ThomStratton.com

Remember the conventional wisdom that female rulers tend to be more peaceful than male rulers? It may not necessarily be true:

After sifting through historical data on queenly reigns across six centuries, two political scientists have found that it’s more complicated than that. In a recent working paper, New York University scholars Oeindrila Dube and S.P. Harish analyzed 28 European queenly reigns from 1480 to 1913 and found a 27 percent increase in wars when a queen was in power, as compared to the reign of a king. “People have this preconceived idea that states that are led by women engage in less conflict,” Dube told Pacific Standard, but her analysis of the data on European queens suggests another story.

The reason, evidently, was because female rulers divided the labor of ruling with their husbands, allowing a more efficient state that was better able to support wars.

The science is settled. Women are warmongers. 😉

You may have seen the Wintergatan’s Marble Music Machine recently, either here on my blog or elsewhere. Well, he’s since released a few “how it works” videos exploring all the various elements that went into making the machine work. My boys and I watched them over the weekend, and we stood there with slack-jawed admiration. That… machine… is… so… COOL! The how is perhaps even more interesting than the what. If you’re at all interested in inventions and gadgets, these are videos you’ll want to see:

Wintergatan, however, is a group, not just this one guy. They already have an album out, and it it’s along the same vein of quirky, inventive, eclectic music and instruments with visual components that are far from polished, and yet all the more interesting because you can see how they’re doing it. I find their work appealing on many levels. Okay, I’m on the verge of becoming a raging fan-boy.

As yesterday’s post stated, we are becoming an increasingly factionalized society, and each faction is out to borrow, suborn, or outright shanghai anyone and everyone they think they can to their cause. Case in point, the recent attempt at shaming Daisy Ridley, actress and Internet darling. Ridley exploded on the world recently as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and from what I’ve seen may be one of the most genuine, likeable, unassuming, hard-working actresses out there.

But that doesn’t make her immune to the screamin’ shamers. Someone decided she’s too thin, and therefore must be punished into somehow joining their cause. Recently a photo of her in her Star Wars personae surfaced with a speech balloon added, stating “I can’t believe the unrealistic expectations I’m setting for young girls. Who cast me anyway? Don’t they know real women have curves?”

To my knowledge Ridley has never been “curvy” in the sense these people seem to demand, so it’s not like she purposely tried to be non-curvy for the role. Instead, she underwent extensive physical training simply to be able to do the stunts required of her for the part. I’ve seen video of her training, and good heavens! That girl is made of steel! I’d like to see your average guy do that. Look at this and tell me how she’s supposed to put on weight and still do all this:

But of course the screamin’ shamers can’t see that. They completely overlook the strong, smart, proactive nature of her character in the movie and the can-do attitude and intelligence she brought to the part–all incredibly powerful, positive messages for young girls–and focus in on her appearance. Somewhere at a hate-filled hovel out there the Irony Police should be kicking down the door.

Fortunately Ridley is indomitable, and my admiration has only increased from her response via Instagram: “‘Real women’ are all shapes and sizes, all ethnicities, all levels of brave, have families, don’t have families. I am a ‘real woman’ like every other woman in this world.”

To quote my kids, “Boom!” She out-classed and out-messaged her detractor(s) in a single bound, if you ask me (and if you’re reading this, you essentially did).

Then she apparently realized she’d made a mistake and posted the original picture with the name of the original poster,  and promptly took it down and issued a call for kindness: “Guys it was not my intention for anyone to send messages to that poor person that posted the original picture. My whole post is about being kind to each other, so please refrain!” Realizing she has her own faction, she tried to head off them doing to someone else what she was coming out against herself.

