The one where giant monsters attack!

Last night I dreamed that Jen and I visited a theme park. The park itself was divided into sections, each built in a different style. We started in the "Farm Town" section of the park. It had wide, rolling hills with an occasional farm house or ranch. It was very beautiful and peaceful.

Unfortunately, the theme of the theme park was "Giant Monster Attacks!" Every 10-15 minutes, a giant monster would go rampaging through the park, attacking everyone. While we were exploring a ranch we got to experience our first attack. We heard a deafening roar behind us. We turned and saw Godzilla stomping towards the ranch. I like to think that if I was ever in a situation where I was attacked by a giant monster that I would be noble and try to save those around me, but what I learned is that I was filled with an all-consuming terror and a desperate desire for self preservation.

Everyone around us was screaming and running. I tried to remember if Godzilla would be attracted to movement or not. Should we stay still or run? I decided that I would rather take my chances in the screaming hordes of fleeing people than be the lone person standing in the open near Godzilla. I reasoned that if people were fleeing in every direction, what were the chances that Godzilla would go in the same direction that we chose to run?

Apparently the odds were pretty good. No matter which direction we ran, Godzilla seemed to home in on us. I wondered if I could buy some time by running in circles. Maybe, if its reflexes were slow enough, it would not be able to keep track of me. But then I realized that it was big enough that it would just step on me. I briefly considered trying to climb a tall fence to get away but quickly calculated that the fence only came up to Godzilla's knees.

At some point Jen and I got separated in the chaos. I think that was probably good news for Jen because really it looked like Godzilla was specifically tracking me. If Jen was not with me then she was likely safer. The only thing that ended up saving me was that Godzilla was easily distracted. When he reached a farm house he took some time to stomp it to oblivion. I used that valuable time to make my escape to another part of the park.

The exit to Farm Town led to two other sections of the park: "Game Day" and "The Suburbs". I looked over towards Game Day and I could see a large baseball park and a giant three-headed ape which shot lightning out of its mouths. I decided to head to The Suburbs.

The Suburbs was laid out like a little town. It had streets lined by picket-fenced homes with small yards. I saw a T-Rex rumbling down the street towards me, so I ducked into the nearest house hoping to find a place to hide. The house was filled with knick-knacks and curio cabinets. There were lots of crystal vases and china plates on the walls. The house was also filled with other people who were, like me, looking for a place to hide. Most of them were just crowded into the main rooms.

I remembered for sure that the T-Rex would be attracted by movement. I knew it was true because I got that information from watching a dinosaur documentary called Jurassic Park. So I thought that my best chance would be to find a small bedroom or closet with fewer people in it. I reasoned that if there were fewer people around then hopefully the T-Rex would be distracted by the large groups of people running and screaming elsewhere and not notice me.

It seemed like lots of other people had that same thought because in the bedrooms there was a person huddled behind almost every piece of furniture, no matter how small. Finally I located a dresser that was not occupied and I crouched behind it. I could hear the T-Rex tear through the outer wall of the house. People screamed and ran in all directions. The T-Rex crashed through interior walls and smashed furniture. It seemed to be enjoying itself. The curio cabinets and china plates made satisfying "crunch" sounds as they were ground into powder.

I knew that the T-Rex was coming for me so I decided to escape from The Suburbs while the T-Rex was distracted with destruction. I exited the home through a gaping hole in the wall and ran down the street to the next section of the park, which was called "Ninja Land".

Ninja Land was like a forest with small dirt paths leading through it. I followed one path until I came to a small ninja village which was surrounded by a wooden palisade. This looked promising! At least a defensive wall would provide some sort of protection against the monsters! I climbed up on top of the wall to help reinforce it. There was a ninja up there who was directing new-comers and telling us what to do. He asked me to get some wooden poles from a nearby pile and described to me how I should add them to the fortifications.

I was very excited to be part of a ninja defense team! While I walked over to the pile of poles I wondered if I also would be given shuriken and trained to use some ninja fighting techniques. When I arrived at the pile I saw that many of the poles were old and rotten. I grabbed some of them that were still new and strong and I carried them back to the wall. When I got there I realized that half of the poles in the palisade were brand new, strong poles and the rest were old, rotting poles.

The ninja in charge noticed my look of despair and told me not to worry. The defenses were purposefully made with half of the poles rotten because that would fool the other ninja clans. When they attacked they would not know which parts of the palisade were solid and which would just crumble when attacked. It seemed to me that it would be better to not have any of it crumble when attacked, but he just chuckled and shook his head at how naive I was about the ways of ninjas.

It suddenly registered with me that he had said that we were going to be attacked by opposing ninja clans. But we were also going to be attacked by giant monsters. I instantly realized that I had wandered into the worst part of the park. At that moment, dozens of enemy ninjas erupted from the trees around the village and started sprinting towards the palisade. They threw shuriken at us as they approached and I had to duck behind some of the more solid poles to avoid being hit. As if in sync with the ninjas, the T-Rex also burst from the trees at full speed headed towards me.

