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Mr IRL.

The Gondola

Have you ever misinterpreted something and really just questioned how that your version was the misinterpretation? 

It all started when school decided, many decades ago, that children were clearly going to pay attention at 7:30 am to a lecture on the French Revolution. Luckily for my class our teacher recognized that we would not be listening unless he woke us up first. So he preceded with his tried and true method, second only to giving us donuts, and third to jumping-jacks, was by gossiping about school and just life with us. 

So we did our usual morning conversations of a few of the more extroverted kids telling us what they did on the weekend, my only friend in the class ignoring everything to draw for a mother competing she entered, and then proceeding to us pestering the teacher with personal questions. This led to the very American question- 

“Hey, you're a public school teacher with three kids, how do you mange to live in the ‘rich kids neighborhood?’”

And that is where he began the Gondola story. And in actuality his story was shorter than my introduction. He simply answered-

“My wife fell off a Gondola before we met, and she sued the ranch.” 

Now, there are many things I misinterpreted from that sentence alone, but no, it got much worse because the second he said that, the entire class(Except my lone friend who was still nose deep in her iPad) gasped and asked if she(his wife) was alright, okay, doing well, etc. Well, those are okay-ish reactions, I guess. I mean, was the water dirty? 

If you haven’t guessed by this point, when I heard the word “Gondola” I assumed we were talking about the small Italian boat. I wasn’t even hung up on how the wife was doing, I assumed a small 1 foot drop in some water was not life threatening, I mean she clearly lived, this is before she married our history teacher. I was hung up on that he said “sued” and “Ranch.” I was not aware that Gondola’s were like Ubers, or taxi’s, I thought they sort of individually did that sort fo thing. And why would there be a Gondola on a ranch? 

But those questions were immediately shunted to the bottom of the list after what came next. The most prominent follow up question was-

“How far did she fall?”

What? It is a Gondola. How far could she have possibly fallen?

“85 feet.” 

Now most of my class reacted as one would suspect, with loud gases and “oh-no’s.” But I’m not most of my class. My only thought was ‘what?’ I had moved on from her safety by this point because my only reference for how far a human has to fall to die is 630 feet because that’s the height of the St. Louis arch- and never mind I was more baffled by falling 85 feet out of a Gondola. 

I didn’t even begin to think that maybe I had misinterpreted something by that point because I was more troubled with trying to visualize a Gondola, with 85 stools on it and- no, how would that work? It’s too tall and the base is too small, it would topple over. Not to mention that the Gondola would never fit under any bridge, at all. 

How was this all cleared up, you might ask? Well another one of my classmates asked which ski ranch it was at- 

Yes, as I figured out my asking my only friend, in my neck of the woods we call Ski Lifts, specifically the fully enclosed ones, Gondolas. The wife is fine, she’s doing well with little-to no adverse health effects(She actually bounced off something during her fall, but it’s not my story to tell.) and my history teacher is still teaching. And that is how I misinterpreted Gondolas. 

Raya and the Last Dragon felt like a bit of a missed opportunity to showcase the beautifully unique shapes and sensibilities of SEAsian art styles in their dragon design. I couldn’t help but try my hand at pushing that aesthetic in her design just a little bit more. Her colors in the official art are very unusual for the style, too…but I tried to keep them for this. I couldn’t help but include some gold, though. (also, this is all in good fun, there’s probably a million reasons why Disney went with the more Japanese fish-kirin look in the end. But!! I hope that this’ll inspire more folks in the area to make dragons inspired by the culture and mythology here!! Because it’s unique and beautiful!!)

España IX, 2021

[OC] Winter in Seattle [5282 x 6603] - Author: yanieldue on reddit

Dad Talks. EP. 1 | Ethical Economics AKA Humanity vs. Capitalism

The Context - Discussion with friend over text

Friend : We still put money before people. 

Me : But as humanity grows we’re more knowledgeable now, and we’ll catch people and hold them accountable for it. 

Friend : Literally the opposite has happened. 

Me : I refuse to give up on the good of humanity. 

Friend : Oh, Humanity is good. Capitalism is evil. 

The Discussion with Dad - Also over text, and prompted by me presenting the above discussion and my thoughts on it. 

Me : Greed is evil, economy is a neutral entity that is wielded. It is one man’s greed that sours it. 

Well this poses an interesting question.

Can a concept, which due to the nature of human history, is created by man be neutral? If it is created by humans, who are intrinsically biased and lean forwards either positive or negative questions, then can it truly be neutral? 

Can I claim that something man made is neutral when I proclaim man is good but inherently fallible?

