I sat and read through some huge criticism piece over the tax deal via the Trump administration and the spokesperson who said that some folks might want to use the $1,000 coming back on this deal....to remodel their kitchen. So the criticism was laid out....to blast this....you can't do a remodeling job on your kitchen for $1,000.
I sat last year and watched a German removation show where the expert walked into a home, and laid out the project....with the goal of 1,000 Euro or less (roughly $1,200).
So, here's thing....it's all self-help....which you mostly do over a two-day weekend...maybe stretching into a second weekend.
You remove the cabinets from the wall....sand them down a bit, and then paint them. Course, you probably need a second guy to help lift and screw these back into place.
Fresh paint on the walls? Yes.
New cupboards? Yes.
A new light or ventilator-light-unit? Yes.
A new faucet? Yes.
Done. All of this easy enough for a couple to do. No fancy work. No $4,000 required
The criticism? All pretty stupid if you ask me....mostly by idiots who want to pay some guy $4,000 to do the same work.
Saturday, 30 September 2017
Why is Puerto Rico in the Crapper After the Hurricane?
First, let me admit that I've never been to the isle in my life. I have worked around five or six Puerto Rican folks while in the military and did have various conversations with them over this strange and mysterious island (ask a hundred folks, and you tend to find only about one-percent who've been to the island), and most Americans still think it's an independent country.
All this electrical trouble since the hurricane? Well....if you go back through business news over the past couple of years....their national company has had some issues and had their bonds judged to be near junk-status. If you bring up maintenance and upgrades? Well....it's a marginal amount of work and you get the impression that they are surviving with a two-star program providing electricity to the country. Stateside electrical companies willing to come in and help? You'd have to arrange ships to bring the trucks and personnel....then agree that you'd likely never get any financial pay-back from the national electrical organization.
Then you come to the island's own junk bonds. Yeah....they've been junk-status for more than a year or two.
I asked one work-associate back in the 1980s about the lifestyle of the island, and his emphasis was....just about everything on the island is connected to corruption. The cops, the legal system, the drug-scene, etc. In his explanation of things....there's two economies working in Puerto Rico. One is legit and paying taxes....one is strictly non-legit and avoiding taxes. You'd really have to screw up badly to be caught and face punishment....that was his opinion.
The unemployment rate of Puerto Rico? For the past year.....roughly ten-percent. But here's the nifty part of this story. The rate has been dismal for over a decade. If you had any skills or college education, you left the island. Back around 2000, they had near 3.8-million people on the island. Every year....thousands have left, so they don't count toward the current 10-percent unemployment situation. Right now, they sit at 3.4-million. If you follow what's been said over the past week, I'd take a guess that at least 150,000 will leave Puerto Rico by Christmas and likely never come back. By spring of 2018, add another 150,000 onto that. They will likely shrink below 3.0-million by July of 2018. The best and brightest? Yes, they will be the ones gone.
If you were an American company looking for a potential industrial site there....why? Maybe cheap labor but it'll hard to find competent or highly educated people for the operation.
For Trump, the best solution here would be to activate 5,000 Guardsmen for six months of duty to help put the grid back back into operation and clear roads. Then you might go and offer some tax incentive package for some manufacturing companies to come in and set up shop for ten years. But beyond that....the corruption factor remains. And I doubt that this will ever correct itself.
All this electrical trouble since the hurricane? Well....if you go back through business news over the past couple of years....their national company has had some issues and had their bonds judged to be near junk-status. If you bring up maintenance and upgrades? Well....it's a marginal amount of work and you get the impression that they are surviving with a two-star program providing electricity to the country. Stateside electrical companies willing to come in and help? You'd have to arrange ships to bring the trucks and personnel....then agree that you'd likely never get any financial pay-back from the national electrical organization.
Then you come to the island's own junk bonds. Yeah....they've been junk-status for more than a year or two.
I asked one work-associate back in the 1980s about the lifestyle of the island, and his emphasis was....just about everything on the island is connected to corruption. The cops, the legal system, the drug-scene, etc. In his explanation of things....there's two economies working in Puerto Rico. One is legit and paying taxes....one is strictly non-legit and avoiding taxes. You'd really have to screw up badly to be caught and face punishment....that was his opinion.
The unemployment rate of Puerto Rico? For the past year.....roughly ten-percent. But here's the nifty part of this story. The rate has been dismal for over a decade. If you had any skills or college education, you left the island. Back around 2000, they had near 3.8-million people on the island. Every year....thousands have left, so they don't count toward the current 10-percent unemployment situation. Right now, they sit at 3.4-million. If you follow what's been said over the past week, I'd take a guess that at least 150,000 will leave Puerto Rico by Christmas and likely never come back. By spring of 2018, add another 150,000 onto that. They will likely shrink below 3.0-million by July of 2018. The best and brightest? Yes, they will be the ones gone.
If you were an American company looking for a potential industrial site there....why? Maybe cheap labor but it'll hard to find competent or highly educated people for the operation.
For Trump, the best solution here would be to activate 5,000 Guardsmen for six months of duty to help put the grid back back into operation and clear roads. Then you might go and offer some tax incentive package for some manufacturing companies to come in and set up shop for ten years. But beyond that....the corruption factor remains. And I doubt that this will ever correct itself.