When the enemy ninjas reached the village wall, some of them were stopped because they hit the strong sections, but others were able to break right through because they came to the rotten sections. I still did not see how it was beneficial to have part of our defenses crumble immediately but I was too busy running for my life to really analyze it further. I fled towards the center of the village - away from the palisade, attacking ninjas, and the murderous T-Rex. There were shuriken flying everywhere and I tried to keep my head down while I ran. Those of us trying to defend the village were being herded into the main square. I saw no hope for escape. I feared that we were all going to be massacred.

Mercifully, my alarm went off and woke me up. That was not a restful sleep. I guess it is my own fault for recently watching Pacific Rim, Pacific Rim Uprising, Godzilla, and Naruto. O_o

One thing I can tell you for sure is that I will never again pay to enter a theme park based on Giant Monster Attacks!

Dreamed on 2/27/20

Progressive vs Conservative vs Socialist and US Historical Context

This is the text of a post on the boardgamegeek site forums which was posted by user rayito2702. I do not entirely agree with everything that he says, but the core of what he says I agree with. Primarily that we need a happy medium between unbridled capitalism and full-blown socialism. We need a regulated free market with catch-up mechanisms in place to assist the poor.

I used to consider myself a conservative. But in an attempt to rationalize the conservative embrace of Trumpism, I went looking for any historical value conservatism might have. Here are some of my conclusions.

Throughout much of the first century of the existence of the US, political and economic policy can be considered predominantly conservative. Small federal government, minimal taxes and regulation, etc.

By the 1890s, however, this method of government had proven a failure. There were many reasons, but a primary one was that the American West had been "won". Up to this point western land represented easy access to wealth for the voting public. You don't like your current situation? Go west, claim land, enjoy a fairly equivalent quality of life to any other American. It served as a political and economic pressure valve, almost like a 19th century UBI.

However, once the West was won and wealth was no longer being handed out, the existing economic policies of the US created an efficient rich-get-richer snowballing of the economy. In this era, known as the Gilded Age, the US was literally ruled by oligarchs. Government at all levels was corrupt and owned by wealthy individuals and corporations. There were virtually no legal ways to counter this influence. Wealth disparity increased. The economy was increasingly urbanized -- over 70% of Americans in the 1780s were farmers, but by the 1890s it was down to 40% and dropping. To survive, most American families had to send parents and children into the workplace to work grueling hours. Options for economic progress beyond mere survival were slim.

Then came the Panic of 1893, the worst economic disaster in US history at that point, and only exceeded by the Great Depression.

In the face of this conservative disaster, there was a ready alternative in the form of socialism. Many Americans embraced this option as a way forward and the first "red scare" in the US occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Into this divide, the progressives pioneered a moderate path.

Progressives rejected the basic economic ideologies of socialism as contradicting American values. Instead, progressives embraced free markets, personal property rights, and capitalism.

However, progressives rejected the Jeffersonian individualism of conservatives. Instead they embraced the Constitutional mandate to "promote the general Welfare" -- a phrase that has given conservatives heart-burn since the Constitutional Convention.

Where conservatives were individualistic, progressives were collaborative. Where conservatives were traditionalists, progressives embraced concepts learned from the scientific community and preferred to analyze data and outcomes to optimize government policy. Where conservatives relentlessly exploited natural resources, progressives embraced environmentalism and sustainable economies. Where conservatives blamed the poor for their poverty, progressives sought to understand how environment and external forces contributed to poverty. Where conservatives sought to maintain the status quo, progressives advocated the expansion of democratic opportunities to ensure all voices were heard.

With this in mind, progressives expanded the scope of government to function as a regulatory body to ensure that individual freedoms didn't undermine general welfare. They believed democracy would be the ultimate restraint on tyranny and keep government from becoming bigger than necessary.

Theory is all fine and good, but does progressivism work? Oh, my, yes!

Now, progressivism has never been perfect. But the value it placed on analysis and outcomes allowed it to self-correct in ways that have eluded conservatives. In fact, progressivism worked so well, it's probably the most revolutionary thing to come out of the US besides the Revolution itself. It's what made America the most powerful, wealthiest, and technologically advanced country the world has ever known.

It's how we created public education, came out of the Great Depression, helped win WWII and the Cold War, sent human beings to the moon, created the American middle class, created national parks and the EPA, amplified entrepreneurial opportunities, made the US the foremost manufacturer in the world, and developed the infrastructure that became the internet. Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon and Ford (to a lesser degree), Carter, and Clinton -- presidents of both parties -- embraced progressive policies. The 20th century, for the US, was a progressive century. Progressives made America great.

---

To sum up: conservatives and socialists are the extremes. Progressives are moderates. The 20th century shows that progressivism is far better than those extremes.

This leads to some compelling questions: why, when progressivism has proved to be so valuable to the average American and for almost 100 years had broad-based bipartisan support, has it come to be seen as extremist and "leftist"? And why, when we've known since the 1890s that the inherent extremism of conservatism has repeatedly lead to disasters (see 1893, 1929, 2008 for some economic ones, but there are a host of non-economic ones as well), do we keep trying to accommodate it as though it were moderate, reasonable, and practical?

