Thanos was right...

"...but the economy..."

A bit of a thought experiment. I should note that what follows is not a belief structure that I adhere to or one that anyone should adhere to for that matter. It is simply allowing my mind to wander down a road that it wouldn't normally travel.

The thesis statement that I would develop looks something like this:

The cultural and economic benefits of allowing COVID-19 in the long term would far outweigh the short term disruption it would cause.

A wretched and horrible thought for those of us who hold to values of God, family and honour but let's set those aside for a moment and frame our morality from a utilitarian ethic and our deity on the invisible hand of the market. We'll assume that capitalism is the producer of the greatest common good and should thus be held as the most essential of values for the flourishing of human life.

Let us also understand the effect of COVID-19 on the human population. Data is still relatively young and not complete but what we see as a certain trend is that the effects of the virus are disproportionate.

The challenge of the Thanos solution is that the results are unpredictable. 50% of the universe's population removed at random. One would assume an even distribution among all available populations with some outlying statistical variance but for the most part the fundamental makeup of the remaining population would be the same across demographics. There would be roughly the same ratio of men and women, similar effects on diversity, economic status and the like.

The resulting economic effect of simply snapping one's fingers and removing half the population would be a question of scaling resource consumption while still maintaining status quo on the social order. The economy would be cut neatly in half but the fundamental needs of that economy would still be the same.

Think of it this way: the percentage population that eats kale would remain the same thus there would continue to be a market for kale at the same share of the market. Thus the market, though reduced by half, would continue to produce kale along supply and demand curves.

Prices would look the same and the patterns of work, distribution, and societal value would still exist around it.

COVID-19, however, is not an evenly distributed exercise in population disruption. It is targeted along some very specific demographic measures thus creating a potentially disruptive force for change within the world.

The most significant of these is the disruption caused by a significant population reduction among seniors. COVID-19 is a significant threat for those in retirement age against the rest of the population. As of writing the mortality rate for those over the age of 65 averages to somewhere between 8 and 12 percent.

For those below that age the average drops significantly from one in ten to something more like one in a thousand. (Source)

If this virus were to spread through the whole of the population then we would see a fundamental redistribution of ages and a lowering of the average age of the population.

With that would come sweeping changes to economic and social dynamics that we can explore.

Such a reduction in population would be one of the largest generational transfers of wealth and capital. There is a profound economic reality that a large reservoir of capital resides in the retirement funds of seniors, trapped value in owned property, and other economic reserves. (Source)

To put it simply: those over the age of 65 hold the greatest percentage of wealth. There is no doubt that that wealth has been earned over a lifetime of work and investment but with that comes a particular societal deficit: that wealth is directed in a fundamentally disproportionate way impacting the due course of society.

To put it even more simply: old people have more money than young people and spend it on old people things. If the population was more evenly distributed the effect of this would still exist but it would be lessened. As it stands, however, with the Baby Boom skewing the distribution it means that what we are experiencing is an economy that is overproducing old people things over the economic short term.

Society is bent towards health care for the most expensive generation to treat. Entertainment for those who are wired toward nostalgia. Infrastructure for those who are the hardest to move and in locations that become locked out for those who are young.

This crowds out innovation. Directs our younger population towards some of the most stressful social service work contributing to a catering economy and a class war that is both rich and poor and old and young at the same time.

Funding for the arts and new ideas are removed for those who provide little to the economy, invest with the least interest in world changing risk, and who politically continue to influence a system to their collective advantage at the detriment of the next generation coming.

Imagine the finger snapping, however, and the generational imbalance was shifted.

Health care spending that is directed towards extending the care of those bearing the most complicated, labour and resource intensive conditions would be reallocated to education, infrastructure, and the arts.

Housing markets that are locking out young families would be opened and greater neighbourhood diversity would be created.

Racist structures of a generation bent on protecting its own would be deconstructed in favour of a more profound and inclusive structure.

