The Hippie Viking Blog

I read a phrase that resonated with me. "The nonstop stresses of today's busy world can knock the wind out of any relationship." I think we can all agree on that. So how is it that most of us in the western world live with all of our basic needs met, and access to the most remarkable array of comforts ever available to humans, yet we are stressed out?  How is this possible?! How is it that we feel recharged and relaxed when we *exit* this world of comforts into a world of natural beauty? Mostly it's because we do a terrible job of using the tools that have been given to us by engineers, scientists, designers and other creative people who produce these modern comforts for us. Vacation and retirement are modern inventions born out of the desire to exit the crappy lifestyle we have created for ourselves. I include myself in this group that has done a terrible job at using the tools that others have created for me. Doing this right is called leverage. Leverage allows yo...

At the time of this writing, there is legitimate outrage over the death of George Floyd. If you have not watched the video, you can youtube that and make up your own mind as to whether the outrage is justified. I need to state at the outset that the birth defect (as Condi Rice says) on America that is slavery and segregation is being exposed at this moment and I have hope is that America will continue to progress toward equal treatment of all regardless of race. I had to clarify that because what I am about to say is targeted at the protesters who carry "Defund the police" signs, which even they must consider to be an utterly irrational response to injustices and systemic racism against Black Americans. I will provide a cynical response to that completely irrational request. Funding pays police salaries. So all I can conclude is that you want police to work for free, with lower pay or you want them to not exist. If you want them to work for free, there may be examples out...

We have all gotten a voicemail that is clearly due to a mistake made by a re-dial that went to voicemail. As you listen to the voicemail, there is a moment about 3 seconds in where you realize the call was not intentional, and the person who called you may reveal private information that was never intended for you to hear. At that moment, you have a choice to make...Of course your curiosity starts to run wild. "oooh, I wonder what juicy things will hear? Let's see if they say anything about me. I hope I can get some leverage over this business deal by hearing them talk about a competing bid" - You did not ask for it, but you are forced to make a decision. My recommendation to you is this. IMMEDIATELY when you realize it was a butt dial, stop listening, stop the recording!!  Ok...NOW you have the ability to make a more pro-active, reasoned choice. There may be very good reasons why you do not want to listen to what may be on that recording. Some of them may actually be ...

Context: Right now, the entire country is on "shelter-in-place" lockdown due to covid-19. We are 1 week into this, and there is rampant fear, hoarding, etc. A coworker shared this with me:  https://www.instagram.com/p/B-A3NY2haqq/  - After recovering from a sense of stunned inspiration, I thought about how it could be that the "spirit" that moved Shakespeare to write this hundreds of years ago is being transmitted through such a performance from Patrick Stewart. This is the opposite of degradation. When a creative work emerges so powerful, there is only one direction it can go - down. Patrick Stewart's delivery, at it's best possible outcome is to simply move the precious cargo along through the slime and muck of vapid instagram posts. I, the listener get to unpack the precious cargo. There is nothing that Patrick Stewart "added" to the original goal of Shakespeare's writing, yet it took him a lifetime to be capable of delivering the contents u...