Election Day

After my socializing on Saturday night, I went and did some more.

I decided to visit Bloomfield and use trick or treating as an excuse. Not an excuse to be there, but to knock on the door and have them think, "Trick or treaters!" Woke around 11:30 a.m., played a little Terraria, showered, and was on the road by two.
While driving north I passed a promotional car for the upcoming film Ghostbusters: Afterlife on the Garden State Parkway (GSP). I was listening to the podccast Hi-Phi Nation and the first four episodes of the fifth season concerns the philospher David Lewis. He played around with the ideas of parallel universes, causality, among others as an exercise to reorient other philosophical arguments. The first three episodes are very good but episode 3 is a stand-out touching upon positivism, skepticism, and causality. I replayed the first third of the podcast more than a few times because I was being distracted by my phone and stuff along the Parkway. For example: the Ghostbusters car. How the trees are turning so bright and shining red and gold in stark contrast with the dark, cloudy skies of Hallowe'en. Calling my editor-in-chief at the fortean website.

Needed to call my editor-in-chief (EIC) because Dr. Lam made an interesting statement about the scientific method. How Scottish philosopher David Hume dealt a mortal blow to a scientific approach to metaphysics, dealing only with the empirical rather than the potential. As I write this I am dreading maribou reading it and chuckling dismissively while whispering "spivak's razor". Basically Hume advocated the idea of falsifying data rather than promoting data. The relevant bit starts at 7m23s in this episode. Amidst all these mental distractions, my mind began to focus upon the dichotomy between Klein's perspective on science vs Hume. So I asked my EIC if he knew anything about alternative approaches to science which didn't rely upon falsification or negation. He didn't really know but laid out some groundwork for me to begin my own inquiries. As I approached Woodbridge, I made the association of conservative politics running parallel to skepticism. In short, "Well things are already working well. Why change things?" to counter the liberal politics of change. Conservative arguments constantly work to falsify liberal policies and force liberals to argue on the conservative's turf, rather than hearing out the proposals and why they are being considered as valuable to Americans. This struck me as being funny considering three quarters of people who have an interest in forteana and anomalistics tend to lean conservative. "Universal healthcare? Fuck that, but hey did you hear what Lue Elizondo said about AATIP and the Nimitz Tic-Tac Incident? Apparently they're opening portals at Skinwalker ranch to summon an army of bigfoots and herald the end times!" We chatted a bit more, caught up on what's happening in each other's lives, and our call wrapped up by the time I was getting off onto Route 22 east.

Getting to Bloomfield is tricky since I'm cheap. Sure I could've taken the GSP past the Union toll plaza, except I am cheap and want to avoid spending another $1.90. Once I made my way through Springfield, I turned on Google Maps which took me up Valley St. in Vauxhall then Ridgewood Ave. onto my destination. It was slow, but I saved money. There has to be a better way of reaching Route 280. I rang the doorbell and surprised my friend. They really thought I was the first trick-or-treater, welcomed me in, and we spent a good 3-4 hours shooting the shit about everything from shopping at Costco, tangents on divorce stuff, how one of the kids is hoping to audition for an upcoming production, the dogs, supplements and alternative health, and then we had some dinner. Just roasted broccoli, a rotisserie chicken, and a few french fries. Real trick-or-treaters interrupted us, but getting back into the groove of our conversation was effortless. I did bring up Thanksgiving and was asked to bring it up on the week of Thanksgiving since their online store is doing gangbusters business and they didn't know if they were going to need quiet time to recover from the crazy hectic pace of selling wares.

Getting out and interacting with people is beneficial for me. Gets me out of my head, which is important since I can make my head a very scary place.

spivak's razor

Long ago and far away in a magical land called Colorado, my friend maribou made up the term "spivak's razor" which she defined as "Ockham's razor, but stupid" along with the line, "If it seems true, it is!" I try hard not to use spivak's razor nowadays, but appreciate my limitations as challenges rather than barriers. It is disparaging, maybe a bit condescending, but it's out there and it sticks with me. Figured I might as well explain it for any new readers of inkubo.org.

maribou

My friend Jaybird married a Canadian from Prince Edward Island. She goes by the handle maribou. I have no idea if there's any relation to storks in this context. I got to know her back in the late, late nineties when Jaybird would phone me up at my biological father's business after hours then hand off the phone to her because he's not a talkative fellow. maribou, on the other hand, can (or could) go for hours. Fortunately she speaks English! maribou is a librarian.