Happy New Year

 I hope you have a healthy, wonderful and prosperous New Year. 

And if you are up for some change, just say so. 

Cheers

Just do not know where to start or maybe where to end

So is this the end of the year or preparing for the new year. Neither really, because this is just a hodge podge of thoughts from what I was thinking earlier today.

The year ahead is going to be interesting with the mid term elections and you won’t hear either party give you any meaningful ideas on how to improve the country. There will be a plethora of talk from the Democrats, but solid manageable public policy, probably not. From the Republicans, just a bunch of the Democrats don’t know what they are doing, so vote for us, but no real policy, yet this isn’t the gist of this post.

The past year has been crazy and next year won’t solve this past year, but hey we survived or at least those who are reading this post. Way too many people died due to stupidity.

So I will say I was right forty years ago, I was right thirty years ago, I was right twenty years ago, I was right ten years ago and I am right now. I just need to figure out how to get people to listen. Hmmmmm

It was over forty years ago when I first realized the coming failures of both political parties. I started telling people in college I was no longer going to vote for Democrats or Republicans. We had a somewhat extended social circle so I received quite a bunch of grief and absolutely no one believed I would carry it forward. It was difficult at first, yet I prevailed. I had one weak moment in 1988 and voted in one of the primaries, but by the general election I was so fed up I was so ready to vote for anyone and I actually did vote for some quacks as long as they were not representing either party. I have not looked back since. In a moment of curiosity I did vote in another primary, but that was to exercise some demons and I ended up having some fun. The person I voted for in the primary had about 1% support and by the general election I knew where I stood. The interesting part about the second primary vote was the person who was suppose to lead our precinct in the precinct meeting to report the totals and calculate the delegates did not show up so there was quite a bit of learning on the fly as people stepped up to read the rules, call the meeting to order etc. So I was very happy I attended and stayed till the bitter end. One reason I stayed was by happenstance I helped calculate the delegate totals for the people that actually cared/supported a particular candidate. 

Other than those two primaries and some very specific local elections where I know the candidate I have been steadfast in my avoidance of the two parties, yet this isn’t what I wanted this post to reflect.

It is all basic. Many years ago a very famous politician said all politics is local, which I agree. One main issue is though economics are not local. And this is one of the problems the two parties exacerbate. There are a myriad of circumstances that drive this from complete lack of caring from party leadership to the growth of lobbyists to the media driving their own agenda to much more. And the concentration of wealth and power decades ago is one of the circumstances leading our country into decline. The end result of this consolidation are general decline in education which is one reason we have right wing nuts, the wealth gap, the decline in wages versus the wealth gap and inflation, the most expensive health care in the world and not always the best, a caste system in this country that no one wants to admit exists, the struggles of small businesses to succeed and the pandemic heightened this problem, and of course the fraud that took the pandemic funds for small businesses away from them so they could survive, and much much more. 

Remember when people would use the phrase “honest labor”, when was the last time you heard someone say that. Most ways to get rich nowadays are to find a quick hit like bitcoin or committing some type of scam or fraud. The wealthy will stay wealthy and they ain’t sharing so the idea of actually enjoying the fruits of your labor is from a bygone era. There are a few exceptions and you probably see it in your city or neighborhood, but if you think for a moment you will realize how much they are the exception to the rule and nowhere near the norm. 

There have been so many articles I have read recently that I wanted to comment on such as the decline of people in middle age compared to their peers from a half generation previous to them, to the obvious that people do not want to work for shit wages in bad conditions with no benefits anymore(duh), to many others that point out the problems facing us, yet where are the solutions? 

And then there is the personal hysteria I get when reading articles from national writers or publications that are saying what I have been saying for forty years. Sure they worked hard to get their prominence etc, but they are not breaking ground with their comments, I have been moaning and groaning this stuff for decades, again, how do I get people to listen? 

So what is this all about, my guess right now is I want to force myself to get back to why I started this blog ten years ago and over the years have managed to stay faithful to at least a bit. And that is to espouse new ideas or at least ideas to actually tackle the problems facing us. The problems etc have changed somewhat over the last two years, but the basic fundamentals that will keep this country, the infamous light on the hill, hasn’t changed. 

Education, strong working and middle class, reduce the influence of lobbyists or basically do not let the winners of capitalism be in charge of public policy, start with the basic idea that all of us are created equal so we should be treated as such, just to get started. The idea is to find public policy that puts certain ideals into practice. 

