Universal facts

One of the AFL-CIO booster films sympathizes with unionized postal workers. Carriers got up routinely at 4AM to start their sorting before walking the route. The narrator said “Nobody wants to get up at 4AM!”

That was the official universal FACT for many decades as seen on TV and books and movies. People got up at 8 and started work at 9 or 10. Only farmers got up impossibly early at 7AM! Before 7 was terra incognita, undefined numbers.

As with many other universal FACTS, the web has broken the old media and cultural monopoly. You can easily see how different people live, and you can easily find correct information about everything from introverts to obscure technologies. None of those experiences were available before the web. You had to rely on the strict censorship of media and libraries. Only rich travelers knew how people lived in different places, and even rich travelers couldn’t get into our Official Enemies like Russia and China. Our vicious propaganda was UNCHECKABLE.

Late rising was the unknown and undefined number in AMERICA. Outside of NYC, AMERICANS started work at 7 or 8, not 9. AMERICANS got up at 5 or 6, not 8. Lots of AMERICANS enjoy early rising, even when they start work later. Getting chores done first leaves more free time after work.

Old people turn into early birds. I was a night owl until age 60 when I rather quickly flipped to early. The change happened naturally and imperceptibly.

Describing my 2006 jury service, In recent years I’ve arranged my narrow little life for minimum stress, minimum expense, and maximum concentration. I’m thoroughly unaccustomed to the 8-5 routine, and being a nightowl, never performed well on that schedule anyway.

Describing my 2014 jury service, I’ve been running my narrow little early-morning hermit life for so long that I’m NOT accustomed to 10-hour days out of the house.

It was the same narrow little life, but around 2010 the temporal position of the life switched.

I’ve been called for jury again, starting next week. This is a federal jury instead of county, so I don’t know what to expect. The process sounds similar, but won’t know until I get there. The only sure thing is that my narrow little life (still early bird) will be seriously disrupted again. Not looking forward to the experience. I’m older and less adaptable than in 2014. Every major stress takes longer to recover. I’m also less charitably inclined toward government obligations after the worldwide torture of 2020, perpetrated by all governments at all levels everywhere.

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Later: The web difference also applies here. The letter mailed to jurors was short on necessary information. It didn’t tell us what to expect, just told us to call in on a certain day for further instructions. I found much better info online, which prepares me better for the real federal jury arrangement. Fed courts use the “one day or one trial” system, with much less pointless waiting than the county system.

“Low information voters” are an insult, not a fact. The slander really means “voters who don’t like my party”. When voters or customers don’t like a brand or a government, it’s NOT THEIR FAULT. The company or government is making the customers or voters feel like shit, and they’re responding rationally. If you’d stop treating us like shit, we might start trusting you.

The recent switch in Canada is a beautiful example. Canadians RATIONALLY hated Trudeau’s party. They were FULLY INFORMED that Trudeau was harming them. After Trump’s invasion threat, Trudeau suddenly started helping the country instead of harming it, and the FULLY INFORMED voters started appreciating Trudeau and his successor Carney.