Wibbly-wobbly Time

I was beginning to draft an entry on Self-Defense, and then realized I hadn't drafted a post in nearly two months. My attention reoriented to time qua time.

Zug Zug

Time is yet another part of our world that we have turned into orcish industry.

... or ELSE!

Once upon a time the seasons meant more than "party inside".... "maybe party outside." I can't discount that  individual persons recognize the quality of the change of seasons, or "what kind of day it is." But hardly ever do we socially, collectively recognize it. I venture the claim: only when we are forced by hazard to we recognize it: extreme wind, severe drought, heavy snow/rain.

Abandoned Highway in Atlanta, GA
.       .       .
(2.6 inches of snow)

I think this is a conditioning of culture. We don't have to be this way, but the mindset is still there for many. Playing the detective, I have my own suspect: Absolutist Quantification.

Time and Space

Not my image - save by Predestination Paradox

In case the graph isn't quite as clear,"Absolutist Quantification" means, specifically, "if I can't count it in number, it's all whatever/personal/relative/subjective/you-own-damn-problem-and-don't-bother-'us'-with-it."


The issue I find, here, is the neglect of the other set of the properties of time. We are so accustomed to a quantifiable measurement and physically scientific understanding of time, we fail to remember that there are the qualitative aesthetics of time and its moral vectors.

...ooew. Yeah, I'm also going to need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too.

My objection would seem very namely-pambsy...

A Namely-Pambsy Heptathalon

... if we were robots. But we aren't. We are ensouled creatures with the faculty to value time, and its non-ordinal properties.

What does all this "quality of time" talk have to do with my attention shift from "I haven't posted in a while," to "time is just wibbly-wobbly?" Because the production of this entry is emergent. Time has elapsed, our bodies have aged in either maturity or molecular decay. But it is ridiculous to say, "time has elapsed, therefore more ideas have been born."

Think about pregnancy. When will the child emerge from the womb? Does a clock in the birth room determine that (if only, ladies?); or, does the time provide opportunity for the certain conditions to manifest (hormone levels, fetal development, physiological movement)?

I can't say "the quantity of time" has no value. That would be both foolish and errant. But I can say, "it's not the only quality we need to observe...." because, it isn't.

.       .       .

Though, if it were, it would probably look a lot like this:

Dungeoneer Dream .......... ..........Homeowner Nightmare:

"Explosive Gases, Monstrous Furnaces, Sewers, & Dug Earth"

The past 24 hours have been engaging the crises of not just one, but two very dangerous gas leaks in my home.I have read, "all that is needed, to survive anything, is simply to know how." I share this with you, that it might not be needed, but should it be, you will not be found wanting.

Before you read, consider, right now, buying insurance for your service lines (gas/water/sewage)- especially if you have an older home. It takes 30 days to kick in, so you can't just buy it right before an emergency. Near the end, you'll understand why I say this.


The Rundown:

My mother thought she smelled gas. I couldn't find it, but didn't attend the consideration too much because she can smell the colors of M&M while blindfolded. ... probably during a windstorm, even. 

In walks the babysitter. She smells it, too. So I walk outside to make a phone call. I re-enter. NOW I smell it. A strong odor, like a wall of methane. Undeniable. I take the kids to my mom's house for the babysitter.

I call the gas company.

Practical Walk-through:
 
Before I talk about anything else, let me be clear on two things I didn't do, and one thing I shouldn't have.

1. Do. not. use. you. cell. phone. in. a. gas. infused. house. 
2. Do. not. flip. ANY. switches. even. to. turn. them. off.*
2. Do. not. look. for. the. source. of. the. gas. you. know. you. smell.

When someone tells you they definitely smell gas, do not attempt to find the source. If able, leave the house. Call the gas company. If you undoubtedly smell it, this is the time to use the "gas emergency" phone number.
Once you have avoided these pitfalls (step one and two: Reducing Hazard),

4. Call the gas company.

Be clear, concise, and confident about what you sensed. They will determine the threat themselves, either by the phone (to be not an emergency) or to send a technician to directly assess the issue in/about your home. Remember that asterisk (*) I put up on step 2. The guy on the phone may ask you to turn off electric heaters if you have them in. MAY. If you have them on or just plugged in, ask if you should do anything, he may say yes or no.

