Cut Throat's 2018 Half Time Review

We have past the half way point of 2018 and so it's time for my half way review.


1. Learn to Butcher and Fishmonger.

I can confidently gut, fillet and skin most of the fish that I like to cook. Monkfish is an exception but it is very rare for anyone to buy that whole. I still need to tick off more shellfish, mussels and oysters I'm fine with - though I have learnt that oysters are no longer a safe bet due to our world's oceans slowly turning into a sludge of pollution - but dressing crab, langoustines and deveining prawns are skills still to be mastered.

Butchery I have not practised at all and am relatively uncertain about where to begin, since it is an mostly impractical habit if you don't own a very large freezer or have access to wholesalers. I'll see what I can do with various bone-in joints to build some carnivorous familiarity over the next few months.


2. Study with a Purpose.

Reading has slowed over the last week as I prepare to move house, again, but I have ticked off almost my entire reading list when it comes to closely studying pedagogy. I'll be moving on to word religions soon which should take less time to familiarise myself with  since I have a slightly more compact reading list for that topic.

I mentioned using Nietzsche as a third area of study but I might swap that out for pragmatism/philosophy of science/epistemology just so I can spend a little more time looking at 'analytic' philosophers.


3. The Youtube Party is Over

Youtube has won. Damn.


4. Sleep Better. Eat Better.

Due to me having to attend a lot of late night events over the past couple of weeks I have gotten less sleep than I had hoped. Over the past couple of months I have gotten more unbroken sleep through reading and writing (on paper, not on a laptop) before bed. My diet has improved further, I have undergone a period of caloric restriction which even now has given me a more acute awareness of the sheer caloric density of junk food.

Cut Throat's 2018 Quarterly Review

1. Learn to Butcher and Fishmonger.

Plenty of fun had on this front, at this moment focused entirely on fish. Skinning, filleting, boning I do it all now. Just a case of practising this more before heading on to meat. It is very time consuming but also very satisfying to present someone with fish you have handled and processed from the start.


2. Study with Purpose.

I have picked three areas of study for the year: Pedagogy, particularly social/political debates about the purpose and nature of of good education; World Religion, since I know so little about them compared to Philosophy and finally for fun, Nietzsche... a lot of his themes resonate with me, others less so and it would be nice to have a properly informed position on his work.


3. The (Youtube) Party is Over.

This has been a mixed victory for me, a lot of my work now involves scouring Youtube for interesting sources and accessible videos so it hasn't been particularly useful resolution, however the block on social media has been both effective and well adhered to.


4. Sleep Better. Eat Better.

I certainly sleep better now that I have cool down period at the end of the day and I have generally started going to bed early and getting higher quality sleep. Cutting down on my casual alcohol consumption during the week has also helped me get deeper sleep. Finally portioning up my food and batch cooking has helped keep my diet in better shape, it is still nowhere near as under control as I want it to be but it certainly better than what it was before the start of this year.

Thoughts on Fake News: One Step Forward One Step Back

Wikipedia should be considered as an eighth wonder of the world. A totally open source encyclopaedia covering almost every topic imaginable that, despite the prejudices of some, is remarkably accurate. It is proof that democracy works; that allowing everyone to participate, even in something with as little margin for error as the construction of an encyclopaedia, can be as effective as entrusting this task to an exclusive team of experts. You can now receive a reasonably authoritative information dump on almost any subject you can think of, with an accompanying bibliography, within seconds. What's more through the use of 'talk pages', you can read through archived debates between editors so that you have context for why one article was written or edited one way or another. News can similarly also be acquired now through the internet and social media, spread through shared articles and first-hand reports rather than received from a handful of broadcasting corporations who decide in private which stories are worth spreading.

Stories of ‘Fake News’ perpetuated by trolls that tell more badly thought out lies with every passing minute and insular social groups curated by benign but ghettoising algorithms are the other side of this new digital levelling. Furthermore, this open source world is already being exploited by disinformation campaigns run by organised intelligence agencies. Wikipedia has so far proved fairly resilient to low level trolling and casual human error but attacks launched by state-sponsored groups have only just started to ramp up. Open source technology has so far sustained itself on the good will of the internet. There have been malicious attempts to subvert the format in the past but they have generally been easy to spot and correct. Now we are faced with well-funded groups working hard to find exploits that could give their masters control of this new digital space.

Some people are alarmed by this modern predicament of having more information and confusion at the same time. But fake news is not a new phenomenon; propaganda and misinformation have always been a part of media. When searching for information we now have a lot more junk to sift through but we also have more options when cross-referencing or gathering alternative views. The distribution of news through social media may be more open to abuse but has also allowed for a more independent culture of media consumption, and I can’t help but wonder if those decrying the rise of digital fake news, primarily those still invested in ‘old media’, aren’t just mourning the loss of their cultural capital. The public are undeniably growing less dependent on newspaper editors and it must be uncomfortable for them to watch their status as the cultural arbiters of truth slowly slip away.

There is reason to be worried about the future of online democracy; malicious disinformation, the rise of hyperbolic click-bait and the formation of online political ghettos are problems that could cause a lot of trouble in the future. In saying that I'm not sure a return to traditional media structures is really much of an improvement. 

Resolutions 2018

New Year Resolutions 2018

1. Learn to Butcher and Fishmonger.

 These skills make meat eating cheaper, provide you with a hands-on understanding of the flesh you consume and go some way to job proofing you in the case of societal breakdown. It is also a ridiculously satisfying skill to practice. 

2. Study with Purpose.

Reading sporadically and choosing books on a whim is fun. Selecting a topic and tailoring your reading accordingly can be even more rewarding. I have enjoyed being able to let my hair down and consuming whatever found its way to the top of my reading pile, but I have missed the satisfaction of really sinking my teeth into something. 

By the end of 2018 I will have completed three blocks of reading, each of which will consist of eight weeks of focused study. Micro-economics is certainly a candidate here, as is Python 3.0 and other ‘mathsey’ sub-disciplines that are alien to me.

 I will keep a record of when these periods start (and end) along with a note of their content. Where possible I will use these periods to simultaneously work on some sort of relevant project to show proof of learning.

 

3.  The (Youtube) Party is Over!

I have installed a website blocker that prevents access to Youtube on my home laptop between 2am and 8pm – meaning that Youtube will only be available to me in the evening. The potential benefits here should be obvious.

 

4. Sleep Better. Eat Better.

I am quite proficient at getting in shape through exercise, however there are limits to this approach. You grow in the kitchen and the bedroom. Eating right and sleeping well is vital to mental, physical and intellectual health, and I frequently neglect both.

This year I am going to work on developing a stable night time routine and more conscientious eating habits.  Achieving success on both these fronts will require a good bit of experimentation. Until a tried and proven strategy is identified, I will settle for a considerably vaguer intervention.

To start 2018, I will create a cool down period at the end of the day by reading in bed. I will also start writing weekly shopping lists; organised with macros, nutritional density and gross calorie consumption in mind.   

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MISC NOTES

Although I have included ‘Learn Butchery and Fishmongery’ in this year’s resolutions I intend to tone it down on the food front. Nitro-charging my cooking skills last year was rewarding and I am proud of how far I have come. However, it was the most time-consuming hobby of last year. Between sourcing ingredients, studying the recipe, cooking the food and cleaning up afterwards you can end up regularly sacrificing the better part of your evening to standing in front of a stove-top cooker.
  

I will continue cooking and playing around in the kitchen, but I will not force myself to spend time I do not have exploring new dishes. 2018 will be busy for me, so my sojourns in food will have to be reduced to an occasional indulgence rather than an everyday activity.