Theological Funnies

 Mattie has had quite the day today!  First I woke up early -- discipline! -- and hit the gym, doing back and shoulders.  Nice solid workout, did some cardio, and then it was home to shower, as we had a Hunger Network meeting at Pilgrim UCC.  Yes, hard to call such a place a church, but... while I saw no obvious heresies (other than the place itself), I did call them out for being presumptuous for guessing my gender when I asked for a bathroom (and for not having a urinal in the ladies room for women with manparts; I don't know which was more amusing -- those who thought I was kidding or those who thought I was serious).  The meeting was fine, but a bit long.  Part of it was because everyone complains about getting the necessary stuff (EINs and other documents) from the government.  It was mentioned that a LOT of the people doing this are poor, POCs, and volunteers, and this was a problem.  I pointed out in the small group that it was actually racist, so eliminating this government program -- among others -- was intelligent practice.  (I am sure they loved that.)  Part of the length is because of above, everything needs to be spelled out (twice or more), and that takes time, and most of these people are just non-working chatty Kathies.  Alas.  More seriously, I made a few friends by discussing potential solutions to problems that crop up (people not taking all the food, people squawking about not getting X, etc.); to me, most of these are common sense, but some of the people there thought I was an asshole savant.  To be sure, I am, but...

Anyways, I wanted to hit the OC (right down Harvard) to pre-pack some bags and see what the carnage from the Friday delivery was (the Thursday and Friday crews seem to have disagreements about stuff).  I didn't know when they arrived, and lo and behold, they arrived when I was there.  This was good, as I got to see what they brought, the quantity, where they put it, etc... I have a few ideas percolating, and when I see everyone as I do during the week, I will spitball some ideas to see if we can eliminate the friction while saving space.  The Friday crew is a bit more get up and go, which is more my style, but I can see how the Thursday crew operates and it works for them (sometimes we just have a yuuuugggge order!).  I guess this is one good thing from the ordeal of unemployment...

Then it was home, work the part-time job (20 hours a week is 20 hours a week!), dinner, and watching the thunderstorms roll through.  Between that and the blood sugar, my plan for a gym double was dashed.  Probably wise so I can do stuff here (read, catch up on emails, etc.) but I do feel like I need to get back into the routine of double workouts.

Collections: Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry (acoup.blog)
Why no Roman Industrial Revolution? — LessWrong
Interesting (yes, I am reading this on a Friday night, which explains why I am single).  I would argue you need industrialization/more efficient use of machines/equipment when you have a labor shortage, and the Romans did not; well, they did, but I would say that all these slaves meant that they could just put the "excess" labor into the army and conquer a third of the known world, and that worked until, say, 250 AD or so.  We would now say that this sort of labor is unproductive, but as plunder/slaves/land for soldiers was an integral part of the Roman economy... it was highly intelligent, in its own way.

DeSantis: Florida fought for strong economy. I'll do same for America (usatoday.com)
I have said it once, will say it again...the man has an impressive record, but it is a shame the message is not breaking through...