added post about fort pickens and pubbed safety third

1 files changed, 80 insertions, 42 deletions

diff --git a/scratch.txt b/scratch.txt
index 2040640..75501cc 100644
--- a/scratch.txt
+++ b/scratch.txt
@@ -215,6 +215,83 @@ Since I first read Shop Class I have decided it’s better to go down swinging.
 # Stories to Tell
 # jrnl
 
+## Gone Fishin
+
+Every morning when I step outside I am greeted by a chorus of Ospreys circling in the glint of the rising sun. There are between four and six of them, depending on the day. They spend their days fishing, building nests, and fighting. Every evening, sitting out by the fire as dusk turns to darkness, we hear them winding down their day, circling until they settle into roosts in a dead trees around us, the females returning to their nests. 
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-12_174659_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3383" class="picwide" />
+
+The osprey is a consummate fisherman. Spend any time casting a line into the surf along the gulf of Mexico and you will see them. You will see them come along, hover for a few minutes, not far from wherever your line is, and then they'll drop down like a rock falling out of the sky and snatch a fish before heading inland again. Meanwhile you will sweat in the humid sun all afternoon and not get a bite.
+
+The Osprey has been here far longer than humans. The Osprey will probably be here long after we have retreated. The Osprey doesn't get sunburns. If it gets hot it doesn't complain about it. It's willing to live just about anywhere. It loves old dead trees, but it'll settle for the top of telephone poles, collapsing radio towers, even the 1970s-inspired Pensacola Beach welcome sign. 
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-07_131029_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3419" class="picwide" />
+
+Osprey's always make me feel like I could catch a fish. We carry quite a few fishing poles on the roof of the bus, but I rarely get them down. It's some combination of sloth and fear of failure. But those damn Ospreys. If they can do it we have to try.
+
+The weather was pretty near perfect. Sunny, but not too hot. Enough breeze to stir up waves for the kids to play in and get the Pompano out running. Or so they say. Maybe for other people the Pompano come out. Our friend John caught two in the time we were there. We caught zero. 
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-07_152732_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3375" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-07_150322_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3374" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-09_161424_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3378" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-07_150303_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3373" class="picwide" />
+
+The problem is that we are not serious enough about fishing. The Osprey is single minded, maniacal even, about fishing. If you want the rewards you have to put in the time. We don't put in the time. We'd rather lie around reading and playing in the surf. We reap the rewards of that, which are numerous, but fresh fish is not one of them. If we want fish, we have to be more like the osprey, focused.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-16_133050_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3389" class="picwide" />
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-16_132451_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3388" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-16_132325_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3387" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-16_145252_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3390" class="picwide" />
+</div>
+
+The one time we did hook something we didn't even know it. When Lilah went to reel in the line, as I was taking the image above, I noticed she was having trouble. We were using a 5 oz sinker, which none of us were used to, so I thought maybe it was that. But finally she said "Dad, I can't get it in, it feels like there's something on it". I came over and took the pole and started to reel it in. It felt like the hook was snagged on a log. I have never felt anything that big on a line before. I didn't even have the drag set for something that big (I'd switched from a lighter line and forgotten all about the drag setting). 
+
+Luckily a fellow fisherman nearby came over and while I kept tension on the line, he ratcheted down the drag and I started reeling in. Whatever it was had run quite a ways out before we noticed it. It took a few minutes to even get it anywhere near shore. Once it got into the surf though, it must have charged the shore, or somehow managed to get the hook out of its mouth. The line went slack before we ever saw what it was. Giant red fish? Possibly. Definitely too big to be a Pompano. Could have been a huge ray, in which case I'm glad it got off. Either way now the kids, especially Lilah, have a good story about the one that got away. I feel like that is a kind of necessary initiation into fishing. 
+
+Having failed to catch dinner we headed across the bay to [Joe Patti's wholesale seafood](https://joepattis.com/joe-pattis-seafood-and-our-history/) to buy dinner. We'd driven by it several times going between Fort Pickens and Big Lagoon. It's hard to miss, there's a life-size viking vessel out front. But sometimes as an outsider it's hard to tell the legit from the tourist trap. I'd always kind of assumed it was the latter, but our friend John assured us it was legit. And that we had to try the Caribbean Grouper. He was right. About both.
