It's the beauty of negative reinforcement.

Advocates against hitting children for discipline are not against discipline. Even the people who say not to beat your kids discipline their children. The problem is people who do nothing except feed their brood and shove them off to school without proper discipline. Rowdy kids are a problem, trust me I know! Many parents should count themselves lucky there is not a “rowdy children” hunting season. There are a few ways you can get your kids to step into line.
1- Have children smart enough to think ahead to how what they are doing could be bad.
2- Punish your children psychologically.
3- Just hit the damn kid.

Good luck getting kids smart enough to look forward before the age of dead. This method needs to be taught to the child and reinforced from a young age. Most of the people I know who had quality hands off parenting (and graduated college) had two things - siblings their age (within ten years), and video games.
While it may sound rather crazy in the light of gore filled gunfests of orgasmic recoil, those aren't all that games are about. Many games are very simple, simple enough for kids to play, and punish you for not thinking ahead. Eventually kids will be forced to think playing games, "But the fire monster is somewhere around here, so I should take this bucket of water." While it may seem rather lame causing such a simple thought early in life can do one thing, make it instinctual for your child to look before they leap. So instinctual they do not even know they are doing it.

If you want to punish your kids psychologically it takes more than harsh words... sometimes. When you take away a toy, you need to take away a toy AND render it inoperable, because they WILL find it. Do NOT make them break it or burn it in front of them, psychological scars last forever and result in those kids you see smiling at you as you ask them to let you out of your burning garage.
To really work the mind angle in child rearing you need to have a knowledge of your brood. What do they value most? Now take that shit away! Xbox? Have your friend hold onto it for awhile. Books? PLUCK THEIR EYES OUT! Haha, not really, but take them away. Perhaps they are one of those kids with an imagination, what the hell do you do to them THEN! OH you got me now... No. Make them do manual labor. Take away their time... Some keys points to avoid here are making them hate things you want them to like. Don't take away their time by making them do school related things like math. Most of the good jobs of the future will require math, and a deep seeded hatred of basic arithmetic would be quite the stumbling block. No, add chores, make some up, have them rearrange the furniture or something. I don't know, you are the parent! Whatever you do, the CHILD needs to be able to DRAW A LINE connecting THE PUNISHMENT AND THE CRIME. if you EVER say "You know what you did bobby!" then you have failed. Even if they DO know, if they ask, tell them!
Never forget, go through with the punishment. If you say: "Bobby, if you watch television before you are done with your homework ill have Uncle Jim come over and take away the television until you can finish your homework reliably." DO THAT! Don't half ass your punishments, otherwise your kids will learn... that you are a pushover.

Violence is not inherently evil, and for some reason people seem to forget how effective it is. Just remember, you aren't bad for hitting your kids, you are bad if you hurt them. The problem with all punishments are that people will eventually work around them. Take away one thing, they learn to love another. While this is true of psychological things, pain has a rather... strange place in our lives. And it is a stimuli that can quickly be taken as pleasure, but ill elaborate on that later. For now, lets talk about tolerance.
When something happens, you get more used to it and desensitized to it. SO if you spank your kids, they will eventually have a higher pain tolerance, and be less responsive to the spanking. This may cause some parents to spank their kids so much they have an almost infinite pain tolerance! Which is cool if you don't remember that an enraged parent knows no fear and has the strength of the gods. You can hurt the kid. An occasional slap has it's uses, but you want more than half the effect to be that you actually hit them! Surprise and shock should be the main sensations the kids feel, not pain. If your kids look at you after you hit them with a face that says "Is that all you got?" you are probably hitting them too often...