How We Got This Way
After looking this week over the NFL mess, continued political bickering, Reality Winner, and public dysfunction....this is one of those essays to review how exactly we reached this point.
1. The loss of McGovern in 1972. Most have no memory of the era and what happened. It was the mid-term with Nixon and the Democrats went and got the intellectual's intellectual to run against Nixon. I've finished a great book by Thomas Frank this week, entitled 'Listen Liberal' which goes into detail about this one moment in American history.
It was a fairly low turn-out....55-percent. When they finished the Electoral College count, it was dramatic....520 votes for Nixon and a mere 17 votes for McGovern.
There was a review after this election to understand what happened. The Democrats decided that they had the right guy, but the wrong audience. Working-class Americans, union folks, and simple America....weren't smart enough to handle intellectuals. So the Democrats latched onto a new direction....they would build the candidates to be designed for themes, urban topics, and agendas for 'smart' people. I know....it is silly if you think about it.
Most of the effort in the 1980s failed. Then came Clinton. The highly educated and intellectual Clinton....had the accent and ability to be two characters. In this case, it worked. It almost worked later with Gore. With Obama? He could squeeze out two accents and voice his way to fit both groups, but every part of his platform was geared toward the urban crowd...mostly the same with Clinton. Hillary? She couldn't really do the two voice trick, but her theme and chat was to the urban and brighter audience....not working-class Americans. Trump? His style, his words, his platform? All geared toward working-class Americans.
2. Part of the shift in the 1970s was to hype up bringing in the right people to be college professors, and use them as instructors for the new future. As you go into the 1980s and 1990s....those individuals who came out of the system...leaning to the new agenda....were fresh new high school teachers.
Over the past decade, these were the teachers who taught young minds like Reality Winner, and Manning.
Today, these are the students showing up and playing their 'snowflake' role at the university system....trying to say they are smarter than the professors and know better....when they are probably not even mature enough for the atmosphere.
3. The art of division. It doesn't matter where you go today....into a religious setting, a sport setting, a family reunion, a Thanksgiving dinner, or office party....it's now set to be divided. The recent Goggle story of the attempts to politically hype up employees and create a division in the work-place? Just another example.
4. In 1975, your news came primarily from Newsweek, Time, the local paper, the three networks, Paul Harvey, and the Sunday political chat shows.
In 2017, Time and Newsweek are virtually dead. The NY Times and Washington Post survive mostly without substantial profit because of owners subsidizing them. Paul Harvey is gone. So you are left with Facebook, Twitter, cable news, something called 'Drudge', and twenty-odd political chat shows that go way beyond Sundays.
5. Most political platforms are written into a method that make no sense. You work to convince people that solution 'X' will be the final word on solving a big mess. You wake up three years after implementing solution 'X', which was fairly complicated and contrived....to realize that it merely solved this problem and then created a whole new fresh problem which is now as big as the previous issue.
In the 1980s, 1990s and past decade, this made sense. But year after year....people are now asking questions and becoming more capable of looking at the whole solving problems routine. If you can't resolve things....why make this into some dramatic opera?
6. The invention of Common Core. You were basically told that there is this great and highly developed teaching method called Common Core. Intellectuals all flock to it. It's marvelous. Then you sit and try to grasp what the discussion is about. Hours pass, and you eventually reach a point where you just don't grasp where this is better or how it'd improve much of anything. You are briefly told.....you aren't intellectual-enough to grasp this.
In this method, you get downsized and pushed back. Just accept the intellectual discussion and things are fine. Something about this seems crazy, but these intellectual people must know what they are talking about.
7. Young people doing stupid things, with no real grasp that this will lead to a court visit...a judge reviewing your actions....and potential jail time. Legal costs? Never imagined. You have literally thousands of individuals who are walking the thin-line....waiting to visit some jail or prison....over something that seems like a political-cross to bear.
8. Inability to accept conversation or debate. If you had suggested in the 1970s that a significant number of educated individuals would be unable to have conversations or debate on a topic of importance....most would have laughed. Yet here we are.
High schools and the university system are slowly drifting away from debate skills. In another dozen years, you will have a large segment of American graduates who can't debate, can't discuss topics with co-workers with true positions, and believe there can only be one single side to things.
9. Capitalism is evil. It's a common theme today....yet you look at the guy talking about this: (1) a $700 smart-phone, (2) $400 theme-prescription glasses, (3) a $25,000 car, and (4) $100-shoes. The guy talks excessively about evil capitalism. Maybe if he was wearing Indian moccasins, lacked a smart-phone and lived under a bridge....it'd all make sense.
10. The division of the nation is based upon urban-America versus working-class America. The two groups have totally different character, charm, and dreams.
1. The loss of McGovern in 1972. Most have no memory of the era and what happened. It was the mid-term with Nixon and the Democrats went and got the intellectual's intellectual to run against Nixon. I've finished a great book by Thomas Frank this week, entitled 'Listen Liberal' which goes into detail about this one moment in American history.