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-15_133738_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3386" class="picwide" />
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-15_132844_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3384" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-15_133105_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3385" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+We bought a mess of Caribbean Grouper and Royal Red shrimp. If you've never had Royal Reds, which are only really found in the Florida Panhandle and along the Mississippi/Alabama coast, they're very different than ordinary shrimp. As the name implies they're deep reddish pink and they taste like lobster. We had a huge seafood cookout. Never let one getting away stop your seafood fest.
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-07_175029_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3376" class="picwide caption" />
+
+Fishing slacked off even more after we added boogie boards to the list of things we don't have room for. They've proved very well-loved though and they definitely take precedence over fishing most days. Can't say I blame the kids for that, when the waves are big enough I'd rather be out there surfing too. Osprey don't surf.
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-10_140713_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3380" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-10_141326_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3381" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-11_130530_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3382" class="picwide" />
+
+Then the weather took a turn. It was my fault. I donated the heater. It happens every year. We buy a heater in December or so and then we donate it come spring. There's just no room for a heater so the sooner we get rid of it, the better. But almost every year as soon as I take it to the donation center, the weather turns cold. This year was probably the worst -- it dipped down below freezing for two nights in a row. We have plenty of blankets, and just turning on the stove to make tea and coffee in the morning makes the bus plenty warm, so it'a minor discomfort. But someone has to get up and turn on the stove.
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-09_173839_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3379" class="picwide" />
+
+With it too cold to swim, we took to playing games, climbing trees, and reading books, sometimes at the same time.  
+
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-18_171601_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3392" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-18_165300_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3391" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-08_173457_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3377" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-20_133751_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3394" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-20_133546_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3393" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2023/2023-03-20_140834_fort-pickens.jpg" id="image-3395" class="picwide" />
+
+Part of the reading in a tree comes from reading Sterling North's *[Rascal](https://bookshop.org/p/books/rascal-sterling-north/7815241?ean=9780142402528)*, which was one of my favorite books as a kid. Sterling and Rascal spend some afternoons reading in a tree, with Rascal lying in the tree on his belly. Lilah reports it is relaxing and comfortable. She recommends it to everyone.
+
+I recommend *Rascal* to everyone. Grab a copy from your local library. It is well worth re-reading as an adult. For those unfamiliar it is Sterling North's account of a year of his boyhood in small, rural Wisconsin town in 1918, which for that year he shares with a pet raccoon named Rascal. It's a world that hasn't existed since that time, but the book somehow manages to balance nostalgia with piercing, sometimes heartbreaking doses of reality. There's no changing reality, one is saving Sterling. The world must be dealt with. It cannot be changed, it cannot be shouted at, it just is and Sterling has to deal with that.
+
+It's made me realize that a big part of why we live this way is to try, as much as possible, to let our kids inhabit the sort of world young Sterling lives in, surrounded by nature, able to do what what they please with their time, but also knowing that the world is full of real responsibilities and no one is [coming to save them](https://luxagraf.net/essay/the-cavalry-isnt-coming). To remain innocent requires facing up to reality, not hiding from it. I know that the world of *Rascal* is hard to find these days, but I think it's worth chasing the idea still there, even if, in the end, it should get away from us.
+
+
+
 ## Renaissance Fair
 
 One of the things I find most peculiar about our current age is our utter disregard for the past. That's only true in the realm of mainstream culture though. Step outside the increasingly tunneled vision media presents us and you find that most people love the past. They love visiting it. They love learning about it. Most of all they love pretending to be in it.
@@ -1653,6 +1730,8 @@ Despite the gas pumps, it seems safe to say that, living as we do in the bus, we
 