On the “pleasure” cross over... awkward isn't it? But it is true. A great philosopher once said “There is no torture so horrible that a human won't eventually fetishize it.” And so much is true, humans are sick sick creatures. That is all I am going to say about that, i'm sure you can elaborate.
Last thing. I am sure you want good kids, smart kids, and kids who will one day not put you in a retirement home, and to raise smart kids you need to keep them thinking. Don't be predictable in your punishments, unless it is something like “Bobby you tracked mud all over the floor get in here and clean it up!” those are always the best punishments... But don't ever rely on one thing too much. Don't always take away the video games, don't always reduce allowances, don't always send them into siberia with just a knife. Change up your punishments,
It's the beauty of negative reinforcement.

Close the book, having enjoyed a good read.

It is the end of an era. A saga begun on text in the 90s, ending now, in film, in a new millenia. Harry was our generation's Star Wars, our Lord of the Rings, our Flash Gordon, and our Buck Rodgers. It is was will define us to nerds and geeks for this century and the next, and it is what will make us who we are in our lives to come. It has shaped our world, and truly spread literacy to forgotten corners of society. In short, it is a part of us, and through us it will make the world a better place for muggles everywhere.

That eve the sun never set.

The Fourth of July, fourth is capitalized because it is the name of the day... Oh wait no, It's Independence Day. Oh man, formal names... too much formality for one post.

What was the first 4th you remember? I know you can think back a little and remember playing with sparklers when you were young, but that is not what I am really talking about. When I say "4th of July" an image pops into your head, what is it? What makes it great? What makes it stick so hard to the word that it pops up in your minds eye when you hear it mentioned?

For me, it is the 4th of July in 2002, the one right after 9/11.

I was over at a friends house for the festivities, and in that regard it was normal. Foods grilled up, drinks at the ready, and clouds begging to be shot. As the sun went down it started like an orchestra. Light explosions in the distance, slowly growing louder. Before the sun even set the mortars were going off, illuminating the sky... which is normal for mortars, and went double because of the thick cloud cover reflected the light (more bang for your buck I suppose).

On this 4th, in 2002, the orchestra did not stop growing louder. The night went on, and the fire never ceased, as if the eve was Americas new foe, and we as a nation could slay him. Explosions echoed, those too strengthened by clouds. Flashes off in the distance, crackles, firecrackers, thunderous booms of even larger explosives. That night we made America into a warzone, and we fought our foe with patriotism the likes of which I have yet to see again.

It was July 4th 2002;
That eve the sun never set.

In this country we extort the poor, not just for war... for everything.

Todays entry will be in response to this photograph:

















The photo, from this article, states "The military preys on low income communities."

And you know what- YES! YES IT DOES! Any organization that consistently offers jobs and 100% on the job training does. And who is looking for jobs that do not

• Require College education
• Require High school education
• Require A clean criminal background
  
• Require high intelligence
• Have any sort of race or gender bias for recruitment. (though they may for jobs)

And offers amazing perks like:

• Free college
• Free training
• Free healthcare (WITH DENTAL! - and one free elective cosmetic surgery!)
  
• Retirement after 20 years
• Job related disability
  
• Membership in nations largest gang
• TYRANNOSAURUS REX!

-_-


"Hey, would you like amazing job security and free college for later in life? You know, a chance to save yourself from the shitter of a life you have?"
"But I'm a high school drop out meth addict with no marketable skills :("
"Get clean, and you could go to nursing school!"
-True story


But ok, I understand, "preying" on the lower class is UNACCEPTABLE, and I agree that we should implement the only possible effective solution:

The draft.

"But Kale! the draft... I mean, forcing all men 18-25 into mandatory service... that is just wrong!!!!"

Oh, I am so sorry! What was I thinking? Of course! Expand the draft to include women... and just to be safe throw in the word "hermaphrodite" - don't want any stragglers left out do we?

"Buh-t, uh... mandatory service is institutionalized slavery!"

Yup!

Now - shut up, because in this country we extort the poor, not just for war... for everything.

You are a terrorist.

Most of my blogs are horrible and hateful rants against the man... where I take a situation wherein I have been spited by someone or something outside of my control, and I construct a piss poor excuse for a logical defense and explanation where I am usually... well lets face it I'm awesome, so how about a happy blog post for once?

