Everyday Junglist
Bio
Practicing mage of the natural sciences (Ph.D. micro/mol bio), Thought middle manager, Everyday Junglist, Boulderer, Cat lover, No tie shoelace user, Humorist, Argan oil aficionado. Occasional LinkedIn & Facebook user
Stories (555/0)
Quit Thinking About Stuff
No doubt about it that taken as a whole American’s simply think way too much. From our top level executive leadership right down to the average man on the street, people are spending way too much time deep in thought. Instead of acting decisively with little regard for the consequences like a real American would, they are wasting their time contemplating, considering, and analyzing situations to try and determine an optimal course of action that would have the most benefit overall while at the same time minimizing the negative consequences. Sounds like socialism to me, maybe even communism. Certainly a slippery slope to one of those two. I, myself, have made the case that we should quit trying to remember stuff, but I didn’t have the guts to go as far as I should have, and to suggest a reduction or perhaps even elimination of all thought. We need more bold thinking like this on the pages of this very website. Oops, I said thinking when I should have said acting. Obviously very little thought was put into this piece which is exactly as it should be. Poorly thought through but executed boldly and decisively. Now if we could just get this sort of leadership in the oval office we might be on to something. Instead we have a bunch of smarty pants thinking about everything all the time instead of what they should be doing, which is doing stuff. Doing stuff without thinking, like I do. Constantly. Sort of like how I am writing this without thinking about it, not even at all. I just sit at the keyboard and do it. No thinking, just typing, typing, click, clack, click….what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, doing stuff is hard. The worst thing you can do with things that are hard is think about them too much. The worst. Just start doing them. So go do some stuff right now and you will find yourself as popular as that guy or gal who did that thing you like, and most importantly you will feel whole inside at last. You can finally tell your parents who never really loved you like they loved your brother/sister to go to hell then drive off to Malibu in the sunset with your one true love and live in the desert. I guess. See how easy that was. Stuff done, brain non engaged, mission accomplished. lol!
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Confessions
A Cryogenic New Year
2021 was a stressful year for myself personally and the world in general. What with Covid-19, Joe Biden, and a whole bunch of other stressful things dominating every news cycle it felt like I was wide awake in fear and/or anger the entire year. These feelings were likely exacerbated by the huge quantities of crystal meth and cocaine I consumed over the course of the year. Taken together, all those stressful happenings plus my meth/coke addiction conspired to make 2021 one of the least restful years of my life. I have vowed that things will be different in 2022. In fact I have decided to make it my New Year's resolution that I have a much more relaxed and rested 2022 than my hectic and overstressed 2021. To that end I have conceived of a brilliant plan. For the entirety of the year 2022 I will be frozen in carbonite in a deep cryogenic slumber from which I shall not be awaked until Jan 1, 2023 is upon us.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Futurism
Lift Up Your Writing With the Power of Redundancy
The Most Redundant Words to Delete From Your Writing The consensus of opinion these days seems to be that redundancy in writing is bad. While it may be the general consensus it is not an absolute certainty that this is the case. In fact it might possibly be the case that redundancies are more superior to other methods of emphasis when it comes to getting and keeping your readers attention, despite what Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer says in the above linked piece.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Humans
Bacteriophage and Probiotics for Pathogen Control in Food Production Facilities
Introduction and background In recent years the use of bacteriophage (viruses that specifically bind to, infect, and ultimately kill bacteria) and probiotics (mixtures of what are often called ‘good’ bacteria) to control the food pathogens Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. and shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in food production facilities has become increasingly commonplace. The fear of foodborne disease outbreaks and the devastating economic consequences for the companies associated with them has sparked a “we are willing to try anything” mentality among food producers in every major industry sector. This has led to the implementation of some questionable practices without a full understanding of the potential for unintended consequences. The intent of this article is not to impugn the good intentions of the companies and people involved in promoting and using these newer approaches for pathogen control. They are (almost) all motivated by the same desire to do the right thing and protect the public health. That said, in their zeal to do something, it may be that some have moved too quickly, and it is possible that at least two of these newer (newer in this particular application at least) technologies (bacteriophage and probiotics) have the potential to do more harm than good. Going further, the potential for unintended harm is so great that a moratorium on their further use may be warranted until we have a much better understanding of the potential consequences of the adoption of these technologies on such a wide scale. That will require the generation of much more data than currently exists which proves their safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the food microbiology and greater scientific community.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Longevity
Why "Words" is 2021 Word of the Year
It seemed like you could not go anywhere this year without seeing words everywhere. In fact you could not read or hear anything about anything all year without them. There were some things that you could see or feel without them, but really when you think about it you still needed word(s) to describe that you saw or felt them, so they probably were still needed in those instances too. In any event, words were freakin everywhere, and that is why I have designated “words” my word of the year.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Journal
Can We Please Stop Calling Our Jobs (Or Side Jobs) Hustles?