I am a very conservative person, and please there is a difference between right wing nuts and real conservatives, however if you read this blog regularly you know that when I do present public policy ideas, I usually take a moderate to moderately conservative approach. Some people think that I am not that conservative because I make this adjustment in how I address issues or propose solutions. The reason being is that most moderate policy if implemented with intent and action benefits the larger public and hence benefits democracy, the whole of the country and gives us a better chance to continue to grow. If you decide to take a strong turn conservatively or liberally you reduce flexibility in public policy and the tack usually starts to only benefit those who buy into that side of the equation. We, as humans, tend to support our side even if our intent is good. 

Back when I made that infamous commitment to being an independent a very close friend of mine and I applied to do a conservative column for our college newspaper. Unfortunately we were not accepted. We were given some interesting reasons, but we could have made some adjustments. And I am not one of those conservatives that says the liberals were keeping us from speaking out. We were only trying to do this for fun so we did not push hard, yet this is when I began developing the thought process of the difference between ideological purity and practical policy to eventually move the needle forward. The real goal is to frame the conversation and propose the policy that adheres to your philosophy and still be productive. The exact opposite of the modern Republican party. Anyway the goal of our proposed column was to discuss the ideological push of the Reagan years versus the larger needs of the country and go from there. My friend and I had some rather animated discussions on what is conservatism and we really wanted to push that out also. We enjoyed life and enjoyed our discussions. He was one of the few people who supported the fact I went independent, yet he was’t always confident I could pull off a lifetime commitment. No one could back then and today I stand vindicated from that college circle, yet what have I accomplished. I made the commitment to hopefully get others to realize that the two parties are not written in stone and we need new leadership. Well I got married had kids, etc so priorities change and efforts are made elsewhere than changing the world. At least today I have this blog and going forward I will try to go back to the original purpose of offering different solutions for today’s world. 

I will continue writing about random topics, local sports and what peeves me off at the moment also.

So as you reflect on this past year or the up coming year, remember there are answers out there, maybe even in your own head that we need to hear because what we have seen for the last forty years has been a slow crawl to what Putin wants; the destruction of our country. We still have much to offer when you look around, person to person people still do well so we need to re harness the energy of our interpersonal relationships and bring those traits forward and figure out what works best for all of us.

I still could go down twenty thousand more rabbit holes today, but this is long and the Mavs were hissing me off, but with the temporary players they are fun to watch and maddening at the same time. They just lost too many close games to good teams so does this make them good when Luka comes back or does the ball stick to Luka’s hands too much again. We will see sometime soon. Anyway they play tonight so we will see how it goes Luka or no Luka. So I am finishing up with the fact the Cowboys still confuse me and will they be over confident Sunday or are they that good? And again lets see what happens with the Mavs.

Cheers

I wish you and yours a blessed and wonderful Merry Christmas

 The kids always ask what I want for Christmas and I tell them peace on earth. 

This year I also ask that we all remember that we are all part of the human race here together and maybe to show a bit more civility to each other. Find a bit of compassion for each other and see what we can do to help each other. 

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of the person who gave us the “golden rule” so why not start today by treating everyone you meet wherever you go with love and respect. It may seem a bit much to ask nowadays, but if you really want to celebrate Christmas and the birth of our Savior then that would be the greatest gift you could give to him. 

Just a simple thought for a simple birth.

Merry Christmas

To the current youth generation, are you listening to yourselves?

I keep saying I am going to do a better job of citing my sources or referencing my articles, but alas, I read this article a few days ago so going to with a recap from memory.

And there isn’t much to remember, except that there was a poll of young adults on their orientation towards either Democrats and Republicans. And as how most people feel will happen the younger generation did tend to lean towards the Democrats over the Republicans. The good news to me was that most, yet not a dominant majority were not happy with either political party. There was a decided lack of confidence going forward that either party represented them or had the better policies for the future.

And I know young people do not want to be told what to do from the ole guy, but are you listening to yourselves? If you are not happy with what choices we have, are you ready to make changes? Regular readers know I espouse we need new parties religiously, but if the next generation of potential political leaders are lacking engagement with the current parties, wouldn’t they want a vehicle that better represented them? 

I bring this up because we need the change. As you know I have felt both parties started failing us years ago. If you are seeing this also, wouldn’t you want to create something better?

The article did not say that there is an abandonment of the two current parties, yet more of a trying to figure it out feel among this up and coming generation. (my interpretation)

Anyway some food for thought for those of you who feel that going forward the current two parties are not for you. 