5. Make your 48-List & Grab your 72-Hour Kit.

Assuming the gas company is sending someone out. Immediately begin making a list of everything you might need in the next 48 hours. This is also a time to fill your gas tank. This will make sense in about 6 steps.

Additionally: If your rent, call your landlord if you haven't done this. If you don't rent, get your insurances, mortgage, bank cards, hidden money, etc..


6. Hospitality.

A worker from the gas company will arrive. He ought to have a CGI (detector). Remember, be polite, but also, mind the chit-chat, he is there to due work and to avoid potentially very dangerous and volatile disaster. Be polite, but don't talk his ear off. And if he interrupts you, let him, it's important.

You likely will be back in the house with him. Be prepared to snag, within a literal 5 minutes: 300 seconds, to grab all those immediate things (including: Insurance Papers, Hidden Money, ID and Bank cards, mortgage papers or what have you).

7. Ask Questions, but don't nag.

You should know what's going on. But when you ask a question, if you don't immediately understand: think and process the information. The guy that is there has maps to search, civil engineering to investigate, local terrain to survey, a new house to investigate. And, then, he have to communicate that to his supervisor or dispatcher on the phone... who, by the way, isn't there to see what he sees.

8. The One Call (811).
If there is an emergency outside your house, either because you reported it, or they discover it, they will likely make a "one call" where the Avengers of civic crews assemble. Water lines get marked, gas lined, get scouted, street crews may appear. They will seek out service line joints

9. Dowsing Test

10. Exploration

If you haven't had it resolved this far: a crew will have to drill and dig the street. They need to know where it is coming from. They may also be testing the water lines to make sure it isn't in the water main, or the sewer, to make sure it hasn't gotten in there either. They may visit your neighbors' homes! You may want to be with them so your neighbors now it's not a hoax.

11. Liability- fancy talk for "who has to pay for this?"

If you are like some people, your first response may be "how much is that going to cost?!" First things first; safety. This is natural gas. It will simply explode. It can't not be dealt with. But it may not be your problem... or may be.... or may only be part your problem.

How do you know?

I found this diagram helpful to share. It is for a water line, but some gas lines work like this, too:

Though, some other pipe line lengths may be different, and different companies in different municipalities and states may have variance. It may look more like these water or sewage lines!

or even, if you are very lucky, like this one:

12. Long Haul 

If you happen to personally know your utilities service man (chances are you won't), you may feel comfortable to leave the area when they begin the work. Talk to the utilities company representative there before just making an am-scray.

If no one is comfortable leaving your home and all possession within open without a guard, unlocked because they will need to go in and out of your home and cannot take responsibility for guarding it from other people like security, you really ought to stick around. If it is hot, have something cool. If it is cold, get something hot. Get gas in your car. you may be waiting for an 12 hour process, just to be able to go back in your home. It may take, at least, 8 of those hours just know what the issue is.

13. Clean Up

Once the issue is fixed, any yard, sidewalk, or street that has been torn up needs to be replaced. If it is the street service line / main line, the street needs done pronto. If it is your service line, you may be given the option to leave it open, temporarily, with the materials (earth, clay, concrete) left behind to resolve with the plumber (a plumber will repair a house service line) later. This is your responsibility, civilly and financially. If it wasn't your line, the company will put it back together. It may happen in a couple steps: one to just get it cleaned up for then, and then later to re-finish the job.


14. Resolve

Gas will need to be turned back on once everything is safe. If there is any interior appliance or plumbing work, it can begin and be completed after this point by those respective professionals. You ought to call them a.s.a.p.



The Secret Lesson:

There was a secret lesson, today. Strength grows in strength. The worst thing we can do is to separate the coals which stoke the fire and let their ember light diminish, exposed to the cold darkness- this is followed closely by another pernicious deed: those with strength in the truth withhold it from those who are in need.

I got through it with a few good, honest men. My father has passed a few years now, but others pushed me in the right direction, and one in particular coached me in like, like he would his own sons. For this I am most grateful.




*Disclaimer: Not a Know It All. This could be entirely wrong in your situation. If so, disregard this. This is simply knowledge garnered from my own life experience.*

"Noble Savage"

In the midst of repairing my wife's coffee frother, today (which was knocked into the sink some days ago and has been corroding the innards....which needed re-soldered to.... work....), I took a look at the title of the blog. I asked, "is this misleading? Will people get it?" I am spending all this time to communicate, not to form a soliloquy. Maybe I ought to be clear.