 # essays
 
+We saw sticker on the sign to the Henry Miller library that said, "Safety Third". This became our antidote to the endless rules of public spaces. It was a good family joke. Whenever we do something other people might frown on, one of us will invariably shout, "safety third!" before plunging ahead. But safetyism is a real problem that we all struggle with. I think you beat the safety game by playing a different one. You play the personal responsibility and risk management game. You go slow, you learn your limits, but then you keep playing. You push your limits. You do things that scare you because they also call to you. You keep expanding and growing. You can read more in the essay [*Safety Third*](https://luxagraf.net/essay/safety-third).
+
 ## Do It Yourself
 
 It’s probably cheaper and easier to buy most things, but when I can I’d rather make things myself. What else are you going to do with your life if you aren’t making stuff? Watch TV? Stop buying stuff and hiring people for everything. Give yourself a chance to solve the problem first. Contrary to what it says on the label, professionals and experts aren’t necessary. They’ll do it faster and better than you will, but you’ll learn and improve every time you do it yourself.
@@ -1660,47 +1739,6 @@ It’s probably cheaper and easier to buy most things, but when I can I’d rath
 
 ## Safety Third
 
-If you land on luxagraf.net on an odd day of the month, you might notice the little tag line under the site title is "safety third". This comes from a sticker we saw on a pole outside the [Henry Miller Library](https://henrymiller.org) in Big Sur, California. Miller no doubt would have agreed. He might have ranked safety even lower in his decision calculus. I often do.
-
-<img src="images/2023/2017-11-28_161158_monterey.jpg" id="image-3319" class="picfull" />
-
-Every time we go to any sort of government park -- state, national, county, city, you name it -- we get handed a set of rules. I can tell which level of government land we are on by the number of rules, the more rules the higher level government. These rules are invariably couched in terms of safety. 
-
-They range from the ridiculous to the obvious, but almost never tell anyone anything they didn't already know. As we all know, these rules aren't in fact for anything other than heading off lawsuits. Go abroad to less litigious cultures (like Mexico) and you'll discover there are far fewer rules. 
-
-The Safety Third sticker became our antidote to the endless rules of public spaces. It was a good family joke. Whenever we do something other people might frown on, one of us will invariably shout, "safety third!" before plunging ahead. 
-
-Then the pandemic happened.
-
-Regardless of your opinion on the response to the disease, one overarching truth struck me: a very vocal and powerful segment of our culture believes that safety trumps everything. More to the point, they took it for granted that the rest of us would agree that nothing is worth risking life for, absolutely nothing. 
-
-To my mind this wasn't actually very surprising. It's the natural outcome of an obsession with safety. Our lives were already littered with the tools of safety -- rules, warning labels, helmets, straps, leashes, railings, walls, soaps, disinfectants, goggles, and so on. Who will object to throw a few more on top? 
-
-Turns out, quite a few of us. But I am not so much concerned with any new levels of safety mania, I'd prefer to cut it off at the root.
-
-I know I don't want to live that way. I don't want my kids to live that way. I suspect most of you don't either. 
-
-<img src="images/2023/2023-01-21_160211_pensacola-museums.jpg" id="image-3316" class="picfull caption" />
-
-Safety is an endless positive feedback loop. The safer you think your are, the less risk you are willing to take. Once you get on that treadmill, it's nearly impossible to get off without knocking the whole thing over. People get trapped. Witness Howard Hughes, an extreme example, but an illuminating one. Cultures too seem to get trapped, with ours currently steaming up that lofty mountain of self-imposed isolation and madness that Howard Hughes pioneered.
-
-Before I get too deep it's probably necessary to point out that if safety is at one end of a spectrum and reckless idiocy is at the other, in rejecting an obsession with safety I am not suggesting the antidote is reckless idiocy. The opposite of one idea is invariably another bad idea. Sanity is in the middle.
-