Cheers

Have we reached a new level of cognitive dissonance or even a higher undefined or unlabeled pop psychologist term?

 I do not know if it is the anger, the confusion, cognitive dissonance, the frustration, the madness, or what it might be, yet I know I am there and it appears many on this planet are struggling to define where they are. 

The world has gone so crazy that anyone trying to identify with rational thought must have reached a new undefined level of human state not seen even in the history of God’s universe. 

We need a new term, a new phrase, something that the Germans carve together out of fifty of their words. 

If you are not anywhere near fifty feet down in a cave you know how far off the rails the Republican party has gone. I try to let them be, okay sometimes, but the level of madness they are now producing is unfathomable. How do adults become so unchildlike while acting childish? And all the while the leadership stares at them hoping it will all go away, that they find themselves back in the sandbox together, and get control of Congress. Do we really want them in control?

Yes I always say the Democrats are clueless and the progressives are driving their own crazy train, yet they are able to state a destination. I may not like it, but at least I can see the map points and the stops on the way to a small degree. There is no bonafide conservative public policy being espoused in the public arena right now. All this is another story though and been the subjects of countless blogs, articles, etc some mine, many others, but the crux of the conversation for today, is just the utter madness being disseminated from the Republican Party is beyond comprehension.

And in reaching their complete lack of functional being, they have dragged the rest of us down something so unique it is hard to describe. The rabbit hole was so far back in this journey we no longer have a frame of reference, a compass, an understanding of up and down. From what I have read if you go so far into the depths of the ocean you have no ability to know if you are righted. We are past that stage. 

So again, we need new terminology, new definitions, new descriptions of what we are racing towards. This is unparalleled in human history, maybe even in pre-creation history. How can a society who feels they are the greatest of the planet they inhabit, create such a schism in rational thinking? This is the pale beyond the pale. I am just throwing out analogies to hopefully try and find a word or thought that might give us the “righting” we need to stand on solid ground again. Alas I fear it may be too late for us. The destination we are on is headed to uncharted water and at this point we are headed to the ends of the Earth and will fall off. The long voyage in Narnia series made more sense than where we are today. And remember it all started with going through a wardrobe. 

So please hold onto your hats and keep your eyes wide open because we need someone to find us and bring us back.

Brrrrr, the coldness is deafening my senses and real human warmth seems so far away. 

Happy belated Thanksgiving

 Yep a bit late on this holiday shout out. We were redecorating the household leading up to Thanksgiving and believe me it was a project that still needs some slight touching up, but we managed to get it done in time. The better half was on a roll so we got some things done. And believe me we were working and shopping till late Wednesday evening after having started last Friday.

Now the better half is already thinking about her next steps.

Anyway I hope you spent time with family and friends for Thanksgiving and had a great day. We certainly did and that is something to be thankful. 

As always the service industry workers get screwed. And shoot some people wonder why people aren’t excited about getting jobs for substandard wages and horrible hours. 

It kills me the “conservatives” in politics do not do anything for family values when some very basic steps like making sure people can be with family for holidays would be a giant step in the right direction. Conservative politicians have been all lip service for decades to the idea of family values. And you wonder why I call Republicans, conservatives in name only. (CINO)

One reason we struggle in this country is because making corporations excessively wealthy is more important than the family.

And there was a bit of football on yesterday and it appears the Cowboys are going to be closer to my preseason prediction than it looked like a few weeks ago. Denver exposed the weaknesses and teams are starting to figure out how to attack the defense. Some changes need to be made in a hurry. I am sure all other football fans who watched the game got their money’s worth, an OT game that had some excitement at the end. Yet if you cannot connect on a 3rd and 4 you are going to lose in OT.

Well again I hope you enjoyed some good food yesterday or maybe sometime this weekend. Folks we still need to remember the love of family is more important than these political divides so hopefully people shared that love and not the madness permeating our country right now. 

Cheers 

A flexible idea for the student debt crisis

 Everyone knows there is a problem with student debt, yet the only solution you here is for President Biden to cancel a certain dollar amount of the debt for each student. This is only a band aid approach. Some issues going forward are, what do we do with the portion that isn’t cancelled and how do we allow borrowing for future students to be an option to pay for college for those that need it.

Historically I try to come up with alternate solutions our country faces and so I have packaged some thoughts to address the present and the future. 

This may or may not be the exact answer we need, yet as always there is flexibility built into my ideas.