It was a fairly low turn-out....55-percent. When they finished the Electoral College count, it was dramatic....520 votes for Nixon and a mere 17 votes for McGovern.
There was a review after this election to understand what happened. The Democrats decided that they had the right guy, but the wrong audience. Working-class Americans, union folks, and simple America....weren't smart enough to handle intellectuals. So the Democrats latched onto a new direction....they would build the candidates to be designed for themes, urban topics, and agendas for 'smart' people. I know....it is silly if you think about it.
Most of the effort in the 1980s failed. Then came Clinton. The highly educated and intellectual Clinton....had the accent and ability to be two characters. In this case, it worked. It almost worked later with Gore. With Obama? He could squeeze out two accents and voice his way to fit both groups, but every part of his platform was geared toward the urban crowd...mostly the same with Clinton. Hillary? She couldn't really do the two voice trick, but her theme and chat was to the urban and brighter audience....not working-class Americans. Trump? His style, his words, his platform? All geared toward working-class Americans.
2. Part of the shift in the 1970s was to hype up bringing in the right people to be college professors, and use them as instructors for the new future. As you go into the 1980s and 1990s....those individuals who came out of the system...leaning to the new agenda....were fresh new high school teachers.
Over the past decade, these were the teachers who taught young minds like Reality Winner, and Manning.
Today, these are the students showing up and playing their 'snowflake' role at the university system....trying to say they are smarter than the professors and know better....when they are probably not even mature enough for the atmosphere.
3. The art of division. It doesn't matter where you go today....into a religious setting, a sport setting, a family reunion, a Thanksgiving dinner, or office party....it's now set to be divided. The recent Goggle story of the attempts to politically hype up employees and create a division in the work-place? Just another example.
4. In 1975, your news came primarily from Newsweek, Time, the local paper, the three networks, Paul Harvey, and the Sunday political chat shows.
In 2017, Time and Newsweek are virtually dead. The NY Times and Washington Post survive mostly without substantial profit because of owners subsidizing them. Paul Harvey is gone. So you are left with Facebook, Twitter, cable news, something called 'Drudge', and twenty-odd political chat shows that go way beyond Sundays.
5. Most political platforms are written into a method that make no sense. You work to convince people that solution 'X' will be the final word on solving a big mess. You wake up three years after implementing solution 'X', which was fairly complicated and contrived....to realize that it merely solved this problem and then created a whole new fresh problem which is now as big as the previous issue.
In the 1980s, 1990s and past decade, this made sense. But year after year....people are now asking questions and becoming more capable of looking at the whole solving problems routine. If you can't resolve things....why make this into some dramatic opera?
6. The invention of Common Core. You were basically told that there is this great and highly developed teaching method called Common Core. Intellectuals all flock to it. It's marvelous. Then you sit and try to grasp what the discussion is about. Hours pass, and you eventually reach a point where you just don't grasp where this is better or how it'd improve much of anything. You are briefly told.....you aren't intellectual-enough to grasp this.
In this method, you get downsized and pushed back. Just accept the intellectual discussion and things are fine. Something about this seems crazy, but these intellectual people must know what they are talking about.
7. Young people doing stupid things, with no real grasp that this will lead to a court visit...a judge reviewing your actions....and potential jail time. Legal costs? Never imagined. You have literally thousands of individuals who are walking the thin-line....waiting to visit some jail or prison....over something that seems like a political-cross to bear.
8. Inability to accept conversation or debate. If you had suggested in the 1970s that a significant number of educated individuals would be unable to have conversations or debate on a topic of importance....most would have laughed. Yet here we are.
High schools and the university system are slowly drifting away from debate skills. In another dozen years, you will have a large segment of American graduates who can't debate, can't discuss topics with co-workers with true positions, and believe there can only be one single side to things.
9. Capitalism is evil. It's a common theme today....yet you look at the guy talking about this: (1) a $700 smart-phone, (2) $400 theme-prescription glasses, (3) a $25,000 car, and (4) $100-shoes. The guy talks excessively about evil capitalism. Maybe if he was wearing Indian moccasins, lacked a smart-phone and lived under a bridge....it'd all make sense.
10. The division of the nation is based upon urban-America versus working-class America. The two groups have totally different character, charm, and dreams.
Thursday, 21 September 2017
When Does a Comedian Cease To Exist?
Back in the 1970s....there were dozens of comedians who came into the living room weekly via TV, and delivered a four-star performance. Redd Foxx, Don Rickles, Richard Pryor, and Johnny Carson. They never jumped into the middle of some social discussion, political talk, or lifestyle sermon talk.
I think all of that type of comedy survived through to the 1990s. At some point, you'd come to notice a handful of comedians who wanted to be 'ministers' in some way, or society leaders. You would start to notice viewers hitting the mute button or finding other nightly options to watch.
I noticed this week where Jimmy Kimmel getting into a political fight of sorts. For ABC and the late-night show....there's not much to worry about because most of the angry-type viewers are watching his show in the first place. In fact, that's one of the interesting things about late-night TV, when you come it against the 1970s. In the 1970s....you had few options....today? There's at least forty potential networks to watch....out of which you could catch some episode of Gunsmoke or Gilligan's Island if you desired.
