Sunday, April 6, 2025

The Chicken Lifestyle 2

Yesterday I did not address the adage of “Being Chicken.”  

When I was a child, I remember being called “chicken” was usually used by bullies, to dominate.  

The equivalent of being called a coward…  

I was a shy introverted kid…  

But I am also a child of Holocaust survivors…  

I’ve written about being a peaceful warrior:  

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2014/05/war-and-peace.html

and about being a sheep dog: 

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/10/are-you-survivalist.html

My martial arts training is clear on the advice that you walk, or even run, away from a fight… 

If you can…  

There is no reason to fight unless yours or a loved one’s life is in danger…  

There is no reason to fight for a slighted ego.  

Run away, hide, whatever you need to do to avoid a fight…  

Do not go places where there might be personal danger…  

Only when there is life on the line, then you fight, preferably, quick, overwhelmingly violent, and short…  

Use whatever weapon you have at hand, your belt, preferably with heavy buckle, a knife, an umbrella, a cane, a stick, a rock, use your keys, a pen, carry pepper spray, or a gun if you conceal carry…  

Go for the eyes, kick the groin or shins…  

Know how to go full on “Berserker.” 

If you are going to fight, be prepared to be severely injured or die…   

Someone calls you “chicken.”

That is the time to turn and run.  

Make sure anyone with you, knows to turn and run with you…  

Perhaps have a safe word, so they can react quickly, that word can be as simple as “Run!”  

Yesterday I blogged about the Chicken Lifestyle can be thought as live more simply, today we can extend that to also avoiding placing yourself in danger.  

Do not be afraid of “being Chicken.”   

I will be 72 this year, I have never been in a fight since childhood, never since starting my martial arts training at age 17…  

I do not go to dangerous places. 

I stay aware of my surroundings, I sit facing the entrance, if I can…  

I expect to live my life without ever having a fight… 

However, you never know, I wear a heavy buckle on my belt, I carry a knife, I have my concealed carry license, you will never know if I am concealed carrying or not…  

I embrace Being Chicken.  

I embrace the Chicken Lifestyle.  

Stay aware, stay safe…  

Namaste


Saturday, April 5, 2025

The Chicken Lifestyle

I was reading the New York Times online this morning and came across an article about how eggs are expensive, so people were dying alternative round objects such as potatoes for Easter.   

Then the article also mentioned that eggs are half the price than what they were a month ago.  

We were doing a morning stretching routine together and I mentioned this to my wife, and we started a conversation.  

She was wondering about how the egg market could bounce back so quickly after entire flocks had to be killed due to bird flu.  

I then said something about the rapid maturing of chickens…    

I meant to say the rapid chicken lifecycle…

However, what I actually said was the rapid “Chicken Lifestyle…”     

We the broke into semi-uncontrollable laughter…  

I said that should be the title of a book, she said I should write a blog on it, 

so here we are…  

I then went down the rabbit hole of Google…  

From a Purina Web page:  “Most hens will lay their first egg around 18 weeks of age and then lay an egg almost daily thereafter. In their first year, you can expect up to 250 eggs from high-producing, well-fed backyard chickens. Then, egg counts will naturally decrease each following year with hens entering egg retirement around years six or seven.” 

Apparently, chickens are trying to lay a clutch of eggs, about 3-8, and then would try to hatch them.  

When we harvest the eggs daily, they continue to lay eggs about every 26 hours, not quite 1 per day, so they skip some days, and there is also a seasonal cycle.  

I have not been blogging lately…  

The political climate is soooo depressing…  

I don’t want to continue to rant about how bad the world is…  

The rise of authoritarianism, the state of the world economy, war, earthquakes, climate change, not to mention my 401k sinking into the netherworld…  

So, here we are discussing the Chicken Lifestyle…  

Brings up the value of simplicity…  

Not that we need to peck at bird feed and insects all day and then lay an egg, sleep, repeat…  

Perhaps worthwhile to examine what we spend our time doing every day.  

Perhaps we can eliminate those activities which no longer supports our long-term happiness…  

Some of us are pushed to protest, others of us need to cocoon ourselves away…

Some of us need to immerse ourselves in online and other media, others need to take a media break…  

I am not here to tell you what to do…  

I am just letting you know that I am taking my newly invented meme of the “Chicken Lifestyle,” to examine my own life…  

And in hope that you can take this meme to do whatever it is that you need to do to live your best life…  

Namaste



Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Even More Bozos on this Bus

Well, here we are again, seems to me we are currently in an even worse place than the first Drumpf administration, there even are more Bozos on this Bus...  

The destruction of our democratic principles is faster, wider, and deeper this time around…  


I Blogged about economic inequality in February of 2020:  

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2022/02/economic-inequality.html

In there I referred to this Blog of August of 2020:  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2020/08/black-lives-matter.html

I am repeating just a little of that latter Blog again here:  

“Fundamental 1

People are inherently fearful



They fear for their lives, their economics, families, friends…  in no specific order

The lower their evolutionary level, the smaller the circle of who is in their family

https://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

They fear “the other”

Those who are not in their family

Those who are perceived to be “different””


Back then I outlined some possible “fixes.”  

I suspect we are still too primitive a society for what I proposed back then…  


Today I want to outline some failures of the Democratic Party.  

The failures that lead to the election of such a destructive current administration…


You may not agree with me, great, find your own methods to solving this problem…  


 Let us open with a quote:

“The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.”

P.J. O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores


1-Failure to address economic disparity sufficiently.  

Rising costs of food, housing, insurance, health care, etc. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2024/05/31/the-state-of-the-american-middle-class/

It is difficult to be compassionate when you feel you are drowning.  You cannot want to give your hard-earned dollars to anyone outside of “your family.”    


2-Failures of DEI initiatives.  

https://hbr.org/2022/12/the-failure-of-the-dei-industrial-complex


3-Firearm regulations, without providing adequate safety for individuals.  

I suspect many Democrats will disagree with me.  I recommend spending some time learning to shoot and hang out with “the other side,” perhaps at a local gun club.  

As the saying goes “When seconds count the police are only minutes away.”  

I am a great believer in adequate training and continued practice, if you are going to own a firearm, although the data is not great:  

https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/firearm-safety-training-requirements.html

If you are going to carry, I recommend carry insurance as well, but how many poor people can afford that?  

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/membership/


4-Failures to highlight where the Democrats have succeeded in boosting the economy and the Infrastructure Act.  

https://www.epi.org/press/new-report-finds-that-the-economy-performs-better-under-democratic-presidential-administrations/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/at-its-two-year-anniversary-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-continues-to-rebuild-all-of-america/


Of course, the above do not take into the consideration other failures where President Biden failed to step down in a timely manner, and the Democrats clearly hid his dementia, until this was revealed in real time on TV, and the Democrats choose a weak Vice President to begin with, and then promoted her as the successor in an untimely manner.   

https://www.theglobalist.com/united-states-2024-us-presidential-elections-democratic-party-donald-trump-kamala-harris/


Can our country recover?

I am usually an optimist…

Maybe I am just getting more pessimistic in my old age…  

Right now, I fear globally for the world, for our country’s democracy, and personally for my kids and grandkids futures…  


Namaste