Source: BoardGameGeek RSP Forum

The one with broken power lines

In my dream last night, I was told that there were some broken power lines that needed to be fixed. When I arrived at the location of the problem, I could see that there was a very tall metal tower with some loose power lines at the top. There were no ladders or cranes available so they told me to just climb the tower with my bare hands.

I glanced upwards at the tower. There was some metal cabling that criss-crossed between the sides of the tower that at least offered some decent hand and foot holds, but since the cables and connectors were all metal it seemed like a really bad idea under the circumstances.

I'll admit that the thought of free climbing the tower was appealing. I've always liked climbing and this seemed like a fun challenge. However I was pretty sure that the tower was tall enough that I would never make it to the top, particularly since the only exercise I get is swiveling in my office chair. And even if I was able to make it to the top I was nearly certain that I would be electrocuted somewhere along the way.

I expressed my concerns about electrocution to my boss and he said not to worry because he had brought some pool noodles that could be placed over the metal cables. He assured me that the pool noodles would act as insulators. Fortunately for me, while I was second-guessing my boss's plan two of my coworkers arrived.

One of them was wearing a safety harness with a long metal cable that he could attach to the tower while he climbed. It would at least keep him from falling if he lost his grip, but I was still worried about all that metal.

The other coworker was building some sort of pulley system out of ropes and some old logs. It was very elaborate and I thought that it might have worked if he had remembered to secure the end of the ropes to something large enough to act as a counterweight.

As I watched my two coworkers struggling to get to the top of the tower I remember thinking that the situation was not going to end well. On the other hand I was happy that it wasn't me climbing up that tower.

But I couldn't really help them out anyway because my boss had assigned me to take the psychopathic monkey to its new enclosure, feed it lunch, and then get it to carve a magic totem out of a chocolate coin.

Dreamed on 2/12/2020

The one where I'm a pessimist

I dreamed that I was standing in a large group of people. We were waiting to be assigned personalities. A lady was walking around holding a plastic bucket filled with strips of paper that had various personalities written on them. Each person would reach in and pull out a strip of paper and that is the personality that they would be assigned. 

I remember thinking, "I hope I get 'pessimist', I hope I get 'pessimist'!" I figured I could really excel at being a pessimist. 

Finally the lady with the bucket came up to me. I reached my hand inside, closed my fingers around a strip of paper, and pulled it out. 

I read the word on the paper: "pessimist"! I was so happy! I yelled, "Hooray! I'm a pessimist!"

Then I suddenly realized that I had hoped for something, and then I got that thing, and it made me really happy. I think that immediately disqualified me from being a pessimist. 

Dreamed on 2/9/2020

The one that was the most terrifying

When I was a young teenager I dreamed that I was walking home late one night. It was dark outside and I could see a few stars. As I got to the house about three houses away from my own, I noticed a yellow star high in the sky ahead of me. It seemed to be getting brighter.

I stopped and watched the star as it grew in brightness. It got brighter and brighter until it was the brightest star I could see. Then the star started to slowly move to the right, then slow to a stop, and then reverse and go back to the left.

As it slowly moved back and forth I could feel the wind pick up a little and it made a low moaning sound as it swirled around me. The star continued to move slowly back and forth, its path going a little bit wider each time, and it continued to get even brighter.

The star also appeared to be getting bigger. It was no longer just a point of light but it looked like an actual shape. Suddenly I realized that it wasn't a star at all! It was the Banshee from Darby O'Gill and the Little People. The moaning sound wasn't from the wind, it was the Banshee howling!

I was terrified! I looked around for a place to hide but my neighbors' houses did not have any trees I could hide behind. The house next door to mine had some raised flowerbeds, like mounds of earth raised about a foot. That would be better than nothing! I sprinted to that house and dove behind the little rise of earth as if I were shielding myself from oncoming machine gun fire.

I glanced upwards and I could still see the Banshee, slowly moving back and forth across the sky, and growing larger and larger as it got closer to me. Suddenly I could make out what the Banshee was moaning. Its words came out in a ghostly howl.

"I'm gooOOOooing to get yoooOOOooou! All yooou kids who stay up late at night!"

Terror filled my soul as I realized it was coming directly for me! I stood up and sprinted across my neighbor's yard and straight to my bedroom window. I tried to open it but the window was locked from the inside. The Banshee was only a few hundred yards away now and it continued to howl, "I'm going to get you!"

I fled toward the front door! To my relief it was unlocked. I ran inside and went straight to my bedroom. I turned off all the lights and crawled in bed, hoping that would either appease or fool the Banshee.

As I cowered under the covers I could still hear the howling getting closer and closer, "I'm going to get you!" I was frozen in terror, not knowing what to do. I could sense the Banshee right outside my bedroom window, about to pass through the wall and destroy me!

I woke up with a feeling of dread that I have never forgotten.

Dreamed probably around 1985?