But as you start to shift around....there are dozens of comedians now with agendas and social fights on their hands. None seem to worry about tomorrow or the next year in terms of viewers or public interest.
I see the same problem with the NFL. No one seems to worry about viewers leaving or the payscale ever decreasing.
What happens to a 28-year old running back who has some public social fight on their mind and no owner wants them on the team? They have to source out plan-B. That typically means taking a $300,000 pay-cut.
What happens to a 40-year old comedian who has some public social fight on their mind and limited viewers? They will eventually have to find a plan-B, and accepting a 50-percent pay-cut. The acts in Vegas? Well....half of those audiences were right-wing or conservative.....so it's unlikely big-bucks will come to be offered for a six-week show at such-and-such casino.
I don't want to condemn these people....but if you hit big-time by age 45, and you've lost half your fan base by age 50....what does it say over your humor, or your ability to entertain? Were you really a comedian....or did you just have a fleeting moment where you lost it all?
So what does a out-of-work comedian do at age fifty? Tend bar? Sell tires? Do the Channel Nine weather?
I think all of that type of comedy survived through to the 1990s. At some point, you'd come to notice a handful of comedians who wanted to be 'ministers' in some way, or society leaders. You would start to notice viewers hitting the mute button or finding other nightly options to watch.
I noticed this week where Jimmy Kimmel getting into a political fight of sorts. For ABC and the late-night show....there's not much to worry about because most of the angry-type viewers are watching his show in the first place. In fact, that's one of the interesting things about late-night TV, when you come it against the 1970s. In the 1970s....you had few options....today? There's at least forty potential networks to watch....out of which you could catch some episode of Gunsmoke or Gilligan's Island if you desired.
But as you start to shift around....there are dozens of comedians now with agendas and social fights on their hands. None seem to worry about tomorrow or the next year in terms of viewers or public interest.
I see the same problem with the NFL. No one seems to worry about viewers leaving or the payscale ever decreasing.
What happens to a 28-year old running back who has some public social fight on their mind and no owner wants them on the team? They have to source out plan-B. That typically means taking a $300,000 pay-cut.
What happens to a 40-year old comedian who has some public social fight on their mind and limited viewers? They will eventually have to find a plan-B, and accepting a 50-percent pay-cut. The acts in Vegas? Well....half of those audiences were right-wing or conservative.....so it's unlikely big-bucks will come to be offered for a six-week show at such-and-such casino.
I don't want to condemn these people....but if you hit big-time by age 45, and you've lost half your fan base by age 50....what does it say over your humor, or your ability to entertain? Were you really a comedian....or did you just have a fleeting moment where you lost it all?
So what does a out-of-work comedian do at age fifty? Tend bar? Sell tires? Do the Channel Nine weather?
On Con Jobs
The comment....."You Know You’re Being Conned, Right?" came up in a news item this morning. The comedian-philosopher Bill Maher used this comment to a guy who claimed he was a Trump-supporter.
I sat and pondered over the quote for a while. Then I came to this conclusion.
The problem here, which Maher may not realize....is that folks have been conned for generations.
Folks have been conned by both the Republican and Democratic Parties. Folks have been conned by banks, loan-sharks, and car companies. Folks have been conned by major league baseball, the NFL, professional wrestling, and the NCAA football system. Folks have been conned by TV news, the Washington Post, the NY Times, and CNN. Folks have been conned by their local minister, the witty Today Show hosts, and their local mayor.
Most folks have been conned so much....that they enjoy a fake episode of Amish Mafia, because they know it's an absolute con-job.
Maher can go and talk over this for hours, but the plain fact is that folks got used to con jobs, and they finally saw a chance to send a counter con-job back at the politicians, the journalists, and Washington DC.
And here is the curious thing.....I don't think Trump is the last of the counter-con-job enthusiasts. I think he simply opened up the door and there might be a few folks entering the system.
I sat and pondered over the quote for a while. Then I came to this conclusion.
The problem here, which Maher may not realize....is that folks have been conned for generations.
Folks have been conned by both the Republican and Democratic Parties. Folks have been conned by banks, loan-sharks, and car companies. Folks have been conned by major league baseball, the NFL, professional wrestling, and the NCAA football system. Folks have been conned by TV news, the Washington Post, the NY Times, and CNN. Folks have been conned by their local minister, the witty Today Show hosts, and their local mayor.
Most folks have been conned so much....that they enjoy a fake episode of Amish Mafia, because they know it's an absolute con-job.
Maher can go and talk over this for hours, but the plain fact is that folks got used to con jobs, and they finally saw a chance to send a counter con-job back at the politicians, the journalists, and Washington DC.
And here is the curious thing.....I don't think Trump is the last of the counter-con-job enthusiasts. I think he simply opened up the door and there might be a few folks entering the system.
Sunday, 17 September 2017
Only An Observation on Common Core
I sat this morning and watched a 15-minute YouTube rant by a parent....having to deal with their kid in the new school year and yet another episode over an assignment in math.....dealing with Common Core math situations.
The assignment was a word episode. There's probably six numbers laid out....a particular question, and you need to determine two things (at least in my humble opinion). The two things are: (1) the red herrings (wasted and information of no value), and (2) the final formula.