This is a three part approach for the current debt and then what to do going forward.

First I am going to say a certain amount of the loans will need to be cancelled. How much is the question. For right now I am not going to suggest an amount because that is dependent on two other factors and the first one is the next step.

This is the hardest step, not because it isn’t feasible or the logistics of it can’t be done. The hard part is getting a certain group of people to agree and then accept they need to act. I am talking about the colleges that have trust or endowment or any other types of funds, use a portion of each of their funds to make a one time payment towards the debt of students that attended their university. Trust fund managers are not the type of people who like to give money away and the boards of these universities are not inclined to accept they have a responsibility towards some of the debts their students incurred. This managing the public pressure and finding a way to induce government pressure will be needed. Their participation in this program is needed. And I think should be required. How do we get to the required is a sticky endeavor. I do feel their goal would be to help their students so eventually the students give back when able.

Lets say we get some buy in, then we need to determine that a percentage of the existing trust fund balances would be peeled off and split among the students that attended each university equally and not dependent on the size of the debt. 

A simple example and of course this can be adjusted once realistic numbers come into play. So each trust fund sets aside 20% of their total balance and for a period of time students with debt sign up. Once the number of students have signed up then you do the simple math, so if the trust fund is a billion, then 20% is 200 million and if 100,00 students sign up then $2,000 would be paid off for each student. Again this is just an example and is only part of the solution. This would include all loans including loans parents took out. And as time goes on there is a second step Trust funds would have to contribute

Add in what the government cancels and maybe you can get to a reasonable reduction of debt for many students. 

The third step is for the present and for the future. 

And as we resolve reducing the current dollar amount in debt we need to help people going forward and as a conservative I am anathema to saying this, but we need a one stop financial center probably similar to the social security system where the money is managed by government agency, but kept apart from the government budget. Basically I am saying we consolidate all of the non private student loans into one organization and charge a very minimal interest rate basically to pay the administrative costs, not interest used to make a profit. And when I say minimal rate, I mean one percent give or take. Again this is for administrative purposes only. This allows people to pay down the rest of their debt timely and quickly if possible. It is the interest rates that grow the debt so if we remove most of that issue then people will be able to make payments that actually reduce the amount they owe. 

And we also have a charge on the income of the above mentioned university trust or endowment funds, and it will not be a cumbersome amount to help fund the loan fund above. Why you ask, because this same administrative organization for paying back debt would now be in charge of loaning money to students through FASFA or something similar. Eventually the money paid back to the fund becomes the source for new loans and add in a small amount each year from the universities and now student loans become affordable with ongoing minimal interest. The universities benefit because students have another manageable resource and students benefit because basically they are only paying back the cost of their education not continuing interest fees. 

In the end we have one resource for all student loans, not motivated by profit and the current student debt is reduced in a one time paydown and the remainder becomes manageable debt because 99% of each payment goes to the actual debt. 

The math is all for example, but you can understand the gist of the idea and play around with it to make it work. 

Just a thought since no one else seems to have one.

Cheers

Where’s the money, Mike?

One of my offspring may write a more specific post or something somewhere down the line with this same title, however I am taking a more general approach.

And most of us have at one point, if not more than we can count, have experienced this issue and that is getting our money back for something.

And some places are better than others, for example retail stores will have real specific return policies or a few will still make the return right away. Some will give cash back if a debit card was used on the spot. Some will state specifically on the receipt that you have to have the receipt and return within so many days. I partially understand the need for this requirement since people do take advantage of certain situations. I have seen and it has been awhile you would be mailed a check. Most stores that instituted policies like that do not last long.

There are so many examples of where you, the consumer, put money up front then are bound by a whole host of rules and procedures you have no control over for when the money is returned.

This can be simple going to the gas station and fill up at the pump. There will be a $1.00 charge along with your actual purchase After a couple of days this charge will fall off your account. Sure not a big thing, just a simple inconvenience. It gets worse though. 

Another example is hotels are charging higher and higher amounts for potential incidentals, so you let your card be charged for this amount and then 3,4 5 days later the charge drops off. This can be a real inconvenience if you are traveling and going from place to place. This means managing a secondary budget to allow for money not available to you for days.

