I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

June 07, 2017 - 11:16 a.m.

I'm an excellent blogger ... or am i?

I finally made a straight run to Stop & Shop that wasn't on a weekend. It's one bus that drops me off by the parking lot. By far the easiest commute to any of the supermarkets I like. On the weekend, it takes over an hour because of City Island traffic. That was my excitement for the day.

I'm working on a new social media skill. I've been on Instagram for some time, Horvendile. What a shock, my user name is Horvendile. That's not a new skill. That's just something to give me endorphin hits. What's new is that I started an Instagram for John Platt's On Your Radar. You'll never guess what the username is. It's johnplattsonyourradar. This is not for endorphin hits but to promote the series. I want to make at least one post and preferably two a day. That means finding content. I started with the photos of the artists playing this month and the collage of all of them together. The text was the blurbs I use on the Facebook event, OYR w/ The Small Glories, Joan & Joni, and J Shogren Shanghai'd. You should go check that out now. Then I started going through old photos and posting ones from old June editions of OYR. If I go see OYR alumni I post pictures from that show. I'm considering making some text posts. Anyone have any other suggestions as to what to post?

I think that I'm good at this but perhaps it's just the Dunning-Kruger effect. I have no objective evidence that I'm good at it. The most popular pic I posted was by accident. I wanted it on my personal Instagram and has nothing about On Your Radar on it. I just had another idea. My objective is to get local fans of live music to discover us. I can post pictures of artists that have nothing to do with On Your Radar but whose fans might enjoy the series. I can start tonight with Lake Street Dive. I'm seeing them at Celebrate Brooklyn with my posse. Did you know I have a posse?

The concert tonight is at 8:15 so I better start to get ready. We like to get good seats so Seth and I get there at 3:00 so I have to leave at 1:00, the gates open at 6:00. That's free concert life in New York. I used to do things like this all time. It's nice to keep my hand in now and then. Hanging out with Seth and the rest of the posse as they arrive is part of the fun. I have to remember to bring food for lunch and dinner. I just told you that so I remember. I could now delete it but thought you'd like to see the mind games I play. I usually lose them. Talk about Dunning-Kruger.

Excellent idea, I'll talk about Dunning-Kruger.

The Dunning-Kruger effect, named after David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University, occurs where people fail to adequately assess their level of competence — or specifically, their incompetence — at a task and thus consider themselves much more competent than everyone else. This lack of awareness is attributed to their lower level of competence robbing them of the ability to critically analyse their performance, leading to a significant overestimation of themselves.
It is the primary reason we have President Trump. I'm not saying that Trump exhibits Dunning-Kruger, he does, but that's not what I am getting at, it's that voters exhibit Dunning-Kruger. People think they are good at all sorts of things that they aren't. Some, like Jenny McCarthy, are alumni of the University of Google. They think that's enough to master a subject. There has been actual research that shows that people think they are much better at detecting lies than they are. That's how con men operate. Yet people think they can judge a candidate's honesty from what they see on TV. Authenticity is an unauthentic quality.

Most people know virtually nothing of economics yet "vote their pocketbooks." They know nothing of science and weigh in on scientific topics. Most people can't find Syria on a map but think they know what to do about ISIS. I am not just talking about Trump voters. Most of us fall into this trap at least occasionally. This even happens to Presidents not named Trump. Obama took office thinking he knew how things worked, that he was going to bring Washington together. He was totally unprepared for the vitriol thrown against him. George W. Bush took office saying, "No new taxes;" then he found out that sometimes you have to raise taxes. Obama took office as the antiwar president but discovered that things were complicated and that more people might die if he didn't make war than if he did.

Intelligent presidents learn in office, the electorate learns at a much slower pace. That's why there will always be Donald Trumps and Bernie Madoffs. The easiest mark is the one that thinks he knows it all. I've seen a lot of big con movies and TV shows. That makes me an expert.

I feel confident that I know if I'm hungry. I am. I bought grits so that's what I'm having today.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile June 07, 2017
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