I appreciate the ever evolving nature of our language as much as anyone. In fact I have written frequently about language including not one but two articles specifically on the topic of precision in language, and why it is so important. In those articles I go out of my way to note that language is not some static affair and that meanings of words do shift and change with time. So, I get it that the word hustle has somewhat recently come to be applied to just about anything someone does to make money. On the one hand I can appreciate the association of the word with work. It suggest an aggressive attitude, a let’s get it done quickly approach, etc. On the other hand it brings a lot of negative baggage along for the ride. First, it suggests a lack of seriousness about whatever endeavor it is being applied to describe. A hustle is more like a hobby that makes money then a job. Thus, like a hobby, one’s dedication to it might change in intensity over time. It is transient or temporary. As an example, just like collecting baseball cards used to be your passionate hobby, writing is your hobby now, but who knows what it might be next week? Why would I want to pay someone money if that is the attitude they take toward the job I am paying them to do? Even if writing really is a hobby for you, and you don’t really take it all that seriously, yet you have the temerity to expect people to pay you for it, why rub it in their face? A great question I surely would have no idea about.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Journal
To the Women Whom I Give Free Fitness and Health Advice
Author's preface. This piece is a satirical work of fiction based entirely upon an original story entitled "To the Men Giving Me Fitness and Health Advice" by Taru Annina Liikanen and published here on Vocal.media. It can be found here. As I read that story I began to wonder in my head what the men whom Miss Liikanen was writing about are actually thinking as they annoy, pester, bother, and otherwise make uncomfortable various women at gyms across the country and around the world. This post attempts to get inside the mind of that man and the result is something both disturbing and hilarious in equal measure.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Longevity
SARS-CoV-II: A New Hope
Author's preface: Full disclosure. The lead author of the vaccine efficacy paper described below is my current wife and she is a co-author on the manufacturing paper. I did not contribute in any way to either work except perhaps for occasionally acting as a sounding board for my wife's many brilliant ideas. I have said this before and I will say it again here. Not many people get a chance to even meet their heroes. I am so very lucky to have been able to marry mine. Way to go baby. Finally, I am quite proud of the Star Wars reference I managed to work into the title of this article. Very clever. lol!
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in The Swamp
The Voice in My Head When I Write
Recently I have started paying much closer attention to the voice in my head when I write. If you are a writer you probably know what I am talking about, or maybe it’s different for you. For me, the voice is the one that reads the words (‘out loud’) in my head as they move from my fingers, through the keys, to my screen. Depending on the topic of whatever particular writing project I am tackling at the time that voice varies considerably. It moves in tone from haranguing lecturer to sarcastic asshole to gentle comforter, and everything in between. Of course finding the words to match the voice is the real trick, or is it the other way around really? The hard part is finding the voice, the right voice for the right application, and then channeling that voice to the page in a way that conveys what the spoken word can, but in (at least) one less dimension. Without the spoken voice and body language that goes with it communicating what you really want to convey, what you really think, can be what feels like an impossible task. The joy of writing for me comes on those few occasions when that task is managed effortlessly and the words on the page and the voice in my head align just so. When that happens the missing dimension(s) disappears, and it is like I am there in the screen with the words talking directly to the reader. Like I have left a part of myself on the page, an imprint of my actual presence, but without all the messiness that comes with physical interactions between strangers. I get to say my peace, the stranger (reader) can take it or leave it, love it or hate it. In either case I did what I set out to do, and they got stuck with a little taste of my voice in their head if only for a brief moment in time. Imagine living with that voice for your entire life. That would suck now wouldn’t it? lol!
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Confessions
Your Mind May Not Even Be a Biological Neural Net
My Mind Is Just A Neural Net The important thing to remember about a biological neural network, and one that is often overlooked, is that it is a theoretical functional and possibly structural component of a brain, specifically a human and some non human animals brains. In my view it is something of a stretch to call it a theoretical component given the relative paucity of hard data in support of it, however, I will grant it is stronger than a hypothetical function/structure at least. What has been described in the above linked article is an artificial neural network from which the author has gone on to philosophize about various aspects of the mind and mind/body problem. The cart has been put way before the horse as it were as no where has it been established that an artificial neural network is anything at all like a mind. We do not even know what a mind is like (at least in so far as the existence and structure/function of hypothesized/theorized neural networks). To suggest that by mimicking/aping/copying/taking as a model a biological neural network (which remember is a theoretical/hypothetical thing and may not be an accurate representation at all, and could in fact be completely wrong) with an artificial version, we can replicate or have replicated intelligence or learning or any aspect of a human or non human animal mind is absurd. It is another aspect of the compulogical fallacy and it is patently ridiculous on its face.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Futurism
ET Wake Up
Of course I had to write something about this paper. It has three of my favorite things in the title (hypothesis, an obscure word used in a new way, and an H.P. Lovecraft reference that was also used in a Metallica song), and it is about one of my favorite topics, aliens. As an fyi, I copy-pasted liberally from Wikipedia for some of the background stuff. I did make some half-hearted attempt to substitute out a few words and rearrange some things. I’m lazy alright, so sue me*.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Futurism
I am Crapping My Pants in Fear About Amazon's Alexa
Author's preface. This parody article was published back in 2019. Obviously that makes a tech focused piece like this one very much dated. I still think it holds up OK and is pretty damn funny. You really have to read the original upon which it is based (linked below) to get the full effect.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in 01