In the place of the original meme pic she posted this open letter instead:

What’s weird is most of the time I see gorgeous messages from people around the world. People who relate to something in Rey they haven’t found in a female character before. People who’s daughters now think they can do things without the aid of a man, but who wouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help. People who loved that The Force Awakens has multiple incredible female characters. It is much more hurtful to continue to slate other women than BE a woman, BE a character, BE whoever you want to be. I’m just a normal girl thrust into extraordinary circumstances, just like Rey. I will not apologise for how I look, what I say and how I live my life cause what’s happening inside is much more important anyway and I am striving to be the best version of myself, even if I stumble along the way. It seems apt I get tagged in this a day after I received misogynistic comments on my #IWD post. For all of you who celebrate each other, celebrate the ones you love, love yourselves, work hard, are kind, thank you for your continued support and the social media love. For anyone who has a problem with ANYONE in life, be them someone you know or someone you don’t, remember that expression: if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Whether you agree with her or not, I appreciate her stand for allowing everyone to be themselves and not have to live up to everyone else’s expectations. Her refusal to allow a faction to shame her into giving credibility to their agenda is a breath of fresh air–and makes her, in my mind, all the more a positive role model.

And Mrs. and Mr. Ridley, give yourselves a pat on the back. Fine parenting there.

I read an article the other day in which a man, who lived for a time as transgendered but changed his mind, criticizes the inflexibility of progressives. But in the end, I suspect his final accusation extends to a majority on both sides of the aisle:

My decision may not be consistent with a liberal activist agenda, but it’s consistent with me. And that’s why I now find myself cast as the opposition. But I’m not bothered in the slightest. I’m quite used to being the opposition. That’s because, regardless of how I dress and what name I use, I am still one of the most oppressed minorities living in the West today.

I am an individual.

As American–if not all of Western–culture becomes increasingly factionalized, one of the most commonly deployed tools is the verbal whipping of anyone who deviates from the party line and thinks for themselves. Believe it or not, it’s possible to be both for immigration and for tighter controls, for a strong national defense and diplomacy, for helping the poor and limited government. But we don’t like that ambiguity of “and”. We like “either”/”or”, black or white, all or nothing.

We don’t like individuals. They’re so hard to pigeon-hole and, therefore, control.

I think Will Franken in the article linked above goes easier on conservatives than they necessarily deserve. There does indeed seem at times there can be more actual, real acceptance of individuals on the right than on the left, but as anyone who has been classified a RINO can tell you, the Big Tent has some serious gaps, and the Republican party has its own “identity politics” issues. I’ve sat in a Republican caucus and felt rather uncomfortable being there.

America is dividing, and both sides are eager to claim you, and to shame you into staying put. The trouble is, there is no moderate, individualist rally-point. It’s practically an oxymoron to establish a Faction of Individualists. It used to be okay to sit back and let the two sides fight, but they’re growing increasingly impatient. They want you on their side, no matter how uncomfortable you may be there. Don’t worry. They’ll beat the “impurities” out of you.

They’ll make you a minority of one until there are none.

Little-known fact: F/A-18 Hornets can sense problems and tells the pilot what to do, and their voice is that of Leslie Shook, who is retiring.

In other news, there is a movie coming out this month that examines the ethics of military drone strikes. The preview suggests the movie examines the question from many angles, most of them uncomfortable. I’m usually not a fan of “important” movies, but this one may actually be truly important.

Speaking of drones–the increasingly omni-present, annoying kind–they seem to be chalking up a fairly extensive list of enemies. With birds, antelopes, and trees already on the list, we can now add jet-skis (skip to the 3:46 mark). Or, as Qui Gon Jin said, “There’s always a bigger fish.”

And now for something really different. I give you The Applause Machine:

For some reason the shot where the hand comes off just cracked me up.

Speaking of cracking up, how about watching a Reese’s Peanut-butter-ectomy with an Oreo cream transplant? Why yes, there’s a YouTube channel for that:

And there you have it; a smattering of everything. Your day is now complete.

I’ve seen a lot of people devoting a lot of energy to defeating Donald Trump in his bid to be the Republican candidate for president. Let me say up front that I don’t want Trump, either. Frankly, I don’t want most of the people both parties are forwarding. I’m not sure a candidate I can support is even in the race.

But to those seeking to bring Trump down, let me say this: You don’t defeat the enemy by becoming the enemy.

