Grading day

I am about to work on some heavy grading. That is true, despite the messed up wrist. These monsoons are driving pain into my wrist.

The monsoons are Tucson's humid season. They cause either my knee or wrist to hurt. This is wrist year, apparently. I am sitting here wearing a wrist brace.

I wanted to get in a blog post. I don't really have much to fuss about that I am not fussing about on Twitter. I am @jtarb1 there.

Remember, feeling as if you are persecuted shows a poor mindset.

Memberless movements

So, I am beginning to feel as if memberless movements (Black Lives Matter, Anonymous, other umbrella organizations) are a failure as an idea. Black Lives Matter is receiving flack because of the Dallas shootings where five policemen were killed and more injured. Anonymous also accepts blame for many things either right or left-wing. Al Qaeda even, and to a lesser extent ISIL accepts blame for nearly everything in order to pull Western nations to the fight.

Occupy was another one of these memberless leaderless movements. It quickly failed.

The Civil Rights Movement succeeded due to voting drives and somehow not alienating people enough to gather people into a majority. The Civil Rights Act passed (though probably as a method of winning the Democrat voters that were black).

The way to win is to become a majority, while getting attention. By having unofficial groups, there are no membership rolls to sign. There are simply petitions to gather.

One group I used to be associated with that is not memberless is the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. They limit the need to gather petitions by having large membership rolls. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference eliminated hangers on by keeping their membership official.

So, if anyone is contributing to Black Lives Matter or whatever, start making official memberships. Leadership movements quickly become associated with hangers on. Not that you care what I say.

UPDATE: I recently heard Caleb Carr's interview by James Altucher. He seemed to confirm my idea that ISIL will accept blame for anything that seems relevant. He said that the 2015 San Bernardino attackers were merely needing their future deaths to have meaning and swore allegiance to Al Baghdadi at the last moments before the attacks.

Sleep interrupted

My daughter was up at 3AM. I got a little nap, but she never fell back to sleep. It was a rough night for me, because I was up to 10PM.

I have managed to keep a happy face on even though I am tired. She'll probably be awake until she passes out tonight.

Keeping awake has been hard most of the day, so I just keep doing what I am supposed to be doing. Parenting and school grading. I am up to date on that.

I have a little more than 3 more classes before I am ABD. I am excited to get on with the process by getting my prospectus looked at.

How do you stay motivated when you are just exhausted? I normally exercise and just keep busy. Sometimes, I will even nap.

Not an aviator

I am not an airplane aficionado. Yet, something has my attention reading Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. It came to me somewhat by insight, and I am not sure it is true. Yet, it probably is.

WWI and WWII aviation probably allowed airplanes to become safer than they would be without WWI and WWII. Obviously, the wars were horrible. But without the many unsafe training flights and combat flights of the World Wars, we might not be able to fly safely today.

The military is constantly in forms of social experimentation. It allowed integrated military units before the nation integrated. It recently allowed transgendered people in, yet with some heavy stipulations.

The military may have allowed airlines to become safer than car travel. I know that plane crashes receive lots of TV coverage, but it is still safer than car travel I understand. I still cringe during takeoff and turbulence. And landing. Maybe, especially landing.

On other news, even though I have diverted from my diet, I am still 258 lbs. as of this morning. I think I can be satisfied with that.

More readers

Yesterday was a big day for the blog. I simply made the difference by scheduling a post telling people about my blog in the middle of the night.

I had not set up auto-tweets too much in the past due to people hacking my Twitters. I made my password super-secure by using all kinds of symbols. Through that, I'll try it again.

I hope this readership keeps on, but I don't have any followers or replies as of now. Not on this blog anyway.

I am sure that things are looking up.

Tomorrow is test day in class for my students. After that, we'll give a halfway point grade and be on our races for the end.

I am still walking regularly, even though the monsoon season is in Tucson. We had a big rainstorm from it yesterday. It is humid, but nothing compared to Georgia.

Have a good day.

Family visiting

So, I am getting to know my wife's family better. I am becoming more comfortable with them. This is not just the in-laws, but my wife's extended family that lives elsewhere.

I feel that I have to use principles normally associated with "Game" (dating stuff) to keep people interested. It is normally like me to keep to myself. To keep from being introverted to a terrible closed position, I have to use principles from books or podcasts on dating.

I am able to keep people interested in my conversations more this way. I obviously tweak each idea for non-sexual, no kino reasons.

I feel like this is working towards making my marriage better and making my relationships with her extended family better. This has been a fun week.

I am not being seen as much the outsider as I once was. I am now keeping the comfortable distance with my wife's family, which also helps with my wife. Of course, "game" principles help with my wife. I hope you guys are having a great week.

Feeling motivated

Last night, while teaching, I had some students telling me they liked the way I teach. Unfortunately, I am taking time off from teaching to complete the final part of my doctorate.

I enjoy teaching but feeling rather motivated right now.

The sale on my book goes until early July. Get it if you are interested, or try Red Teaming for Renegades, my other work.

They are pamplet length books, but might be of some value to you.

I am getting back to blogging and mTurk work regularly. I enjoy doing the surveys on Mechanical Turk to make a few more bucks every month.