As a kid, it would have been great to have some math mentor stand there and explain red herrings and how they fit or stand-out. I wasted probably five years of my youth without this red herring explanation, then finally one day....the right math teacher wasted ten minutes to drill down into a three or four word problems....then ID each red herring, and it all made sense from that point on.
But in this YouTube rant....the parent is all pepped up over Common Core and the need to make this formula into a half-page problem/solution....rather than just four numbers with some addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division 'artsy' stuff done.
In some ways, this Common Core business is about having some kids stand there and invent an Einstein-like formula over four simple numbers which in the end....need to equal 63.
In today's world.....I would have been sitting there (age twelve) and grasping the foolish nature of Common Core math, and probably decide to really take this to the degree required, and write a four-page breakdown of Farmer Joe's wagon, and the six products on the wagon, and show in some rocket-science type math equation that 63 is the answer.
The sad thing is that some idiot math teacher would have branded me as some Archimedes-type character, or the second coming of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Some math department would have jumped on some chance to recruit me for a scholarship, and I'd be standing there at age twenty-five with some useless PhD in math because I could write a six-page formula for a six-line problem. It's the kind of thing that real mathematicians freak out about.....making a formula into a fake or fraud.
I have this opinion that most university departments are going to create an entry-level math program where you need to complete two high-school-like courses....to overcome your stupidity level from high school....thus charging you around $600 per course, and then get you to the level that math makes sense once again. Well....yeah, this might actually cause you to add one whole semester onto your path and cost your dad another $7,000 for that one extra semester deal.
For the crowd who don't go off to college? I suspect in twenty years....we will have fifty million Americans who can't calculate simple real-life problems and we have to hire special people (usually college math graduates)....who figure out how many apples that Farmer Jones has on the wagon, or how many buckets of liquid pest-control you can spray on your forty acres of farmland.
The assignment was a word episode. There's probably six numbers laid out....a particular question, and you need to determine two things (at least in my humble opinion). The two things are: (1) the red herrings (wasted and information of no value), and (2) the final formula.
As a kid, it would have been great to have some math mentor stand there and explain red herrings and how they fit or stand-out. I wasted probably five years of my youth without this red herring explanation, then finally one day....the right math teacher wasted ten minutes to drill down into a three or four word problems....then ID each red herring, and it all made sense from that point on.
But in this YouTube rant....the parent is all pepped up over Common Core and the need to make this formula into a half-page problem/solution....rather than just four numbers with some addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division 'artsy' stuff done.
In some ways, this Common Core business is about having some kids stand there and invent an Einstein-like formula over four simple numbers which in the end....need to equal 63.
In today's world.....I would have been sitting there (age twelve) and grasping the foolish nature of Common Core math, and probably decide to really take this to the degree required, and write a four-page breakdown of Farmer Joe's wagon, and the six products on the wagon, and show in some rocket-science type math equation that 63 is the answer.
The sad thing is that some idiot math teacher would have branded me as some Archimedes-type character, or the second coming of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Some math department would have jumped on some chance to recruit me for a scholarship, and I'd be standing there at age twenty-five with some useless PhD in math because I could write a six-page formula for a six-line problem. It's the kind of thing that real mathematicians freak out about.....making a formula into a fake or fraud.
I have this opinion that most university departments are going to create an entry-level math program where you need to complete two high-school-like courses....to overcome your stupidity level from high school....thus charging you around $600 per course, and then get you to the level that math makes sense once again. Well....yeah, this might actually cause you to add one whole semester onto your path and cost your dad another $7,000 for that one extra semester deal.
For the crowd who don't go off to college? I suspect in twenty years....we will have fifty million Americans who can't calculate simple real-life problems and we have to hire special people (usually college math graduates)....who figure out how many apples that Farmer Jones has on the wagon, or how many buckets of liquid pest-control you can spray on your forty acres of farmland.
Saturday, 16 September 2017
Religious Provocateurs
Quietly, without a lot of fanfare.....various foundation groups are now coming to grasp that you can turn an entire religious population of folks to a particular political agenda. It's not simple or an easy route....but you could quietly entice several million Americans into supporting some agenda that a decade ago....they would not have accepted.
The basic route?
You go and find one very impressive minister who talks a good bit and gets people enthusiastic. The game to be played out is that he isn't there for a church or to save souls. He's there as part of a structure.....a network....as a middle-guy.
So around this middle-guy minister....you have people of the legal profession.....foundation lobbyists....money-people....and social media types. In a sense, you are building up the tools which the talkative minister uses to connect to the church-based ministers below him.
The foundation money people lay out funding which you can use to have week-long discussion groups at nice resorts. You send out ten invitations to people with larger congregations (at least a thousand members). Free hotel deal.....bring the wife along....prayer and spitual discussions....and some injection of political thoughts.
You never go and over-sell the political part of this gimmick. You simply want these ten ministers and their wives to feel like there's some extra things in life that they ought to be stressing. Along the talks....you start to break out mental patterns of deacons that some deacons are too old-fashion to realize the new world approaching....so you give these ministers the understanding of how to by-pass those deacons. In a way, you need them to retire, or be forced out by the remaining deacons.