Dad : Sounds like you are doing fine. You pose the more interesting question. Capitalism, and even the idea of economics, are man-made creations. But not necessarily in the way a building or an invention is, or.a book or painting.

Economics comes from the idea that humans require, or desire, certain things to survive, and take action to acquire those things. As the types and numbers of things fluctuate, as well as how many humans and there are and how those things are produced, certain patterns of behavior emerge that seem to be driven by the numerous variable. Hence we study economics as a sort of science - it seems to operate under certain principles that can be deduced by observation and testing. It’s sort of like anthropology or sociology, we are trying to understand how humans have developed or how they will respond.

Me : So in considering it’s study being a science, can we presume we should be neutral in judging its patterns and more so directing moral judgements on those who use the properties of economics to act?

Dad : Capitalism is at, its heart, a theory of economics. One might even say it is the most basic and fundamental theory of how economics works. But it makes assumptions about how people respond to their economic stimuli and their motives. The primary assumption is that people will act to maximize their things. (Keep in mind that I am not an economist and that there is a great deal of literature on this topic - it has been studied a lot.)

There are other theories that predict that people and societies react differently. Capitalism tends to be more individualistic. Socialism and communism more focused on the wellness of the group.

Me : So does capitalism assume greed or does capitalism encourage greed?

Dad : I think you can approach any of those theories with a certain neutrality; the theories themselves are neither good nor evil. How people apply those theories can be approached from an ethical standpoint.

Me : Fair.

Dad : Does capitalism assume greed or encourage greed? Interesting question. Probably both, but even greed might not be the right word.

Then the question is what is the word that capitalism works off of.

Well, the question overall is interesting because in economics it is difficult to separate economic theory from an economic system. That is precisely because humans are involved. It is a bit like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle or Schrodinger’s Cat - you can’t know the outcome or state of the system unless you act to measure it, but your act of measuring it determines the state of the system.

In economics, how one believes the system works depends partly on how one believes humans act or should act, and humans can work in different ways.

Me : Damn.

This leaves me and my friend very much at odds because I believe we think inherently differently on the way humans work. I think we both find humans to be naturally good, but I more easily overlook the times human do bad to embrace the times human do good while they are the reverse.

I will lean towards capitalism because I like the individualistic approach while still having great faith that more times than not humans will do good.

Dad : You will find there are several different version of capitalism as an economic and political ideology.

Me : But my friend leans towards socialism because they have seen too many times that humanity can be bad and the system abused, so an economic plan for the welfare of all appeals more to them because they believe the opportunity for bad is inherently tempting.

It worries me that I may only find capitalism appealing because I think I myself will work well in it, or perhaps that is my privilege that leads me to favor capitalism. 

Dad : Humans are involved in all of these systems. There are no robots or divine forces that will be kind to everyone if only we let them.

Socialism relies on good governance to work. It can be as poorly applied as capitalism.

Me : True.

Dad : Capitalism often maximizes freedom of the individual, which allows individuals to flourish more than other systems, but also allows individuals fail more than other systems. It can also lead to unhealthy balances of power or wealth that can twist the system into actually being intrinsically unfair. This is likely because capitalism is a near perfect theory in an ‘unbounded’ system (resources and people and space are limitless), but when applied more practically to the bounded systems we actually live in it needs some regulation and constraint. (My own personal theory - might be complete B.S.)

Me : Don’t sell yourself too short, it’s the observation of peers that make a theory sound.

--- 

Quote of the Day : From the Classic Doctor Who Series, in the final episode of the Castrovalva. 

The Master, to the people he has created - “You do not have the will to do it.” 

The People he made, responds with - “You may have made us, Man of Evil, but we are free.” 

*Proceeds to swing on a chandelier and break both the Masters machine and plan.* 

--- 

Food and more reading for thought : https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/economics/ 

Actually forget every other post about “primal” feelings and actions, the most connected to my early hominid ancestors i have ever felt in my LIFE is when slowly following an increasingly panicked sheep. I believe that slowly following ungulates is the most primally human activity in existence

Christian Dior 2021 Spring Couture

PSA: Today is #MentalHealthAction Day! Just leaving these here for you.

4 super easy actions you can take right now:

Step 1: Go through your own self-love checklist - maybe add meditation, listening to a favorite song, watching a funny video, taking a deep breath and a stretch break, looking into counseling, reaching out to a friend, or asking for help!

Step 2: Browse through our mental health playlist on Tiktok for tips

Step 3: Visit and share our Get Help page with resources from over 1,000 organizations in 30+ countries, making it one of the most comprehensive databases for LGBTQ+ youth in the world.

Step 4: Remember that no matter what tough thing you’re going through right now…it gets better. 💜