The first time this happened to me was in the 1990′s and I was caught so unaware. I got over it because I had to, yet it was a significant amount of money because we were on a family vacation and I had two rooms for about 4 or 5 nights and this “resort” hotel charged this fee per night per room so I had put up the money on the card thinking I would get it back when we drove home. Historically I keep my savings in a different bank than my checking so when they told me I would not see the money back in my account for about 3-5 days I was livid. I had let this money be deposited thinking this would be the money I would use for our drive home. Yes, folks that was one very tense drive home and it was two days. Lesson learned, but no one at the time told me that was the expectation. And unfortunately this is how most consumers learn what is going on, basically hard lessons.

I have been on two ongoing driving trips this year and each time I had to plan a budget that allowed for a moving target of money. I make this situation a bit more complicated than it needs to be, yet it shouldn’t be an issue to watch your accounts daily to make sure money is being  charged correctly. I use a credit card with a small credit limit that I pay off each month, but on these trips I am literally making payments as we go. The reward is a very good cash back plan so I make the effort. I do use this card frequently, but we pay it off each month so we do not incur interest charges. To help us achieve this goal we keep the limit in check. 

Anyway in one case it took over a week for the card to show the correct charge for one of the hotel stays. This shouldn’t happen, yet it does because corporations still rule the day. If a business does business well, it will continue to grow and prosper, but when they start using tax laws to increase profits and lobby against consumer protection laws that should be a hint that the consumer, you, is not their priority.

Capitalism and corporate profits should rely on how well they provide goods and services to you, not try and satisfy the needs of Wall Street. Investors will still make money if a corporation only makes 90 million instead of a hundred million because that extra ten million was spent on good relations with customers, higher wages to their employees or better products without raising prices every excuse they can find. Your money should be in your control not theirs. And the hotel example is just one example. 

Think about this, how many people are renting nowadays? How long do they take to get their deposit back when they move? How many people buy online nowadays? Is their a store nearby to return a bad item or do they have to wait x number of days and go through the hassle of boxing up and mailing? Or what about service contracts where you still have send off the item to be repaired and it could be weeks. 

If corporations want our business they need to show us they want it, not spend millions of dollars trying to influence laws at the national and state level for their benefit. In the long run their year to year profits may be a bit less at first, but over time the growth of their business as they build trust with their customers and employees will mean that business can last a long time if they put the people they interact with first. 

Think about what businesses thrive, some have loyalty programs that keep coming back, some have good products that people enjoy, some have employees that enjoy working for the company, yet to obtain this business they have invested in what the customers and employees want and need. These businesses will be around. Businesses that rely on taking advantage of the system eventually lose out. Okay some businesses have the market change on them, but could they have invested in the future while they were successful and changed with the times they may still be around. 

So why the title Where’s the money, Mike? Specifically because there was an incident where the incompetence of someone cost someone dear to me time and money and stress. And we made the joke, where’s the money? Generally because Mike is that business that thinks more of itself than you. It creates policies and procedures that allow for them to overly control a scenario to their advantage. Slowly but surely customers drift away and the business suffers. 

So whether it is a large deposit that takes time to return, or the effort to fix a problem, or a product that is difficult to return or get repaired, this costs you money. And where is it if you have to make an effort beyond paying for and obtaining the service or product. It is coming out of your pocket.

And again this is why I scream democrats and republicans do not care about you and you should help us have new major parties. If either party cared about you consumer protection laws would be high on their policy agendas. They aren’t and do not say it is the other guy because both guys have been in office and where are we? 

So where is the money Mike? Time for you to answer to the people that put that money in your pocket year in and year out. 

It is closer than you think, but

The infamous holidays are right around the corner and I wish I had thought of this post sooner. So if you are preparing for Christmas by going to the store and doing all your shopping, how about really preparing for Christmas and go to church. Walmart et all have ruined Christmas for me by putting out Christmas decorations in September and October. I just can’t stand to see rampant commercialism for three months.

I did receive some vindication a week or so ago. I briefly read an article that discussed a poll stating over 60% of Americans actually prefer for stores to wait till after Thanksgiving to put out Christmas decorations and merchandise. I did not get into the weeds of how extensive this poll was, but it felt good to see that number.

Anyway there was an election yesterday, and of course the Democrats lost the Governor’s race in Virginia because they were clueless as always. They should have paid more attention when the Republican candidate tried to distance himself from Trump. No, they went into anti Trump mode and botched the whole thing up. Apparently people in Virginia had other issues on their mind besides Trump is the boogeyman. Again if a Republican is distancing them self from Trump right now, there is a bright flashing sign that says you might want to dig a bit deeper into what is going on. I do not vote for either party as you know, but seriously I saw that coming all the way here in Texas. I wish I had put that prediction in writing, but if you read the last post I spent 7 days in a row behind the wheel with the only stop of any significance was to load up two vehicles to drive back to Texas. I did read the news some and it was obvious that train was coming straight at the Democrat party. The dust from the wreck will take a while to clean up. So if any Democrats are paying attention, better read the tea leaves carefully for 2022 and you will see more Republicans finding ways to avoid the Trump wreck. Some of it will be very subtle, but in many swing states and purple areas they will be walking that line with as much dexterity as they can muster. 