The economy would shift to a more natural balance that would still include care for seniors but would return to a state of growth and focus on all generations.

The labour market would shift away from the culturally suffocating obsession with keeping old people happy and then less cranky and then simply not dying even though there isn't much point to living past a certain point.

Would there be a short term economic impact? Of course. Not on the spending side - as that existing wealth would simply transfer to younger generations who would spend it on more interesting things and to governments who would build schools, roads, and playgrounds. The reality of COVID-19, however, is that retraining for a vast swath of the population is already at hand and that the disruptions align with those that are already going to occur.

There is, of course, a nostalgic counter argument that it could be your grandmother who would succumb to illness. While sad it is still a statistical improbability with a 90% chance that she would be fine. It is also a sadness with a silver lining that you would be remembered in her will.

Wikky's take: She-Ra Sucks...

...and not for the reasons that the show's PR folks want you to notice.

It's interesting to me that since the debut of the rebooted Netflix series that the attention is being directed at 3 or 4 neo-bronies who don't think that the animation is "adult" or "sexy" enough.

Fuck that noise. It's a distraction being offered up to lump anyone who would criticize the show with the Trump voting, Jodie Whitaker Doctor-hating, sweaty uncels living in their mother's basement.

They exist. They're stupid. They're not the point.

I'm an older guy who thinks the reboot sucks.

I binged the series both out of a sense of nostalgia and to discern whether it was appropriate for my kids. I could give a rats ass about whether She-Ra has boobs and frankly I think it's better that she doesn't. The animation is mostly fine (the stupid shading under the eyes notwithstanding).

The problem with She-Ra isn't the animation - it's that it's not She-Ra.

It's Totally Spies.

A plastic, toy selling, and loosely based commercial vehicle that reduces the characters to vapid and bumbling shells of their original incarnations. This is what happens when Caillou grows up and stumbles into real world problems.

The original series wasn't without its problems as we find often in the He-Man She-Ra universe but at least the characters were imbued with some sense of depth and greatness. They struggled with problems of life and yet retained the gravitas of the situations they found themselves in.

In this incarnation you have a bunch of kids dropped into a civil war that threatens devastation to the environment and enslavement of people to a monolithic worldview and rather than creating an opportunity for younger viewers and parents to find a point of connect for difficult subjects - the severity of the world is dropped for Bow fawning over a shanty-singing flake of a pirate.

"My moustache is naturally shiny."

What. The. Fuck.

Everything is lost in the candy coating.

Adora's quest for self understanding.
Catra's sense of betrayal.
Glimmer's coming of age.

None of the stories have any substance or depth because mature and well-defined characters are replaced with 80s stereotypical valley girls.

The dialogue is atrocious. The mythos of the show barely acknowledged. Character development would be great were there characters to develop.

Even the mystery of She-Ra is removed. Everyone knows that Adora and She-Ra are one in the same. Except Shadowweaver and Hordak apparently - because...I don't know. I've given the fuck up at this point.

There is no feminism in She-Ra. There is no example for our daughters or contra-narrative for our sons that shows the depth, intelligence and strength of women in the face of a grave and difficult world.

There is only the empty ego of thoughtless mall-rats stumbling away from greatness and into the warm embrace of the nearest Wal-Mart toy aisle.

She-Ra sucks not because it isn't "Adult" enough.

She-Ra sucks because it isn't even "Kid" enough.

- W.

#fearandsmallpenises #2

FASP #1

#fearandsmallpenises

I've compiled a scientific list of the top five reasons that gun control isn't happening in the US when all around the world it seems to be working swimmingly. Enjoy!

5. Women don't find you attractive. It's true that most "men" who find themselves drawn into the gun culture are generally lacking in looks or personality. They tend to be socially anxious bullies who attempt to overcompensate for their lack of desirability by strapping on a prosthetic to enhance their "manliness".