I worry that this is the image that comes to mind when “Noble Savage” is read:

This image typifies a romantic sentiment of "Man in a state of nature is true man." This is an icon so prominently on display, today. The victory of this image is near total. Most people of our age fail to recognize that it should even be contested. This is also "man in his 'original' desires is most purely man." This is said in contemporary thoughts: "what you are born with you are," meant in the twisted, don't strive for else," way.

But that's not what I want to consider. I want the phantasms of something different to run through the mind. Something that many might relegate, to cryptozoology (crypto-anthropology?).

The "Noble Savage" I want to conjure for you resembles this:

[The Mythical Cimmerians]

And not this:

[As much as I do love this movie]

I am not seeking the model of "beastial man with all desires trouncing through him as good." I am seeking the icon for valor, wisdom, and love.You might ask, how does the first one symbolize that. In the first "a mean, old father-tyrant" holds his "frighten child" at sword point.

Let's look a little more closely at that scene.

[In macro-zoom]

The son, look him over. This isn't the fear of terror. This is the fear of confusion, the apprehension at the edge of the veil, the bewilderment of mystery, with respect for it. He is caught by surprise. And why is that? Because there is something strange, something... unexpected. See his father.


Look into the father's eyes. There is not hate. 
        There is study.
Look at his hands. There is not anger, or rage. 
        There is firm gentleness- the same present when he first held his son.
Look at his sword. There is not the blade of war, edge held broadside.
        There is a blade of peace, one of its edges facing heaven, the other, earth, joining them together- illuminating, guiding, showing the way.

Here, we can look and say, "here is one who sees things as they are, knows their ways." But that's not enough, that, alone, makes one nothing more than a jaded mandarin. The noble savage is an ideal for me  where I can say all those things, and then, with the same breath, "no duplicity is found in him."

This is the noble savage.

Everything else that is apart from this way is brutish, ignoble barbarism. The regular kind of savage made of cruel tyranny and selfish evil.

Challenge Accepted: Beard Conditioner

Being challenged is as good a time as any to start a blog. But for real, not like the last five times I putz around with the idea. In all fairness, the third attempt was actually successful, but I changed my business so I discontinued that blog. This first post is to answer the imperative to post pictures of my initiative on beard conditioning.

My initial pictures are not raw beard after a washing, it has a small bit of conditioning in it from this morning, and has gone through the day. Nonetheless, the beard looks like after my usual coconut-tea leaf oil conditioning.

The before pictures:

 

I am nearly out of the coconut oil based conditioner; but, I intend to revisit when I hit, "Awkward Phase II."
You can see well enough the mufti-directional, wiry "fuzziness" making a sort of halo effect about the beard.
I wanted something to really bring the edge of the beard. Something with greater cohesion for the beard. After some investigation (thanks Art of Manliness!), I decided to try Jojobo Oil (which brings me to another thank you: to the kind lady who gently corrected my pronunciation of Jojobo, from a misplaced English phonetics to the proper Spanish).

The conditioner mix is Jojobo and Eucalyptus. The proportions can be seen in the tools-of-the-trade:

So to properly investigate the difference, I used some witch hazel extract to dislodge the old conditioning, soap and water to detergent the beard and drain the diluted oils out, dried it, and brushed it out (would that I had boar hair than this synthetic bristling as you see above).

The Conclusion:

This challenge comes from over at Primal Happy Place. I lamented already having store bought lotions, so I couldn't justify making my own. But, I was inspired to follow up on my musing of yesterday: beard oil.  For now, the beard is only coming out of "Awkward Phase I," (more on the Awkward Phases, later) and the coconut oil base is don't keeping it together as well as I would like. In part, it's my hair: wavy, naturally, and doesn't-hold-my-natural-oil-or-store-bought-hair-conditioners-as-well-as-I-would-like. The only real solution for a solid look was beard oil. In this case: 1/5 Eucalyptus Essential Oil and 4/5 Jojobo Oil (which is actually about fifteen times more essential oil that aromatherapy would suggest... because who reads every single, tiny syllable before they do something that can't be undone).

The after pictures:

 

 

I think it is pretty clear that there is better form and less "halo fuzz" surrounding the beard. I'm going to stick with my over-incensed Jojobo for the time being.... though I may remake some with Cedarwood (which actually add strength and isn't just a smell) in the correct proportions, when the super-nice lady from Yareck's gets some in next Tuesday.