There will be Trumpian bandwagoneers, but these will be in true Trump base camps and that will be obvious, but anyone close to a tint of blue in their district will toe the line on what they say. 

Otherwise are you ready for the change of seasons and the holidays? It is time and I am certainly looking forward to a few holiday treats, some candy, some good wine, family, outings, friends, trying to avoid the music till late Thanksgiving day, yet ready for it, eggnog and more eggnog, good food, hopefully a bit of snow, the decorations after Thanksgiving, and more. It was a bit chilly today and will be tomorrow so time for the sweaters and the wishing for peace on earth.

Cheers

2800 plus miles later

So you are out and about or maybe halfway across the country, yet either way the more people are not wearing masks the more I want to wear one.

Remember when conservatives said they had common sense, so explain to me that when there is an airborne pathogen that no one can tell you with 100% certainty what this disease is all about why wouldn’t you practice a little common sense and wear a mask. Sure you can not trust the vaccine since it is not the typical vaccine that took years to develop, but the simple wearing of a mask is a problem??? Seriously, a little common sense goes a long way. And I know old news, but cannot be said enough. Hopefully someday someone will listen.

Anyway we are back home, hoping to rest, yet this is America, got to get right back at it as soon as you get home. I am too old for that crap, but still fell into it. Today was a long day at work just trying to catch up with emails. And whoever invented electronic mail needs to be tied to a park bench and covered with peanut butter. Let the squirrels eat those nuts.

Yep a bit bitter for having to work today, but overall in good spirits. We moved the youngest back home so much driving with a full vehicle,(actually 2) yet we did make a couple of almost side trips. So there were moments, but was in the vehicle even for just 3 or 4 hours every day. Eight full days of satellite radio and frustration that no one can drive anymore. Lucky to be alive a couple of times. It is simple folks, plan ahead and you won’t have to cut across 3 or 4 lanes at 70 mph. 

People generally are in better spirits I guess. Ate at too many restaurants and had some good food most of the time. Tried to eat local some of the time, but the theme of this on Godly endeavor was the Cracker Barrel road trip. We probably ate 5 of our breakfasts at Cracker Barrel along with a lunch or two. I did reach a saturation point.. I guess that is why we over spent for dinners.

The drive was across most of the south so Fall wasn’t completely in gear yet when it comes to the colors. There were strong hints here and there, but mostly a tired looking green. The great aspect of the drive is the South does have quite an enormous amount of forests so the drive was visually pleasing for long stretches. The closer you got to the coast it was a bit flatter, but the northern half of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia had quite a few tree lined highways. South Carolina not so much or at least the route we took, North Carolina is always beautiful and we did take a half day, day trip and walked through a bit of history and again spent too much on dinner, but it was beautiful view overlooking a river a few plus miles before it spills into the ocean. And of course one of us got the t-shirt.  The deep blue of the river stretched out in front of us with a gentle breeze blowing through the patio of the restaurant made for quite a pleasant evening. And of course it helps the food was good, some fish, some crab cakes, and a nice simple glass of white wine always makes for a good dinner. 

We also touched beach sand and got my toes wet for about a hour, and well then another seafood dinner. And this was good also.

Overall too much driving and not enough seafood and white wine, but the times we did take the break it was very rewarding. 

Now all of the adult munchkins are home, so the better half is really looking forward to the holidays.

Cheers everyone. 

The truth about CRT

Your teachers are too busy trying to get the children back in the classroom and reacquainting them with math, science, English, history to actually start doing a deep dive into a highly indepth concept such as critical race theory.

Go talk to your teacher and ask what is their biggest challenge in the classroom and what are they teaching. Do not ask anyone else. Ask the teachers.

They just do not have the time or resources or energy to go off on a deep end theory. It doesn’t matter whether you think it is right or wrong, the vast majority of the teachers are struggling just trying to teach the ole infamous “ three R’s of reading, writing and arithmetic” 

Stop arguing with each other and go help a teacher in the classroom for a day. They need help just getting the children to open up any textbook. 

