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Semiotics

by MAÔ, posted in Biohacking

It has to start somewhere,
It has to start sometime.

-Rage Against the Machine

I read a book years ago called Persuasion. I tried re-reading it last year, but didn’t get all the way through it this time. In 2005 I did. (Why I remember the year is not at all important.) In it, Cialidini covers various methods of subtle (and not-so-subtle) persuasive techniques to illicit responses.

Semiotics is the study of sign and symbols, and their use or interpretation. In a way, it’s about cultural norms, how they develop, and how they can be used creatively to illicit responses. It’s a single word representing an enormous concept.

I wasn’t aware of semiotics when I read Persuasion, but since I’ve made the connection and it’s been of interest to me since. Persuasive techniques are greatly enhanced if you understand the semiotics of someone’s life – the signs and symbols that trigger positive emotion. It can be religious, familial, or pop culture. But we are inundated with symbols every day, and more and more we become programmed to respond in certain ways.

For our brains, that’s a positive thing. We were historically able to look at a situation and gauge its safety and potential for satisfactory outcome. But now that can be used against us. If we’re unaware of someone setting us up by creating a sense of comfort, then we may do exactly what they want. And sometimes, the wrong people mean harm.

It isn’t that we have to walk around with a running dialogue of the semiotics of every single input we come across. It’s only we must be mindful that sometimes things aren’t what they seem to be.

For a more in-depth look at semiotics, review this sign salad article

Acknowledgements

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

There’s a page in the front of a book, where the author gives some form of credit or respect to those who have in some way aided or shaped the author’s life – giving way to writing this book, or just working in general. I’ve not published the book I set out to write ten years ago, but that one, when finished, will have acknowledgments of friends I’ve lost to premature deaths. Having just lost another, and not working on the book, I thought I’d post them here.

For Ryan, Martha, Jay, Julia, Steven & Sheila, Carl, Ian, Mindy, and Andy. Each was a light in my life, and I can’t think them enough.

 

Kondo

by MAÔ, posted in Organization

In my realm of time-suckery, I’ve been decluttering a house ala Kondo. It’s exhausting. When I’m not working, I’m decluttering. There’s quite literally stuff piled on every possible service in this house, because I’m emptying boxes, cabinets, drawers, and doors that had been closed off for years. Jimmy Hoffa may still be in one. I haven’t checked them all.

While doing the task, I’ve noticed I’ve had little energy for reading or writing. My mental capacities have been used up in decision making – Does this item bring me joy?

If the answer is no, it’s gone. But then it gets separated into donate, sell, or trash/recycle/shred. It seems as though I’ve spent 16 hours a day on this project, though I know that’s not possible. Not because I’m sleeping 8 hours a night, but because I know I can’t concentrate on any one thing for that long. And I’m tempted to just leave everything outside and let Dorian take it when it comes by.

However, the light is starting to appear at the end of the tunnel, and it is a joy-filled light free of unnecessary things.

Storms and stuff

by MAÔ, posted in Florida

There’s a hurricane peering down my coast. That almost sounds dirty.

Dorian, likely a Category 4 when it makes landfall in just over 24 hours. I’ve seen a lot of hurricanes. Thrown (or been to) a lot of hurricane parties. They don’t quite get me like they used to.

I like the rain. I like the seclusion. There’s a degree of simplicity when power’s lost, and all that can be done is by day or by candlelight; grill or camp fire.

Do I hope that it passes us by? Yes.

Do I mind roughing it for a few days if we lose power? Not at all.

Returning

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

The longer you wait to start something back up, the harder it can be to get it going. That’s been the case for my writing. Also some other things – yoga, reading, and decluttering, as examples.

Sometimes you get sidetracked. It happens. And it happens to everyone. No matter what the circumstance, or how long it’s been, just get back in there. Maybe you are out of the flow, and it takes longer to do what you had done before. Or you can’t do as much. But just try and get those muscles moving – those juices flowing. It feels good.

Will this be the push that gets me back in the swing? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the important thing is to try.