You talk up social media and innovation. Maybe your money-handlers will even help to finance a church web-site or some social media endeavor of that church.
You talk up different ways of getting ministers to a leadership level....performing not just church functions but society-like functions.
You talk up cross-denominational efforts and cultural themes.
You start talking about core-community practices....enforcing your standard not just across the church crowd but the local community itself.
You pick out certain individuals who show enthusiasm and capability, and use mentor-skills to bring them to a new threshold or plateau.
You stress youth involvement....involving this new theme introduced.
You use the words awesome, fabulous, breath-taking, impressive, magnificent, stunning, awe-inspiring, majestic and mind-blowing a great deal. You keep a list of a hundred description words which tend to be used over and over, but people like to hear sermons where the words are used.
The seed of the network is then laid down. In four years or eight years....you call upon your crowd to deliver. In the midst of this 'wave'....some folks....even some deacons....will stand there and say 'no' because it's obvious to them that this is a manipulated political agenda. The ministers caught up in this? They will show these people the door and suggest they leave. Some might leave....some might suggest firing the minister, and the deacons might call a meeting to implement the firing. The fired minister? He'll call up the network 'chief' who got him all peppered-up on social causes, and they will work to find him another church.
Religious provocateurs? Yes. That's the simple term to use. As much as Jerry Farewell did a marginal job to bring a number of Christian conservatives to one central view there in the 1980s.....there's another effort underway now to create the new wave....the Christian liberals.
The amusing image here...is that you might profess to be a iron-clad conservative today, and wake up in six years as a member of some church-group, and suddenly find that you've fallen into a crowd of socially active church members, and you feel kinda 'liberal'. You go home one Sunday....pour a shot or two of some strong alcohol....light up a cigarette....and stand there amazed that some minister has convinced folks that Jesus was a liberal. After a long bit of pondering and thinking....you eventually come to realize that the only way this could work is if you were deceived, and then you kinda wonder....how this was possible?
So....you might want to pause and think over things that you often hear on a Sunday. Some of the Jesus-chat....might be a opening line for a provocateur message.
The basic route?
You go and find one very impressive minister who talks a good bit and gets people enthusiastic. The game to be played out is that he isn't there for a church or to save souls. He's there as part of a structure.....a network....as a middle-guy.
So around this middle-guy minister....you have people of the legal profession.....foundation lobbyists....money-people....and social media types. In a sense, you are building up the tools which the talkative minister uses to connect to the church-based ministers below him.
The foundation money people lay out funding which you can use to have week-long discussion groups at nice resorts. You send out ten invitations to people with larger congregations (at least a thousand members). Free hotel deal.....bring the wife along....prayer and spitual discussions....and some injection of political thoughts.
You never go and over-sell the political part of this gimmick. You simply want these ten ministers and their wives to feel like there's some extra things in life that they ought to be stressing. Along the talks....you start to break out mental patterns of deacons that some deacons are too old-fashion to realize the new world approaching....so you give these ministers the understanding of how to by-pass those deacons. In a way, you need them to retire, or be forced out by the remaining deacons.
You talk up social media and innovation. Maybe your money-handlers will even help to finance a church web-site or some social media endeavor of that church.
You talk up different ways of getting ministers to a leadership level....performing not just church functions but society-like functions.
You talk up cross-denominational efforts and cultural themes.
You start talking about core-community practices....enforcing your standard not just across the church crowd but the local community itself.
You pick out certain individuals who show enthusiasm and capability, and use mentor-skills to bring them to a new threshold or plateau.
You stress youth involvement....involving this new theme introduced.
You use the words awesome, fabulous, breath-taking, impressive, magnificent, stunning, awe-inspiring, majestic and mind-blowing a great deal. You keep a list of a hundred description words which tend to be used over and over, but people like to hear sermons where the words are used.
The seed of the network is then laid down. In four years or eight years....you call upon your crowd to deliver. In the midst of this 'wave'....some folks....even some deacons....will stand there and say 'no' because it's obvious to them that this is a manipulated political agenda. The ministers caught up in this? They will show these people the door and suggest they leave. Some might leave....some might suggest firing the minister, and the deacons might call a meeting to implement the firing. The fired minister? He'll call up the network 'chief' who got him all peppered-up on social causes, and they will work to find him another church.
Religious provocateurs? Yes. That's the simple term to use. As much as Jerry Farewell did a marginal job to bring a number of Christian conservatives to one central view there in the 1980s.....there's another effort underway now to create the new wave....the Christian liberals.
The amusing image here...is that you might profess to be a iron-clad conservative today, and wake up in six years as a member of some church-group, and suddenly find that you've fallen into a crowd of socially active church members, and you feel kinda 'liberal'. You go home one Sunday....pour a shot or two of some strong alcohol....light up a cigarette....and stand there amazed that some minister has convinced folks that Jesus was a liberal. After a long bit of pondering and thinking....you eventually come to realize that the only way this could work is if you were deceived, and then you kinda wonder....how this was possible?
So....you might want to pause and think over things that you often hear on a Sunday. Some of the Jesus-chat....might be a opening line for a provocateur message.
