Absolutely not. Parents who get smartphones for their kids are idiots. Many of the pathologies you see with kids today stem from the overuse of tech. Then, there is the smut you can see on these phones. Since the parents have the same tech, they should know better and are without excuse. Smart parents get their kids dumbphones that can only talk and text. When parents do the smart thing, they will get kids with unpolluted minds, valuable social skills, improved grades at school, and greater physical fitness. I am an adult with a flip phone, and I live just fine without a smartphone. I have resisted that tech for over a decade now, and I am better off for it.
Q: Who was better--Roth or Hagar?
A: Sammy Hagar was the better singer, but David Lee Roth was the better showman. I prefer the Roth fronted version of Van Halen, and I think the reason they rocked so hard was because Roth's limited vocal range put a restriction on Eddie Van Halen's songwriting. He needed that restriction. With Hagar, Eddie turned Van Halen into a pop band. This sold way more albums, but I think they lost the loyal fan base. I believe that the soul of creativity comes from limitation.
Q: What do you think of Thorogood work boots?
A: They might be the best work boots ever made, but I will never know because I can't afford them. I am happy with my Georgia Giants until they become unaffordable, or they cheap out on the quality to an intolerable level.
Q: Why are Yeti products so expensive?
A: I think this quotation from Inc. nails it:
“People are really passionate about their hobbies — whether it’s college kids who use our coolers for tailgating or hunters and fishers. All of those groups are willing to pay extra money for products that will last,” Roy Seiders says. “They wouldn’t be caught dead with cheap gear because they identify with quality brands. It can be hard to gain the trust of consumers, but once you do, it becomes very powerful.”
Yeti is a lifestyle brand. Their customers are idiots and suckers. Yeti did for coolers and other products what Apple did for tech. You build a cult of dupes and drain them dry of every last penny. People aren't paying for the product. They are paying for the logo and the name. The expense of the product only enhances the value of that branding.
How YETI Was Invented
Guys with a YETI
$40 YETI Bucket vs Generic Bucket
YETI vs Coleman Cooler
YETI Guys vs. Normal Guys
Are YETI products over rated?
Q: Is writing a hobby?
A: That depends on if you are any good at it. For me, it is not a hobby because I am actually good at writing. A hobby for me would be making music or painting pictures because I am not good at that stuff.
I define a hobby as the serious pursuit of a worthless activity. If you're not good at something, this makes it a worthless activity. I still do worthless activities like playing the kazoo, but I don't do them seriously. That determination is usually financial. If I bought a keyboard, that might be serious.
Q: How much traffic do you get on the blog?
A: Once upon a time, I could have told you. Now, I suspect the traffic is all coming from AI spambots. A better measure of traffic would be an active combox except I don't use comboxes anymore because I can't manage them. The traffic number of actual human readers is now a mystery. The upside is that not knowing keeps me humble.
Q: What would you do if you won the lottery?
A: I would do what I do now. It wouldn't change my life at all. I can't think of a time in my life when it would have changed my life. This is because I don't think this world has anything to offer.
I think buying a lottery ticket is great entertainment. You get to fantasize about what it would be like to win. I have run that thought experiment many times in my head over the years, and I keep coming back to not caring about it at all. There's nothing I care to buy or own. If I was homeless and destitute, I would just want the life I already have now.
I would not turn down those lottery winnings. I am not that crazy or stupid. I just wouldn't spend it. I would just invest that money and keep shopping at Goodwill.
Q: Is there anything you regret not doing when you were younger now that you are old and busted up?
A: This question comes from the recently deceased Charlie Munger who said that if there was anything you want to do in life you better do it before you hit your nineties. For him, it was catching some particular fish on a deep sea fishing trip. I prefer to skip the seasickness.
The other inspiration for this question came from this Joshua Becker blog post:
That Thing You’ve Always Wanted to Do
Becker wrote about wanting to do a repeat on running a marathon. I think running marathons is stupid. That whole post is one big exercise in the vanity of carpe diem. I've had adventures in my youth, and they were enough to make me not want to have any more of them. The truth is that most of my regrets come from things I did in my youth and not the things undone.
I did have one minor regret that I don't have anymore. I used to regret not playing high school football. Now, I want to ban high school football which I call "Concussion Ball."
I never ran a marathon, hiked the Appalachian trail, scaled Everest, or did any of the bucket list items that I clearly will never do now that I am old and busted up. The truth is that I never cared to do those things. I would rather go for a walk and look at birds from the back step of the house. I think you have to be old and busted up to appreciate those things. Those other vanity things amount to enduring misery for the sake of bragging rights which is the obsession of office workers with impostor syndrome.
I don't have impostor syndrome because I worked a blue collar job. I have endured a lifetime of misery and danger to know who I am. I don't need to run a marathon.
That's it for this edition of Q & A. Stay tuned for future editions.