Stop the madness.

Something a bit different from me

 Good evening one and all, just checking in to make sure there is still a bit of sanity left on this planet.

Anyway was going through the internet feeds when I ran across an article by Jonathan Lee via the New York Times about of all things park benches.

I read through it and it got me to thinking how Dallas really doesn’t have a long history with parks. Yes there are a few, there is Tennyson Park in East Dallas, and White Rock Lake a bit further east. There are a few in Oak Cliff where I could probably drive there, but do not know the name, yet overall the history of Dallas’ parks are more the playground type as the bedroom communities built up as Dallas expanded.

Now do not get me wrong, I grew up enjoying the heck out of these parks and many of them have a small creek that runs through them so you get a tad bit of nature to go along with the playground equipment each of them have. 

Nothing compares to being 8 years old running up and down creek beds, or playing on the swings or merry go round or other equipment or swimming in the local pool and at that point in time that was the only thing that mattered. And the park benches were more for sitting down for a moment to catch your breath. Other than that there really isn’t a long history for nostalgia for either parks or park benches compared to the thoughts expressed in the article I read.

And I guess there isn’t anything to compare which is okay, Dallas is not that old of a city and it doesn’t have a very rich history. This city was built on prairies and originally attached itself to this mud pit called the Trinity River. Okay it is actually a river, but do not get excited about it. It runs along the side of downtown and they had to build two fancy bridges to get anyone to even notice it. Other than that East Texas oil money moved here in the 20th century so we have a few big buildings downtown, excessive housing, some fun spots to hang out in Uptown, Harwood and Victory Park, which isn’t a park, but houses the American Airlines Center, residential living, some restaurants and a couple of other entertainment venues. And of course there is the Dallas Cowboys, which surprisingly are doing better than I expected so pleasantly surprised. Of course they may blow by my prediction which is okay with me since I am a fan.

Anyway parks in Dallas exist, and yes there are a few in the older parts of the City where some older residents can reminisce, yet most people who grew up in Dallas probably have the same memories that I do. Parks are where we played while we grew up. And I grew up quite a while back so there was more freedom for kids. We ran around like nobody’s business and unfortunately the kids today do not have the same freedoms we had. Parks were a big part of that freedom. 

And the playground equipment was much different. At least some progress was made in developing safer equipment, I know there were more than a few accidents since there was rarely adult supervision. Even when parks were staffed they were teenagers who earned less than $2 hour to check out gear like softball and baseball equipment, horse shoes, etc and so they really didn’t pay much attention to what was going on around them. And the only phone was the payphone by the pool or the phone the pool staff used.

And if there was no pool, there was no phone so getting help was an interesting endeavor. And pools were important. I swam for hours on end during the summer and eventually became a Jr. Lifeguard at one point because you know being a lifeguard was cool and you got paid, and yes less than $2 a hour, if that. A 12 year old still wanted that job though. Times change and so do people so I never finished that career path. 

And I do have fond memories of parks, but to compare it to the history of park benches in the article I read, I felt a bit cheated. Nothing can be done, I grew up here, other people grew up in New York or Europe where there are parks that have an even richer history. People can sit on those benches and it is a whole different world to imagine. I have been to London, Madrid and a few outlying cities or what may be called suburbs in America and did walk through some city parks and enjoyed them, yet I didn’t stop and feel the history which now is something I wish I had done. Do not get me wrong, I really enjoyed the walks and sight seeing involved, but to stop and really just sit down on a bench and absorb everything around me was not something I thought to do. Hopefully next time I am in our country either in New York or Boston or some other New England state I will try to remember and stop for the moment. And if I ever get a chance to go back to Europe or some other part of the world with a rich history I will kick myself if I do not immerse myself in the experience of sitting in the moment to feel the history. 

Parks are a part of our lives and do need much more recognition than they receive, whether in an article about benches or us contributing to projects that build more for the next generations. And these thoughts are for the large national parks to city master planned projects to the neighborhood park that may barely span a city block. If you do not have fond memories of all types of parks, then you have missed a wonderful part of life. There is nothing like camping at a state park, exploring our rich history of the west, canoeing on a river, boating on a lake, playing with other kids on a swing set, or walking a path through a large city park enjoying the view and talking to friends as you go along. I feel for you if you have missed out on this part of life. All through the world you find parks of some kind, so find and enjoy them and like the article discussed, sit on a bench and find yourself caught up in the moment and the history.