Friday, 15 September 2017
The 'Visiting Fellow' Story
UPDATE: Well....at 3AM on the east coast....Harvard put out a statement to say the 'visiting fellow' invitation to Chelsea Manning was a mistake. End of story.
Original essay:
University operations often run with a gimmick. Sometimes, it's NCAA football. Sometimes, it's some science department with professors standing in the shadow of Einstein. Sometimes, it's about some radical program with no grades and no tests....just pass/fail (Evergreen College).
I noticed this morning that Harvard University came out yesterday and announced that Chelsea Manning (former Army....convicted felon....commuted sentence from President Obama) will now be a 'visiting fellow' with Harvard (for one academic year).
What is a 'visiting fellow'?
The general meaning is that a university operation will desire to have a educated guy....usually a professor, a noted scholar, a well-known political figure....to visit the university and either lecture (meaning one single night or a series of nights) or do research at the university in connection with some program they are running.
While not always the case....you might find some deep pockets individual who comes up occasionally and donates to the college's program.....will have some individual that they want covered under the college's 'umbrella' for a year, and only because of that request....you get 'visiting fellow' status.
Pay during this academic year? Yes and no. If you are a professor just on 'loan', then you have pay still coming in from the original job and you don't get any additional pay. Most colleges will provide accommodations....like a on-site apartment or a cottage deal. If you have no incoming pay, there probably will be some pay-scale set up for a person of your caliber.
In the case of Manning? I'm guessing that some donor came up and made the case that it would be nice to have Manning around for a year, and some pay-deal (probably in the $40k a year range) was set up, with on-campus accommodation.
As for what Manning will do? Unknown for the most part. Harvard hasn't said much. There is some talk by the University that Manning will speak on "technological, social and economic ramifications of A-I". Maybe there will be a lecture or two.
Negativity on this decision? More than a few have commented on this. Most will note that Manning is a convicted individual......never pardoned by President Obama, just commuted.
Manning's expert status on "technological, social and economic ramifications of A-I? This is an individual who spent three brief years of enlisted duty with the Army....in military intelligence, with daily interaction with databases. Presently, I'd say there are probably over two million individuals from the Army, Navy and Air Force with the same background, same minimum years at the job, and same education level. If you went looking for the same individuals with a university degree....probably over 200,000 exist.
Some expert status with bringing Manning to Harvard? No. This was simply a gimmick. They don't have a NCAA program that draws folks. They usually produce lawyers. It's something to draw attention and get some front-page news. PR-work mostly.
The idea that some Harvard student might challenge Manning in some lecture or public forum? Well....it's best not to bring that up. My guess is that a quarter of the student population will be amused by the 'fellow' action and even more amused that the college gave status to Manning as some 'expert'.
Who knows....maybe one day....even I will get invited over to Harvard to be a 'Visiting Fellow' for a year. As long as they provide accommodations....a free breakfast each day (coffee, waffles, and bacon) and free cable TV....I'm up to give a lecture or two on social, technological, and economic ramifications of A-I.
Original essay:
University operations often run with a gimmick. Sometimes, it's NCAA football. Sometimes, it's some science department with professors standing in the shadow of Einstein. Sometimes, it's about some radical program with no grades and no tests....just pass/fail (Evergreen College).
I noticed this morning that Harvard University came out yesterday and announced that Chelsea Manning (former Army....convicted felon....commuted sentence from President Obama) will now be a 'visiting fellow' with Harvard (for one academic year).
What is a 'visiting fellow'?
The general meaning is that a university operation will desire to have a educated guy....usually a professor, a noted scholar, a well-known political figure....to visit the university and either lecture (meaning one single night or a series of nights) or do research at the university in connection with some program they are running.
While not always the case....you might find some deep pockets individual who comes up occasionally and donates to the college's program.....will have some individual that they want covered under the college's 'umbrella' for a year, and only because of that request....you get 'visiting fellow' status.
Pay during this academic year? Yes and no. If you are a professor just on 'loan', then you have pay still coming in from the original job and you don't get any additional pay. Most colleges will provide accommodations....like a on-site apartment or a cottage deal. If you have no incoming pay, there probably will be some pay-scale set up for a person of your caliber.
In the case of Manning? I'm guessing that some donor came up and made the case that it would be nice to have Manning around for a year, and some pay-deal (probably in the $40k a year range) was set up, with on-campus accommodation.
As for what Manning will do? Unknown for the most part. Harvard hasn't said much. There is some talk by the University that Manning will speak on "technological, social and economic ramifications of A-I". Maybe there will be a lecture or two.
Negativity on this decision? More than a few have commented on this. Most will note that Manning is a convicted individual......never pardoned by President Obama, just commuted.
Manning's expert status on "technological, social and economic ramifications of A-I? This is an individual who spent three brief years of enlisted duty with the Army....in military intelligence, with daily interaction with databases. Presently, I'd say there are probably over two million individuals from the Army, Navy and Air Force with the same background, same minimum years at the job, and same education level. If you went looking for the same individuals with a university degree....probably over 200,000 exist.
