She's the princess and the pea

Christmas time is a season for family and family is historical.  My aunt was explaining the sensitivity of my cousin - how as a child she had complained about her mattress until the bed was upended and some scrunches in an old mattress protector were found.  'She's always been like that - she's the Princess and the pea,' said my Aunt.

I liked that expression. Someone says about Narcissus - 'he is the scorcher and him who is scorched.'. Kierkegaard says 'the self is a relation that relates itself to itself'.  It would help in a lot of problems to realize were the Princess and the pea, that which hates to yield and yet does, and that which doesn't care and is unyielding.

The One

The more I think about Hegel, the more I get out of Christianity.  The idea that God is one is not just a proposition about God - as an image, I must be one, resolving in myself the manifold external tensions, pressures and strains. Even their existence as tensions feeds on my one-ness.

King David (who killed Goliath) was 'a man after God's own heart'.  But his rule was constantly shored up by advice and murder from Joab, the commander of his army.  King Solomon famously begins his reign by being blessed by God with wisdom.  Among the first thing he does is direct a set of murders - prejudicial execution, of David's old enemies - and Joab. His wisdom takes the form of being both king and killer.  He knows the tensions are parasitic on him and he resolves them, to then do great things - and early court culture of learning, a prefab temple pushing workers to design and prepare, and trade relationships galore.

I want to be that more and more - more deadly resolution, more flourishing.

Eat a good lunch for $2 a day

Here are two basic meals I make in bulk and freeze for future use - almost always my work lunch:

Both: frozen peas, beans, and broccoli from a kilo bag $4-5.

Then either:
Salmon cakes (2 x 450g time of salmon + 2-4 eggs + some flour; ball and fry) with brown rice

Or:
Kangaroo mince bolognese starting with 1kg of too mince and a jar of bolognese sauce, plus whatever veg.  (I like onion, celery and carrot; I often stir some brown rice in to absorb excess moisture and provide some carbohydrate.)

Each batch should make at least ten meals.  Each of these meals gives you about 100g of meat, not a lot, but probably all you need, and 100g of green veg.

They are nothing special, but I enjoy them more and more.

Symmetrical

You know who is symmetrical?  Anonymous and the NSA.  I doubt there is any overlap, but they are mirror images - drawn of identical similarities and polar oppositions.

Secret to a good marriage [contains swearing, mum]

Jo found this Chris Rock quote in a comment the other day - how we laughed...
[Secret to a good marriage - Chris Rock] 

Fellas, when you wake up in the morning, you should look yourself in the mirror and say, "FUCK YOU! Fuck your hopes, fuck your dreams, fuck your plans … fuck everything you thought this life was going to bring to you. Now let's go out there and try to make this bitch happy."

Then we thought about this same sentiment comes from the pulpit as a quote from Colossians 'Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church" 

Education and reproduction

I have written before that education is reproduction, and that I conclude we owe the next generation everything we had and more: maths, language, literature, philosophy should all have a place in our economy.

The Gonski project for school funding in Australia is about supporting the needs of the disadvantaged children of the Australian underclass.  Children of parents who live underemployed, or working very hard to bring home all too little, or who are absent because of prison or gormlessness have a tough time. 

I remember in the Australian documentary series 'life at five', one of the boys had an absent father, and his mum was 17 (very young, anyway) and then (I think), his mum had another child to a different guy.  The next child had a developmental problem that meant he would never be mentally or physically self sufficient.  He was still only 2 or 3 during filming, and carrying him, feeding him and changing his nappies were manageable, but he would live 50 or 60 years or more and never crawl or say first words.  But for the little boy of 5, there was not much time or energy.  His school teacher said (approx): "X is a lovely little boy, really have enjoyed having him, but there's only so much we can make up here and he doesn't get a lot of help at home (understandably)." The main researcher closed out by saying (approx),"We know that the resources and experiences of very early childhood are strongly determinative - if a child is wounded and not keeping up below the age of 5, they are unlikely to ever catch up that gap."

Abused children, children of broken homes (not just failed relationships, but homes which are not stable, loving environments), will do even worse. If you learn before you are three that authority is a trick of abusive people, it is going to be hard to believe that learning your times table is of value.

All of which brings me to the legitimate problem of where to put your investment.  Negatively, I would say that conventional school is not great, and particularly so if the prerequisites are lacking: familiarity with knowledgeable and kind adults, the usefulness of books and thinking, sitting still and listening.  The difference you can make for many students even with a heck of a lot of money may not be great.  The good thing about Gonski is its suggestion of devolved control.  But education may always be too little, and too late.