Doing the work

by MAÔ, posted in Work

You do what you do until you can’t do it anymore, and then you do something else.

It’s that simple. I’ve switched jobs often over the past few years, and am considering doing it again. Because it’s all about doing that which you can do, until you can’t.

Potential

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

We are all spinning caps. When we’re doing what we’re designed to – under perfect conditions – we’ll keep spinning forever. Living up to our potential.

When something is off, the cap will fall. We fail our potential.

The trick is reconfiguring ourselves to live up to that potential. To be our best selves. To be who we are designed to be.

 

The High Cost of Education

by MAÔ, posted in Reading

(I started this post before doing a monthly reading list, of which I am tardy on this month. But I left this sitting in drafts. My goal over the next month is to complete every draft that I’ve started and get it published on the blog. What you’ll see is that I have a problem with spending money on books, I have a lack of space with which to house all of my books, and I have a lack of time with which to read all of my books. So, about the same as any other book-lover all over the world.)

I’ve paid for an education on credit. No, not the degrees that I’ve eared (though the debt I’ve accrued in earning those is substantial), but I specifically speak about my love of books, or bibliophilia. And what an education. I can’t help but peruse the stacks at Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, or the countless used bookstores that I frequent. The musty smell, a fragrance that only holds a hint of the words of thousands-upon-thousands of women and men, just waiting to be re-released into the world.


So I stack books on shelves, on top of each other, on the floor. I try and read as many as I can, though I usually only finish one per week, though if it’s particularly gripping I’ll get through it in a little less time. The point I’m making, though, is that I find it difficult to leave a bookstore without some acquisition (or two or three, etc). My collection on philosophy, metaphysics, logic and esoterica is growing just over the past year (2017 – I was contemplating enrolling in a PhD Philosophy program, but have set that on the back burner for now).

I keep one bookshelf in a room, just to store the current interests. I’ve got books from Karl Ove Knausgaard, Alan Watts, Neil Gaiman, and Joseph Campbell. There are books on writing, time management, chakras, meditation, and philosophy. An entire shelf is made up of journals and notebooks – some blank, some partially written in, and others full of my scribblings. And every day, multiple times, I find myself just looking at the book shelf.

It may be impossible to read through everything I’ve purchased, but as John Waters said, “Nothing is more important than an unread library.”

One small step

by MAÔ, posted in Science

Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing. I’ve been thinking about that for most of the week, and just how miraculous that is. That the first human being to leave the planet of his birth and step foot on another mass in space was just fifty years ago. After millions upon millions of years of this world, just a single generation ago humanity made new steps into the universe.

Have we done much since? Maybe not. But in the vast scope of how long it took us to get there in the first place, fifty years isn’t so long.

Week’s (or weeks’) highlights

by MAÔ, posted in Social

Some of the things that caught my attention over the past few weeks.

  • How to use a knife. One of the things I picked up in Alaska was a scrimshaw knife carved on fossilized moose bone. It’s ended up being my favorite souvenir, I suppose in part because I get to carry it with me every day. But also because it feels like I’m in touch with the land. This video popped up a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was kind of fun to watch, even if it’s about kitchen knifes…
  • Quit drinking altogether? Sarah Sloat’s article on casual drinking gave some interesting stats, like, “On average, the mental well-being of the women who quit drinking approached the level of lifetime abstainers within the four-year period. There was, however, very little change in the mental well-being of the men who quit. These results were persistent even after the scientists adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, and smoking status.”
  • The NYTimes mapped the major American artists of the past century, and it’s pretty damn neat. I also have an affinity for maps.
  • Where are our Park Rangers? I briefly considered taking a Ranger job at a National Park. The salary was $22,000/year. It wasn’t feasible at the time. Upper management in some larger parks can make close to $100,000/year, which is comparable for Government positions. But with budget cuts and increasing park attendance, make sure you’re staying safe.

Watching: Stranger Things
Reading: Call of the Wild 
Listening to: Oklahoma! 2019 Revival Cast Recording