Cheers

Your technology is killing you

And this isn’t about that robot movie with Will Smith. This is about the day to day drain technology is having on your life and the problems it is creating or can create. And it is not about the Facebook scandals or problems either.

I wanted to write this days ago so trying to recreate my thoughts, yet even my first thoughts were a hodgepodge of examples of why you life is worse now than it use to be. Sure in some respects technology still makes some aspects of your life more efficient especially at work, yet overall how much benefit are you receiving versus cost to you.

Oh, you say I receive bonuses for using companies apps. True, yet do you think they are giving something away for free. You are benefiting corporations by using their apps. They are training you to behave in the ways they want you to behave.

Or my word processor program helps me greatly with my letters and emails. Are you sure? Most people do not use half the features available to them, yet you paid handsomely for that program or your company did. Maybe a few people are word geniuses, yet most of us only touch the service. How much benefit are you achieving?

And the same goes for all the office software on your computer. How well do you know your functions on your spreadsheet. Some in your office do, but the majority sitting around at a computer would be hard pressed to use most of what is on their computer on any given day. And this is just the surface of waste of technology.

Where it is really hurting you, you do not see. For example there are companies that make software to run your work applications. This is proprietary programs that these companies tout will help various entities, yet some of these programs pull from other companies programs and there are layers the end user doesn’t see and probably doesn’t know exist. Then one day a company decides to stop supporting a function. Now the company that sold your company this wonderful program has to scramble to figure out a replacement for the underlying program they were using to make the program your company bought work. And by the way, your company has to figure out the work around till this is accomplished. 

Or going back to the waste of technology where your desktop has so much going on and you barely use half of it, imagine when the company that sold you that proprietary program has put so many functions into it they no longer can control it. Then lo and behold there is an update to your system one night and the entire program goes haywire. You and your work are now at the mercy of enormous amounts of program glitches with no end in sight.

And some days it appears you spend more time going through the front door trying to log on to your personal accounts than hackers spend sneaking in the back door stealing all your information. How many times do you have to solve some puzzle or enter follow up information when you are just trying to accomplish one task on the computer? I swear I had one of those I am not a robot programs make me solve five or more puzzles before it let me in. Why? I was trying to access an existing account of my ______! So what gives?

There was a time when technology did ramp up productivity and efficiency, but have we crossed that point where new enhancements do not benefit the great majority.

Sure you love your new phone and it’s wonderful camera, but how much do you use? Outside of better selfies, was it worth buying it when your current phone is barely a year or two old. Who benefits? Not your pocket book and really how bad was that previous camera?

And cars have become a nightmare. “Back in the day” the average person could do minor repairs to their car with no problems. Replacing various parts just took a hour to two unless you were rebuilding the engine, now about the only part you can replace is the battery. And since so much of the car’s operations are tied to computer chips then what happens if the repair industry starts losing the workers trained on managing the codes in your car. And isn’t it wonderful that you can use your key fob and not stick a key in an ignition, but wait then you are away from home and the dashboard lights up with a message saying the battery is low in your key fob and the car won’t start. Eventually it does, but how were you to know the battery was too low. There was no message until it was almost too late. Imagine being out late far from home and that happens. So what was so difficult about sticking your key in the ignition in the first place?

And then there is the camera on your laptop or phone. Yes for the pandemic it helped so many work from home, attend meetings and generally keep up with people they couldn’t see for the moment. Yet ,did you know the camera on your laptop or phone can be hacked? And it always seems weird that your phone has the answer to the question you were just discussing with a friend or worse an ad comes up for what you just asked for, coincident?

And give any of us paranoid people a moment and we will tell you how all the technological horrors you see in movies could actually happen. 

And I could go on, you could add examples and all this is the tip of the iceberg of how more and more technology controls your life at so many levels. Starting with the simple over reach of desktop tools to the mind games and training corporations are using to get you to behave to their benefit to the complete shut down of systems if one program goes down that is tied to so many others or if an update goes south. And of course there is the recent Facebook debacle showing us right in our face, oops maybe I didn’t need all this after all. 

We do not need robots killing us, we are doing a great job of it ourselves with this over reliance on what is in front of us every day. Maybe not overtly, but day by day, little by little we are losing who we are as people and the slow whittling down of humanity goes on. 

I am not touting to rid ourselves of technology, but to take a step back and determine how much do we really need. Once we know how much we need then maybe we can be more practical and efficient with its use again.