I’ve seen a lot of hate, invective, hyperbole, and insult leveled at Trump and those voting for him. It’s to the point that I’m not sure I can tell the difference between the Trump camp and the anti-Trump camp. And I can promise you, it’s not going to work. Trump has already tapped into the rage machine. Many of his supporters are those who feel they’ve already born the brunt of the liberal rage machine for the past eight years (or longer) and just don’t care anymore. I doubt it’s going to make the slightest difference if the conservative rage machine turns on them as well. If anything it will just convince them all the more that they are right and that the Republican Party has become largely indistinguishable from the Democratic Party. They’ll cling to their “outsider” Trump like the last floating piece of the Titanic.

If you want to stop Trump and draw away his support you’re going to have to do two things, in a calm, rational manner:

1. Show how Trump’s policies are bad for the country, but give credit where he’s right.
2. Show that there are reliable alternatives in the other candidates. (I don’t know if there are, frankly. I stopped paying attention after Carly Fiorina dropped.)
3. If 1 and 2 don’t work, you’re going to have to reduce the “Not Trump” options to just one Republican candidate so the supposed “Not Trump” majority can find someplace to rally. This assumes, of course, that the Not Trumps outnumber the Trumps. So far this appears to be true, but it’s not necessarily guaranteed that votes currently going to other candidates will automatically go to the Not Trump candidate if their candidate drops out.

People are slow to recognize that Trump is unlike any other candidate we’ve seen in a while. The usual playbooks just don’t work on him. The usual “attack-and-smear” is ineffective because he’s tapped into the segment of the population that recognizes that tactic for what it is and, no matter how right it may be, discount it immediately. They’ve watched helplessly in the past as candidate after candidate they could support succumbs to that strategy, and they’ve been waiting for someone to come along and refuse to play that game. Trump appears to be the first Republican candidate to have read the Alinsky playbook and refuses to fall for it. He’s rightly sensed that the right-wing radicals are starting to outnumber the right-wing moderates and establishment, and he’s learned to play their tune.

You won’t stop Trump by playing his game. You can’t keep doing more of the same and hoping it will work. It’s time for something different, and that “different” is treating his supporters like rational beings–which they are, if given recognition as such. It’s dealing with issues, not emotions. It’s finding someone who, while more moderate than Trump, can show he understands and echoes the concerns of those currently feeling overlooked and under-represented, but can do it in a more tasteful way. It requires cutting off Trump’s oxygen by giving the media something else to fixate on (not an easy task, considering they view Trump as the most horrifyingly fascinating train-wreck ever to grace the airwaves–they just can’t look away).

I’m not sure if Trump is even stoppable at this point. The Republican Party wasn’t prepared for him, and they’re too slow to figure out how to beat him. They’re too slow to listen to their constituents and too slow to provide a single Not Trump for everyone to rally around. They’ve been waiting for Trump to implode, and he’s not imploding. There may still be time to make the case for someone else, but the GOP needs to experience a steep learning curve. I’m not sure they have it in them.

I’m not sure the Democrats are any better off, frankly. But that’s another topic for another time. I fear this fall we’re going to see the results of a political process rapidly being altered to select the most reprehensible candidates we can find. It won’t be so much a question of “who will most help America” as “who will do the least amount of damage”. I’ve believed that’s the case for some time now, but with each passing election the stakes just keep getting higher.

I took the Christmas lights down over the weekend. They’ve not been on since the New Year, but they’ve still been up. This is unusual. Normally I’ve got them down well before the end of January. Not this year.

This year we’ve received more snow in one winter, almost, than all the previous years combined. I probably exaggerate, but it’s definitely been more snow. And large portion of our roof are inaccessible from the ground, even with my extension ladder, so when there’s snow on the roof I don’t take down the lights. Usually we have weeks between snow showers, but this year has been different. About every time it looks like the roof is finally free of snow and ice and I plan to take down the lights that weekend we’d get another big snow before Saturday and the roof would become treacherous again.

Last weekend the roof was finally clear. But the fruit trees were starting to leaf out, so I instead spray the trees with dormant oil. And, oddly enough, we didn’t get any snow in the intervening week. I got to take the lights down this weekend. None to soon, either. My wife is already cleaning out the flower beds for spring. We’re getting into that awkward time of year when the coat you need in the morning is pointless by afternoon, but necessary again by evening.

But I’m not complaining, mind you. It means spring is coming. I’m ready.