Duck

Thank you Acouphene

The Fisherman

An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.

“How long it took you to catch them?” The American asked.

“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.

“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.

“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, señor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”

“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, señor?”

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions, señor? Then what?”

The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”

The Essence of PU

This flow chart summarizes it all.

Field tested two days ago. B Target compliance, A2 cleared, receptive to screening, close in sight ~ it's all about kino.

I've felt like writing this in a while, finding it cool that the gibberish actually means something.

Leviathan

Pee-Wee's Morning

Epiphany 1

I think that by starting the previous immaturely-inspired thread, I may have finally stumbled upon the answer to a question that has been blissfully preoccupying my mind for the most of the past 6 years. What is the significance and evolutionary purpose of laughter and thusly humor?

Let’s begin…

After reading Daniel’s comment I felt the inescapable urge to add a little of me although I vastly agreed with him (I can’t help it – and neither can you, o’ reader). I was going to state that toddlers merely had less self-restraint than adults. Paired with the inescapable nature of the phenomenon (Daniel), this made children interpret a taboo as a humorous superficial idea rather than a deeply ingrained psychological restraint (of which we are so casually unaware of). But why laughter, of all the emotions we posses? Why not anger? Why not fear?

Because laughter is our way of accepting and rewarding wit and creativity, specifically triggering feelings.

Have you ever noticed that jokes get old? That the best jokes are the ones that are most unexpected? That the sense of humor changes with time (I mean on the large scale – think decades)?

As long as it is new, within our intellectual grasp and not overly taboo, we laugh. Children, specifically, laugh the most because they discover more, because to them, the world is new. The anal stage, in particular, exists because it is an inescapable occurrence that is only amplified by the society’s enduring strive to hide it; and to children, it feels like an ongoing discovery.

Whether the last statement is true or a misguided explanation for the “anal stage”, don’t let my definition of laughter and humor lose its value.

Humor, in my opinion is evolution’s way of forcing us to stay creative and rewarding those who are quick with their wit. This is nature’s way of ensuring that when we need something done quickly, our brains are active and ready. The joy of laughter comes from the bond created with the humorous individual – it is safer and more productive to stay close to one who can provide quick decisions.

Of course, in our day, with the social distribution of work, humor has become more of a means of entertainment (a way of wasting time and relaxing one might add). Wit, being a requirement for a large fraction of our jobs, no longer necessitates humor for rehearsal. Nevertheless, this instinct still serves a mildly important purpose, although it has been demoted from its original glory of a survival instinct.

(Daniel, thank you for inspiring this thread.)

Ps: I'm sorry for all the photos I posted, but I just think they're very pleasant to look at...