-There is a third option between the timidity born of fear safety obsession and cliff diving in Acapulco. It's called thinking for yourself. You can find a balance point between paranoia and recklessness, recognizing that other people will find different balance points than you and that's okay. 
-
-This is what I mean when I say safety third. Not that you should be reckless, but that thinking of safety first isn't going to lead to a meaningful life. When you come to the end of your life, whenever that may be, I am confident that you are not going to be thinking "I wish I had been safer". Bonnie Ware's famous book, *The Top Five Regrets of the Dying* has [not one mention of safety](https://bronnieware.com/regrets-of-the-dying/).
-
-Life is not safe. The sooner you accept this and move on, the happier you will be. Just getting out of bed is fraught with risk. Ask Hughes. He eventually stopped doing it. So if it's safety you really want, that's probably the way to go. 
-
-Still, I'd like to propose though that things aren't actually nearly as risky as our ingrained safety-first mentality might make it seem. You may have noticed you weren't born wearing a helmet. In fact your skull was literally smashed as you where born and yet here you are. You then grew to have a reasonably strong skull, similar models managed to help the rest of your species survive lo these last 400,000 or so years. And, while you weren't born with knee and elbow pads, you were born with some pretty remarkable joints and an almost Wolverine-like ability to heal thanks to a very sophisticated immune system. All of which is to say that nature, god, whatever you like to attribute this state of affairs to, has provided you with a pretty good starting point. You're got a good system for avoiding and dealing with injury should you miscalculate risk in some way.
-
-Proponents of the safety-industrial complex will here likely note that you weren't born with a mountain bike or internal combustion engine at your disposal, nor did we evolve with those sorts of risks, and therefore all the defenses of nature are useless. This is true to a point, and I think it's an important objection -- we *have* made the world less safe for ourselves. Yet here we are. Enough of us somehow hanging on, just walking around breathing and driving and doing stuff and not dying. 
-
-Ironically the one time it might be worth considering so safety, for example, a helmet, is driving 65 MPH down a highway. Yet no one does, and, more to the point, even the most ardent of safety-first supporters will look at you like an idiot if you strap on a helmet before climbing in their Prius.
-
-It'd be easy here to point out some of the many other ironies a safety-first mentality leads to, for example how padded playgrounds actually lead to children taking greater risks because the padding literally cushions them from life's little learing bruises, which then spectacularly backfires when they encounter the rest of life, which lacks padding. The whole reason you need to get hurt playing on the playground is so you come to understand what hurts, what you can do, what you can't do, and how to use the information to calculate which new activities you undertake might be risky and what you can do to mitigate that risk. You don't understand risk until you take some, and earlier you do that the less painful your failures will be.
-
-But then our safety mania was never rooted in logic, it's not even rooted in a concern for safety at all. As Covid showed so starkly our safety obsession is rooted in a fear of death. 
 
 It seems axiomatic that fear of death is a natural outcome of materialist beliefs. If life is all there is, that is the material world is all there is, then death is the end. And no one likes endings. For our institutions and their leaders, death is the worst possible thing because it is the end. It is, from their point of view, the ultimate failure of man.
 
@@ -3351,4 +3389,4 @@ Wayland was smoother, less graphically glitchy, but meh, whatever. Ninety-five p
 
 That said, I did take all of Sway's good ideas and try as best I could to replicate them in Openbox. So I still have the same keyboard shortcuts and honestly, aside from the fact that Tint2 has more icons than Waybar, and creating "desktops" isn't dynamic, I can't tell much difference. Even my battery life seems to have improved in X11, and that's why I switched to Wayland in the first place, was the better battery life I was getting. Apparently that's not true with this laptop (a Lenovo Flex 5, as opposed to the X270, which does get better battery life under Wayland).
 
-Anyway, there you have it. X11 for the win. At least for me. For now.
+pnyway, there you have it. X11 for the win. At least for me. For now.