ME SO HAPPY!!! I heard today that the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. (yes, it is an acronym) act got denied its extension... and well... I may hate democracy with a thermite fire, but they done good this time.

You see, I like clear and defined rules... rules that are unbending and unyielding. When I say "Do not build on this 1x1 square foot of land" I mean do not fucking build on that damn plot of land. In no case did I say you could not build over it, stand on it, build next to it, etc. I hate ambiguity (though I use it to my advantage like a Swedish whore), and when your laws have a multi million dollar budget financing the people that just interpret the damn things... well I hate you. Anyway, that was a tangent, another thing I use like a whore. But yes, clear rules. And the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act was a horrible, horrible misuse of power and I honestly do not see any practical purpose that it served. I (the un'merican bastard that I am) see it as a bad encroachment on privacy. Not that I am all about privacy, and it may not be a right in the constitution (the inanimate paper that several Americans treat like an infaliable god) but as far as I know, our houses were ours... well... because you said so Mr. Sam!

Why was the act needed? From common knowledge (what a reliable source, I know) and passed around knowledge, it allowed warrantless searches, wiretapping, and seizures, on suspected terrorists.

If they are suspected terrorists, I assume you have evidence, you know, that shit you use to get a warrant...

Fucking dumbasses.

But man, I disapprove of the contemporary definition of terrorist as a whole. I remember sitting in class in the 8th grade... now I never really raised my hand in class, because I never really knew a damn thing, but that one day the teacher asked a question "Does anyone know the definition of 'terrorist?'"

I. RAISED. MY. HAND.

"Terrorist: One who uses fear or violence as a coercive tool to effect a political landscape."

Next time you hear an election ad, and it invokes fear - Terrorist.

Next time you see someone post a Hitler stash on a president - Terrorist

Next time you tell someone that the other candidate will destroy America...

You are a terrorist.

How much do you hate someone?

Normally when you get someone pregnant it is a wonderful ordeal... weather it is a teenage mistake or not at some point there is happiness. The girl will hold her belly and and think for a moment "I am making a *new life" and smile, amazed at either her prowess or the divine miracle of conception.

From what I understand (I am not all knowing) the woman usually tries to get the father somehow involved in the ordeal. In recent years it is usually in the form of unpaid child support...

I'm not really going the blabber on about babies and pregnancy, but I will introduce a concept- The "vengeance baby."

I- hate someone... a lot. I can be civil to them, and polite, because I think it is the right thing to do in being polite. Mind you, I can be a polite asshole... but this lady that I hate... is also pretty attractive. So, the best way I can think of to just mess with them, is to take it to the ultimate level- The Vengeance Baby.

Operation Vengeance Baby has a simple goal, but to pull it off it would go through many steps...

1- Get her all hot for some guy. Simple enough, but finding an accomplice could be difficult...
2- Get her to agree to sex in a super dark room, bait and switch.
3- Get her pregnant.
4- Make her keep the baby.
5- Make her lose the paternity suit against the accomplice, it won't have his DNA so it's cool...
-Bonus points if it is a long and annoying trial.
6- Wait. Years from now, looking at her child she will see your face, and DESPAIR having raised the child of her mortal foe!
7- ???
9- Profit!

How much do you hate someone?

Just like the dancers.

There are a million things that I would change in the military, and most people with a higher rank would just yell at me saying that I do not understand how things work, as the elders do... but these are the same people who hate being questioned and cannot back up their decisions with logical reason... and because of their position... they do not need to.

It does cause problems sometimes, I for one crave a further understanding of the world and how it works at all times; my journey of discovery will only end in death.