Some expert status with bringing Manning to Harvard? No. This was simply a gimmick. They don't have a NCAA program that draws folks. They usually produce lawyers. It's something to draw attention and get some front-page news. PR-work mostly.
The idea that some Harvard student might challenge Manning in some lecture or public forum? Well....it's best not to bring that up. My guess is that a quarter of the student population will be amused by the 'fellow' action and even more amused that the college gave status to Manning as some 'expert'.
Who knows....maybe one day....even I will get invited over to Harvard to be a 'Visiting Fellow' for a year. As long as they provide accommodations....a free breakfast each day (coffee, waffles, and bacon) and free cable TV....I'm up to give a lecture or two on social, technological, and economic ramifications of A-I.
Friday, 8 September 2017
Ten General Rules For College
Occasionally, I will offer advice, and this particular segment centers on college-bound kids and punks.
1. College isn't free. Someone (maybe not you) is paying for your tuition, or you might be crazy enough to borrow the money. Don't waste time like you did in high school.
2. Look around on day one of the freshman year. Twenty-five percent of the folks you meet....won't be back next year. They were either not ready for the situation, or just thought you could slide by.
3. If you got some social agenda and intend to break up classes or lectures....remember that the system is built to suspend you, or terminate you from the school.
4. Ask about professors and their quality ahead of time. You could be sitting in a class with an Einstein-like guy giving you tons of information, or some dimwit named Wanda who will give a 3x5 card worth of information over a whole semester.
5. If you came for NCAA tickets or sports action....you probably won't be around for the second year.
6. If you get into girl-trouble and there's legal accusations....the real cops might come for you. Just remember that.
7. In four years, that degree will be your meal-ticket in life.
8. Your chief acquisition in life from college is the ability to analyze, prioritize, and assess what's in front of you.....the knowns and the unknowns. If by the end of the second year....you get the feeling that none of this is coming across....you need to asses the program and if you need to move out of the university.
9. If you fall into some company of individuals with some radical social agenda....ask yourself where exactly they will be in twenty years....working at some pizza shop or manager of some program. At that point, you might want to separate yourself from these new friends, and move on.
10. The world needs people with French literature degrees, and expertise in penguins....it's just that a dozen or so of these folks are needed each year. The world needs engineers, scientists, and businessmen.....hundreds of thousands are needed each year. If you want to major in penguin research....you better be one of the top ten guys in the world, or have a plan 'B' to work at some airport car rental shop later in life.
1. College isn't free. Someone (maybe not you) is paying for your tuition, or you might be crazy enough to borrow the money. Don't waste time like you did in high school.
2. Look around on day one of the freshman year. Twenty-five percent of the folks you meet....won't be back next year. They were either not ready for the situation, or just thought you could slide by.
3. If you got some social agenda and intend to break up classes or lectures....remember that the system is built to suspend you, or terminate you from the school.
4. Ask about professors and their quality ahead of time. You could be sitting in a class with an Einstein-like guy giving you tons of information, or some dimwit named Wanda who will give a 3x5 card worth of information over a whole semester.
5. If you came for NCAA tickets or sports action....you probably won't be around for the second year.
6. If you get into girl-trouble and there's legal accusations....the real cops might come for you. Just remember that.
7. In four years, that degree will be your meal-ticket in life.
8. Your chief acquisition in life from college is the ability to analyze, prioritize, and assess what's in front of you.....the knowns and the unknowns. If by the end of the second year....you get the feeling that none of this is coming across....you need to asses the program and if you need to move out of the university.
9. If you fall into some company of individuals with some radical social agenda....ask yourself where exactly they will be in twenty years....working at some pizza shop or manager of some program. At that point, you might want to separate yourself from these new friends, and move on.
10. The world needs people with French literature degrees, and expertise in penguins....it's just that a dozen or so of these folks are needed each year. The world needs engineers, scientists, and businessmen.....hundreds of thousands are needed each year. If you want to major in penguin research....you better be one of the top ten guys in the world, or have a plan 'B' to work at some airport car rental shop later in life.
Wednesday, 6 September 2017
The Funny Governor's Order
I sat and tried to make sense out of this news piece. With Hurricane Irma bearing down upon the Caribbean....the governor of the Virgin Islands (US territory) has signed an emergency order that dictates the National Guard of the island (approximately 1,000 folks)....can seize private guns, private ammo, private explosives, and property....to respond to the hurricane.
The order allows the Adjutant General of the isle to dictate the rules to this and everything would be approved by the island's chief prosecutor.
Legal? I was amused at the idea.
First, you'd need a court order by a judge to go into each single house and you'd have to demonstrate how this guy or that family needed to hand over their weapons. Just in time constraints alone.....you'd have at least two or three judges around the clock....twenty-four hours a day....signing these search-and-seizure letters.
Second, the National Guardsmen obeying this? Having worked around such individuals in my life....I can vouch that no enlisted guy would obey some order to walk up to a house and attempt to enter the house, and seize the owner's weapons. There might be some Colonel at the head of the island's Guard unit, who says sure....but no one is going to obey that officer with this type of order.
Third, the Constitutional challenge? It basically suggests that you only have Constitutional rights in fair weather, and none in bad weather. