Friday, February 7, 2025

Adjusting My Presentation for a Broader Audience

By Tim Gamble
   Between Shadows and Light.

In order to appeal to a broader and younger audience, I have been making a number of changes over the last couple of months. You may be interested in my previous article for more background on why I believe these adjustments are necessary (article link). 

Here are the ongoing changes being made:

0) Content remains the same. I am not adjusting my worldview, values, beliefs, goals, or content to "fit in" with the world, but rather I am changing the way I am presenting it to the world. 

1) Formatting for skim reading. I am writing more articles in a new style, forgoing the traditional paragraph format in favor of breaking articles into much smaller chunks using headings, sub-headings, and bullet points. This allows the reader to consume the article as if it was a series of text messages. It is a new way of writing for me, and I am still figuring it out.

2) More culturally relevant content. I am utilizing pop culture icons such as Bigfoot, Arya Stark, and Wednesday Addams to convey survivalist information in ways that are more interesting and culturally relevant. I am discussing culturally relevant topics like drones, UFOs, aliens, AI, and conspiracy theories to draw in new readers.

3) More visually interesting websites. I have added new, more visually interesting headers to both my websites. I have cleaned up and adjusted my side bars. I am attempting to add more visual content (images, videos) into my articles.

4) More entertaining websites. I am using more entertaining taglines to convey a certain atmosphere, and to promote the websites:
  • "Resist. Survive. Thrive." 
  • "Where the Hidden Meets the Subversive."
  • "Between Shadows and light."
More changes are likely to come.
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Digital Age: Brain Development and Cognitive Function

By Tim Gamble
   Between Shadows and Light.

A high school teacher I know related to me a conversation he had with one of his students. The student complained about a reading assignment my friend had given the class. When he asked the student what the problem was, the student replied "there's too many words. It hurts my brain." The student, according to my friend, was not trying to be funny, but was explaining a very real condition.

The Digital Environment

People under 40 grew up in an age of the Internet, social media, text messaging, and smart phones. The younger they are, the more immersed into this Digital Age they are.

The digital environment has fundamentally altered brain development in those under 40, especially the youngest among them. This fact is supported by various research in neuroscience and psychology. Here's an exploration of how this is affecting cognitive functions:

1. Neuroplasticity and Brain Wiring
  • Adaptation to Digital Media: The brain's plasticity allows it to adapt to the environments it's most exposed to. For those who've grown up with the internet and mobile technology, neural pathways are more attuned to processing quick, multimedia content rather than long-form reading. This influences how the brain organizes information, favoring visual-spatial processing over sequential, narrative processing.
  • Attention and Focus: The constant switching between tasks and the brief nature of digital content leads to a neural adaptation where the brain becomes more adept at handling brief, shallow dives into information rather than deep, focused attention. This might result in a shortened attention span, where maintaining focus on one task for extended periods is more challenging.

2. Cognitive Impact
  • Shallow Understanding of Material:
    • Cognitive Load: When information is consumed in short bursts, there's less cognitive load on the working memory for depth. This can lead to a broad but shallow understanding of topics, as there's less motivation or practice in piecing together complex narratives or arguments.
    • Information Overload: With an abundance of information, individuals might skim the surface, picking up key points or buzzwords rather than fully digesting the content.
  • Poor Critical Thinking Skills:
    • Reduced Analytical Depth: The habit of consuming information in small, disconnected pieces means less practice in critical analysis, where one needs to connect dots, infer, and critique. Critical thinking skills, which require time, reflection, and engagement with complex arguments, are not as developed.
    • Confirmation Bias: The echo chambers of social media and the quick consumption of information reinforces existing beliefs rather than challenging them, further stunting critical thinking development.
  • Emotional vs. Rational Response:
    • Emotional Processing: Digital content often leverages emotional triggers to engage users quickly, leading to decisions or opinions formed based on emotional reactions rather than reasoned analysis. This is partly because emotional content is processed faster and more engaging in a high-speed digital context.
    • Neurological Pathways: The neural circuitry for emotional responses might become more dominant or easily activated, potentially at the expense of the more deliberate, slower pathways associated with rational thought.

3. Physical Discomfort with Long-Form Reading:
  • Physiological Adaptation: As reading long texts becomes less common, the brain develops the neural pathways for this kind of processing more robustly. This often manifests as physical discomfort or cognitive fatigue when attempting to engage with long-form content, similar to how unused muscles might protest after sudden, intense use.
  • Visual Processing Over Textual: The preference for visual and auditory media leads to a brain that's more adept at interpreting images and sounds, making textual processing less efficient.

Addressing Our Audience

In trying to win elections, influence politicians, promote ideas, or even gain readers to ones websites, we need to present information in a way that interests our audience, and so that they can process what we are communicating without difficulty. Since we are the ones with something to communicate, the burden is on us. 

For how I am trying to adapt my articles to a broader and younger audience in this digital age, please see my follow-up article to this one (article link).
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Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Bigfoot Survival Strategies: Learning from the Legend

By Tim Gamble
   Between Shadows and Light.

This article combines two of my interests: survivalism and cryptozoology. Combining these topics creates an interesting and thought-provoking analysis. I hope you enjoy reading this unique article as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Grok AI
Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is one of the most enduring and fascinating legends in North American folklore. If a large, bipedal ape-like species manages to survive undetected by modern science, they must be skilled at both survival and evasion. While the existence of Bigfoot remains a subject of hot debate, the many tales and supposed behaviors of this creature do offer some intriguing survival strategies. Here are survival lessons we might glean from the lore surrounding Bigfoot:

1. Bigfoot's Mastery of the Environment
  • Camouflage and Stealth: Bigfoot is quite elusive, easily blending into the forest environment. Lessons for survivalists:
    • Learn camouflage techniques for both clothing and behavior to avoid detection by wildlife or potential threats.
    • Move silently through the woods, understanding how to step, where to place your feet, and how to avoid breaking twigs or rustling leaves.
    • Learn by doing - if you want to learn camouflage techniques and how to move silently in the woods, the best way to do so is by actually getting out into the woods and practice these techniques. Consider hobbies like hiking, backpacking, camping, and hunting.
  • Knowledge of Terrain: Bigfoot knows his forests intimately. Lesson for survivalists:
    • Familiarize yourself with local geography, including escape routes, water sources, and edible plants. This knowledge can help in navigation and resource gathering.
    • Know your local areas of potential dangers (such as high crime areas, water contamination) and opportunities (potential resources such as local farmers markets, or nearby lakes & streams for water and fish).

2. Resource Utilization
  • Natural Shelter: Bigfoot constructs shelters from natural materials. Lessons for survivalists:
    • Build shelters using branches, leaves, and mud when necessary. Understand how to make different types of shelters for various climates (lean-tos, debris huts, etc.).
  • Foraging: Bigfoot likely lives off a diet of fish, deer, nuts, berries and other wild edibles. L
    essons for survivalists:
    • Learn to identify edible plants, fungi, and berries. Understand the seasons for harvesting and the signs of poisonous plants.
    • Learn how to hunt and fish. Again, the best way to learn is to do.

3. Survival Through Isolation and Adaptation
  • Avoiding Human Contact: Bigfoot's supposed avoidance of humans can be a strategy:
    • Maintain situational awareness. Pay attention to the potential threats and opportunities surrounding you. (situational awareness and the OODA loop article link).
    • Keep a low profile in survival situations where human interaction could be dangerous or detrimental. This includes knowing when to stay hidden or move silently.
    • The Gray Man strategy within the survivalist community is about blending in and not standing out in your surrounds.
  • Adaptation to Harsh Environments: Living in harsh conditions:
    • Adapt to extreme weather by understanding how to stay warm with natural insulation, finding or creating microclimates, and knowing how to start a fire in various conditions.
    • Practice by camping in winter, hiking in rain, etc.

4. Communication and Signaling
  • Vocalizations/Tree Knocking: Bigfoot is often attributed with unique calls or sounds, and engages in "tree knocking":
    • Communication is important. Although typically thought of as a solitary figure, evidence actually suggest that they typically stay in small, loose knit family groups, and communicate over distances with vocalizations and tree-knocking.
    • Communications gear: Having the ability to communicate over distances with others is important. For humans, this could mean anything from phones, to radios, to emergency whistles, depending on the situation.
    • Develop your own communication signals with your family, group, and tribe. Learn to mimic animal sounds to mislead or distract.
  • Leaving Signs: In some accounts, Bigfoot is said to leave signs like stick or rock structures, perhaps marking territory, travel routes, or areas of danger or resources. Lesson for survivalists:
    • Learn to use natural materials to leave messages or markers for others or yourself if you need to return to a spot later.

5. Physical Fitness and Endurance
  • Strength and Agility: Descriptions of Bigfoot often emphasize its physical prowess. Lesson for survivalists:
    • Maintain your health and physical fitness to handle the rigors of survival. This includes endurance for long treks, strength for building and carrying, and agility for navigating rough terrain.

While Bigfoot may or may not be real, the survival strategies derived from the tales of this creature emphasize living harmoniously with nature, understanding your environment deeply, and using every aspect of your surroundings to your advantage. Survival isn't just about having the right gear; it's about adopting the mindset of being part of the natural world, much like Bigfoot seems to do. By embodying these strategies, survivalists can learn to navigate, live, and even thrive in environments that are as wild and mysterious as the legends themselves.

My previous article: Cryptozoology for Survivalists - Myths, Legends, and Practical Wisdom (article link).

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Two books by Dr. Russell Jones that I own and recommend to those interested in the mysterious world of unknown beasts: The Appalachian Bigfoot (Amazon link) and Tracking the Stone Man: West Virginia’s Bigfoot (Amazon link). "The Appalachians are an ancient and mysterious mountain range, whose peaks at one time rivaled the Himalayans. The mysteries of these mountains have been cataloged by Native American tribes and settlers alike. One of these mysteries is that Bigfoot inhabits these parts."