Take for instance a simple order, "do not sling your weapon on your back with the barrel pointing up." Now when I was given the order I did so, as is my duty, but then I asked the young Sergeant "Why?" The single question that every parent hates, but I assure you my methods are sound... you see I already knew why we sling our weapons pointing down, (though I was unaware we were to do so at our location also), we do so because in Afghanistan we want the people to like us, and launching a round that could possibly go a mile and wound someone would be bad PR. Knowing that tidbit of information can reveal more information about why my commander makes the decisions in the way that they are made. From this one order we can assume that public relations are more important than soldier lives (a bullet ricocheting off the ground is more likely to kill than one shot into the air) so it drives home how important relations with the locals are. Is knowing this information important and life changing? No, but knowing the reasoning behind my leaders decision making process allows me to peek inside their mind, helping me grow as a leader, and with that better understanding I can better predict how my leaders would want me to act in any given situation. Is it life changing? No, but does it make me a better soldier? Yes.

DISCLAMER: For the love of whatever you hold dear, do not ask "why?" in a firefight... that is just retarded.

But this brings me to something that I do not understand. For those of you who do not know, the army is more than your employer... they are your landlord, doctor, and cultural authority. Today we will talk specifically the landlord responsibility.

Why does the organizational level of my room matter? I understand inspecting the rooms of the troops, but for things that are, oh, I don't know important? like the black mold, or the rust colored and bleach flavored water, the ceiling peeling off, and electricity not working. You know, concerns that are relevant that should be addressed. But why... why does the orange peel in the trash and clutter on my desk matter? It's my DESK, it has stuff on it, that is it's job. Why does my bed need to be made? Why do I need to organize my magazines? Why do I need to do my laundry that is just one days worth of clothing... Stupid concerns that honestly have no bearing on what is important: Work Performance, health, and happiness.

Now, I am sure a veteran Sergeant Major will chime in telling me to shut up and do what my leaders say, and some other NCOs as well. They will seek to explain this as maintaining discipline amongst the troops... to which I have several things to say:

1- So the discipline of married soldiers is irrelevant? I have never once heard of a married person getting their house inspected. Married individuals even have the option of living off base, and once there the military has NO ability to require an inspection. Meanwhile the single soldiers are forced to live in a shithole with their bosses noses all in their business. This argument, is flawed.

2- What the hell is discipline and why is it so important? Honestly! You would think it is some form of gold in how much it is sought after, but what is it really? Is it the ability to do what you are told? No, that is obedience. Is it the ability to perform a set of actions without being told over and over? No, that is memory. Well what is it? From where I am sitting discipline is the ability to dominate your lower brain with your higher brain. "WTF Kale, what does that EVEN MEAN?!" Well Ill tell you, let a mosquito bite you, and do not scratch it... Take a medical Pulse Ox (shows how much O2 is in your blood) put it on your finger, and hold your breath until it get's to 75%... Be in a firefight, and don't run.
In all of those situations your primitive power brain, your "instincts" are telling you one thing "scratch," "breathe," "stay alive," but you overpower the urge and fight through it. That is discipline, taking control of your own damn body. Overpowering the urge to flee from a firefight, that takes a lot of discipline... that is why it is important to the army.

But how do you build discipline? The military tries many ways, Drill and ceremony are one, and it was rather effective, making your bed and bothering you if you are unlucky enough to live in the dreaded post housing are another, and honestly it could be replaced with better methods. Who is the most disciplined group of people on the planet? Surely they would know how to do such things! But that would be the military right? They are super disciplined! I am inclined to disagree, the military in general are about as disciplined as a dance troupe. They train in routines, and repeat, one just does more improvisation, and has lives on the line... and has gotten shot at before so they are somewhat used to that thing... But no, as far as I know the most disciplined group of people in the world are Tibetan monks. When you dominate your lower brain so much that you can beat your own heart and increase your metabolism so much your skin makes steam rise from wet sheets... just wow. Maybe they would teach the militaries of the world a thing or two? Probably not.

I do not think that the military would really want that level of discipline... I think a level that lets you stay calm in a firefight, and when wounded would be enough. Everything after that is training in repetition and choreography...

Just like the dancers.