Get Out While You Still Can II

If anyone needed proof that post-modernism represents the end of human civilization, I just saw Gang of Four's anticonsumerist post-punk anthem "Natural's Not In It" being used to sell a video game.

Get Out While You Still Can

OK, I guess I owe people some words and pictures. There seriously hasn't been a lot going on around here. The weather gets colder, we stay inside more, watch a lot of streaming TV shows on the internet... Mad Men and Project Runway are both over, so I can't even rant about those, except to say — Gretchen?! Come on! I dunno... Parenthood is decent; do people like that? Last episode was pretty weak on plot development, but generally I like it OK, for a show about a beautiful, white, privileged family.

We did get outside some the past couple of weekends. Two Saturdays ago the sun was shining in that nice way it sometimes does, so we decided to drive to Polly Cove before it disappeared (the sun). Which, I have to say, it is doing very early these days. Maybe a little too early. I don't want to complain, and I know it has its schedule to follow and everything, but doesn't it know that there are starting to be Christmas signifiers everywhere, and that's depressing enough for people without plunging them into darkness at like 4:00 in the afternoon?

Anyway, we wanted to go to Polly Cove, which is just before you get to Peggy's Cove and so is very similar in landscape and picturesqueness, but there's no lighthouse and therefore no gift shop or hordes of people swarming around and talking on their cell phones. But we got on the wrong road (my fault), so we went to Terence Bay instead, which is slightly less picturesque.




It was pretty there and Alison got some pictures, but windy and COLD, and there wasn't really anywhere to walk around very much. So we got back in the car and made our way back to Polly Cove just before the sun went down.




This is one of my favourite places in the world to just sit and watch. Something about the particular combination of elements here puts me immediately into a magical stance toward the world, where everything is alive and it all loves me. This is not a feeling I would classify as belief, mind you. Yes, I am preparing you for the final installment in the What If It's Not About Belief rant, coming soon.

Then last weekend we felt like going for a longer hike, so we drove all the way out to Blomidon. We'd hiked around on the trails there a little bit before (see post from two years ago), but never done the big one around the cliff. The weather was perfect for it: unseasonably warm with no wind. Pretty gorgeous spot, and high enough above the Valley that it doesn't even smell like cow poop!





So, that should tide us over for outdoorsy beauty as we head into the dark days of December.

NEXT: Less marveling, more ranting!

Information Theory 101

"The scenario is this: A poor student goes off to a college far from home. His parents wonder whether he will be able to manage. They know they cannot help worrying. So they ask him to phone home every Sunday at four to tell them he is well. The student complains that he has almost no money and that spending all those coins calling home will be an expensive business. So he would rather not. But they agree on a solution: He will phone on Sundays at four only if he is having problems. If he does not phone, it is because everything is going well. So he rarely calls. But he sticks to his side of the deal.

"He thus transfers a message to his parents every Sunday without having to spend a cent — assuming, that is, the phone system is working. You can transmit a message without spending money and without any physical representation at all. Assuming that there is a connection.

"[...] So there are stacks of messages in a phone that does not ring. As long as you have paid your bill."

Tor Nørretranders
The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size