4. You are insecure and immature. Somewhere in the development process your brain stopped developing. Most adults tend to solve their issues through reason and discussion. Having a weapon and being perceived as "dangerous" means that people will steer clear of confronting you on your lack of development both upstairs and down below.

3. Paranoia. Nobody's coming to steal your shit. Seriously. Most of you gun nuts who are yammering on about defending your homes don't have anything worth taking. Except your guns. #irony

2. Fear of the BBC. It's true. Your second amendment prescribes for a "well regulated militia" (read by Republicans as "free for all of dimwitted fucktards with #fearandsmallpenises"). But you're really not afraid of a British invasion are you? It's the D that your woman might be craving. Admit it. You're afraid that David Tennant might satisfy her more than you can.

1. Fear of the BBC. I know a lot of Americans who are actually afraid of some of "those people" turning their cul-de-sac into a 'hood. Wives, girlfriends and daughters realizing that these emotionally repressed, overbearing, white throwbacks don't provide what they need and falling into the arms of more satisfying lovers. Flood the streets with guns. Ramp up the poverty and drug trade. Then claim self defense as the real reason that you have an arsenal and a panic room in your suburban townhouse. 

If you boil it down. There are really only two reasons: #fearandsmallpenises

EO Basics 6 Leaving Beginner Island

EO Basics 5 Your First Quest

EO Basics 4 The Control Panel

EO Basics 3 Basic Controls

EO Basics 2 Creating a Character

EO Basics 1 Getting Started

Going away for a couple of weeks.

There will be no internet there.

Don't worry. I'm not dead and I'll be back.

Have fun.

-W

TREOS is finished. EO-Plus is where it's at.

Sad news.

Lucian's decided to shut down the TREOS forums. In some ways that's not a bad thing. It's become a bit repetitive of late and the trolls are the trolls.

Fortunately - there are some fresh forums and a freaking awesome game over at http://www.eo-plus.com/ so all is not lost. So troops - regather there.

If you were wondering about why eo-plus was down these past two days: the game was too successful. So to make things better for players Arglon decided to hunt down a more powerful and stable server.

So - there's that bit of awesomeness for you to cheer you up.

Goodbye TREOS! Thanks for holding us together for so long. To Luke: you've been awesome - a trooper - I hope you find happiness in everything. Don't be a stranger!

-W

Drop the Hate

I want to be a little bit serious in this post. Gender and sexual identity is a polarizer and it's one of those things that people take way too far on the hate cycle. I saw a post circulating about boycotting a company because they allow transgendered folk to us the washroom of the gender to which they identify.

The fuck. Really.

Not that they would allow this - but that folks would get pissed off about it.

1. Women's washrooms aren't like men's washrooms. They have stalls. Just like women's shower rooms in gyms. Not like the men's room. There are stalls. I know that we all dream about the 80s movie shower scene with women showering together. It doesn't happen. Those films are shot in the men's room because T&A and softcore implied lesbian shower scenes sell to boys between the age of balls dropping and balls hitting the floor. There is literally nothing to see here. So if you're railing against people being exposed to something - the only thing that you see in a women's washroom are four walls and a fucking mess because women's bathrooms are filthy.

2. Gender is not as black and white as you may like to think it is. There is a spectrum of gender identity and sexual identity that has been scientifically observed and verified. (BECAUSE FUCKING SCIENCE!). Me - I don't understand it because I'm a heterosexual male with parts that line up with how I understand myself in the social order that we have. I know what it's like to be me - and I don't know what it's like to be someone else. So who the fuck am I to say what someone else is or should be experiencing if it is biologically determined (again BECAUSE FUCKING SCIENCE!)

3. Theologically - and I'm a theologically conservative Christian guy - the Bible doesn't anticipate the situation that we're dealing with now. Pull out the 7 hammer texts - they deal with gang rape, cultic sexuality in a tribal society, temple prostitution, and a promiscuous culture that is based on a hedonistic perspective on life (idolatry). They do not address biological sexual identity (BECAUSE FUCKING SCIENCE!), gender identity, or anything resembling the lives being lived by those who are LGBTQ. God doesn't hate them. Though God does tend to hate pompous Pharisees who miss the point of the Law.

4. Which is to love. Why the fuck are you wasting your time hating on people who really don't affect you.

Here's a thought - you do you.

If you don't think a particular thing is kosher according to your beliefs - don't do them. Don't impose that on other folks. If you value freedom then our systems of laws shouldn't be about limiting people in what they do except for in instances where it causes actual harm to others. So don't kill - don't steal - don't play Justin Bieber songs loud enough for other people to hear. That's reasonable restriction on human activity. But if someone identifies as a woman and wants to pee in a place where she feels safe - in the confines of four walls where nobody can see - and where idiot men aren't going to harass and harm her - then let her. And if two women want to break down the walls of a shower stall by the power of their love and express in a healthy way the sexuality that we pervert in our fantasies - then all that really does is add love to the world.

Isn't that a good thing?

There's enough hate in the world.

Stop adding to it.

-W

Life, the Universe, Everything

Not really going into that much detail. Just scratching the surface mostly of what I'm up to. I don't blog much anymore but I think I'll be doing some over the next few months as I have a little bit of spare time that I can devote to this sort of thing.

A few questions to answer:

1. Why are you still blogging? Nobody reads this shit.

Statistically not true. Even then that's not the point. I blog, record video games, play music, etc. for me. I throw it online as a bit of a journal and a bit of a cathartic exercise. I'm knocking on the universe and seeing what happens.

There's no money in it. No fame. No reward beyond just doing it. I just like to.

I think that's really the point of anything. I have no delusions of grandeur here. I have analytics and I know that this isn't important. So if you think I'm one of these folks who dreams of making it big or that people actually care what I write, say, sing or play. I'm not.

But if you've read this - like it - enjoy me - or somehow find your life enhanced, views challenged, been mildly entertained, or feel less alone. That's totally gravy.

The universe sometimes knocks back.

2. EO Plus?

Yeah - it's a lot of fun. It's got me hooked on 2d isometrics again.

http://www.eo-plus.com/

Download the client.

Play.

3. What do you do?

Primarily I'm a writer. Everything else I do in life centers around that. I love to communicate whether by page or word. I'm built for it.

Sometimes it's poetry, song, literature, articles, technical writing, teaching, presentations - it doesn't matter to me. I love how people connect and I am fascinated by the ways in which we do that through language, art, expression, comedy, body language...whatever.

I study it all the time. New ways of writing. Old ways done well. The internet. Social media. Parchment, tablets, and scrolls. It doesn't matter. I love it all.

In what I do I really aim to do 2 things. The first is to bring people together because ultimately I think life is better when we are connected with one another. The second is to help people. That's generally tied into the first because I think the biggest problem most people have is that we feel alone. Connecting people helps that. So I like to communicate and help people communicate.

And I get paid to do it which is freaking amazing.

4. Will you keep going?

Yeah.

I enjoy this. The anonymity of being WickedFrost - while still having met so many people and connected beyond my usual spheres through being WickedFrost.

That's the amazing part. As WickedFrost I can be both someone I'm not and who I really am - and without some of the social cues that bind us to certain segments of the population - I get to connect with people from all sorts of places where I might not normally go - or where you might not normally go.

That's the beauty. And I've met great, interesting, wild, amazing people on this journey.

Young people. Old people. All nationalities. People with everything together. People who are a hot mess. Smart people. Art people. Military folk. Singers. Gamers. Programmers.

Cruise.

I'll just leave that there on its own. Cruise is a fucking force of nature.

And I love you all. I might fucking hate you too. Jimmy. But I love you all nonetheless.

Which brings us back to question 1. Why am I still doing this?

Because it's fucking awesome and I love it.

-W

EO-Plus!

Hey all,

It's been a while. Figured I'd blog it up for a few minutes to announce a new Endless-Online project that is currently up and running.

Endless-Online Plus. http://www.eo-plus.com/

The server has been a long time coming from Arglon and I can tell you that it's fantastic. I'm slumming it in the low levels right now because of my recording schedule but I'm having a blast with it. This is Endless-Online how it could have been.

The great thing about this server is that it retains the old EO feel while tweaking the balancing issues, adding over 150 new quests, and having a place to go when you've finished off with the original maps.

Three things that make this server a must-play?

1. Everything has its place. This was the one thing that Vult-R never did - he never had a purpose or progression for maps. He just got some graphics together, slapped a road down, and there was a new map. Arglon has created a character progression arc that brings you from one map to the next through quests and leveling. You always have the feeling of moving forward while not rushing to fast or grinding too slow.

2. The same, but different. Arglon wasn't afraid to tinker with the maps so rather than being an Endless-Online clone you get an Endless-Online experience that is evolved and evolving. He's reworked the maps to make sense from a storytelling perspective which is fucking amazing.

3. PLUS! New graphics. New maps. A whole new adventure beyond the original tileset. Arglon has captured the spirit of Endless-Online by giving it that feeling of being truly Endless by adding all new content beyond the original experience. The thing that makes me want to play is that Arglon is paying attention to storytelling and plot arcs so we're not dealing with a clusterfuck of mashed content. The maps and the equipment make sense in the context of game play. (BU - you know I <3 you because you get community right but this is what you lack.)

So seriously - if you're reading this post - get your pixelated ass over to EO Plus. You'll be glad you did.

-W

We Won't Be Giants

WickedFrost is an insufferable douche.

You'd be shocked at the marriage proposals and other such nonsense I've received over the years. Seriously. I'm not even counting the in-game, online 14 year old boys trying to get free stuff. I'm talking legit - stalkeresque - women trying to wrangle me away from Mrs. Wikky.

It happens in real life too.

Which entertains the fuck out of me - because I'm not a bad looking guy and I certainly have the money to compensate for wherever I might be lacking. Here's the thing - women really didn't start paying attention to me seriously until I got married.

True story: I'm shopping at a store. This woman walks buy. Checks out my hand. Sees the ring and starts chatting me up. She didn't even bother to check out my magnificent ass.

Here's what I find entertaining about it all - the assumption is that because I'm married I'm worth having. Or perhaps I'm some sort of unassailable trophy to collect.

I can tell you this - dear women who e-mail me - I'm never leaving Mrs. Wikky and in the event that I were single again I don't think I'd marry.

Because marriage is very hard.

Not because of monogamy. Or not liking it. Or anything bad.

It's because I find it so incredibly hard to keep from hurting Mrs. Wikky. Not physically nor deliberately. But because my personality and intellect are such that it is very easy to overwhelm hers. I am the bear and she is the butterfly. And she is a beautiful, strong and confident person - certainly not taking anything away from her.

But I walk through this world each day trying not to step on people. It's very hard - especially with the person you spend the majority of your time with.

Each day I am confronted with the reality of being able to break her emotionally - and restraining instinct and desire and being wary of missteps to keep her safe from me.

In many ways that limits who I can be. Even she is not allowed to see this side of me because I keep it locked away. I sacrifice through restraint because of love. I wouldn't do that for anyone else.

So what I'm saying is stop e-mailing me. The guy that Mrs. Wikky got who is worth having is not available to anyone else. If there was ever a Mrs. Wikky II she's going to inherit an insufferable douche.

#justsayin

- W

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

First world problem. Mrs. Wikky and I are having a little bit of a conflict over which vehicle to drive later this week. We're going on another little camping trip but before we can go I've got to attend a few meetings and she's got to finish her work day.

I'm done first but I've got to drive about an hour to get to the meetings and then I'm going to go on to the campsite and set up. She's going to come later.

Here's where the conflict comes: we have two vehicles. Mrs. Wikky likes to drive one of them. Generally I don't care which vehicle I drive but in order to bring everything that we're going to need for camping I'm going to need the one she likes. Not only that: if I take the other vehicle there won't be enough space for the Wiklets.

The obvious decision is to let me drive the comfortable vehicle and for Mrs. Wikky to drive the car she doesn't like. RIGHT?!?

Here's the proposal that Mrs. Wikky comes up with today:

I drive an hour to my meetings. Then I drive an hour back and pick up 1 Wiklet and fill the car with as much camping gear as will fit. Then I can go to the campsite (which is 2 hours away in the same direction as my meetings) and set everything that I have up. Then Mrs. Wikky will drive her favorite vehicle bringing the rest with her a number of hours later and I can finish setting up when she gets there.

#areyoufreakingkiddingme

When you read something like this you think to yourself: "I'd never..." and before you finish that sentence in your mind I just want to say:

Yes, you damn well would.

You would make unreasonable demands on your spouse or you would let them get away with it. That's just the way marriage works. Give and take. Altruism and selfishness.

Ain't love grand?

The Last Temptation of WickedFrost

"Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many." - The Doctor,
A Good Man Goes To War

Being a pseudepigraphal internet personality comes with its blessings and curses. One of those curses is that you are often flattened out into 2 dimensions or narrowed to the black and white universe of pixels and fonts.

I'm a white hat. A white knight. A generally good and moral guy. At least, in my experience, that's how people tend to think about me. In a lot of ways I hope that's who I am as a character but also in real life.

Moral. Good. Upstanding. All those things that sound nice when people describe you. Humble too. It's my greatest quality.

The problem with that flattening out of identity is that it doesn't really give you a clear picture of who I am. I like doing the right thing. I try to do the right thing.

That doesn't mean that I always do - or that I don't get tempted.

A few days ago - I was tempted.

As I wrote before I've got a good marriage. Wiklets aplenty. I have no reason to complain, or to look elsewhere, or to sign up for an Ashley Madison account. It's built right into my moral code of honour: don't commit adultery. Heck, it's even Biblical.

Then there's Vicki.

She's married too. Husband's a great guy. Fantastic kids. Their whole family is our whole family's best friends. And she and I are great friends. We have pretty much everything in common. Life experiences. Likes. Dislikes. Political ideologies. Taste in music. It would disturb many of you to know that there is another me out there with ovaries and not quite as great a backside.

But we're just friends.

To which many columnists will write: there's no such thing as just friends between men and women. Emotional affairs and all. Frankly I think most of that "relationship advice" is just pandering to the insecurities that men and women have in their relationships and said articles are clickbait that generate far more revenue than the opinions are worth.

Because Vicki and I are great friends - but she's nowhere close to the bond that Mrs. Wikky and I share. We can talk 90s grunge music while reminiscing about band camp - but that's where it ends.

Here's the thing. The other night we're attending a function together. She and hers. Me and mine. It's getting late and both of our spouses decided to call it a night. Vicki and I weren't tired so we stayed up - sat on the beach - watched the stars.

Beautiful. The moonlight on her face. A few glasses of some very good red wine in our bellies. Temptation. Blood boiling temptation.

I leaned in. Said goodnight. And went back to my room.

Here's the question: would I yield?

Absolutely yes. Of course I would. I am not a paragon of virtue. I would hope that after all of these years that nobody would consider me to be one. Vicki was tempted too. We've had this conversation before. Great friends with so much in common and my impeccable ass? She would too.

But we don't. And we won't.

There is no game being played here. No coy dance of moths hovering too close to the flame just waiting for the fire to erupt. We have a rule. Not with each other ever.

I sure wanted to though.

That's a part of who I am too. I'm not a good man.

- W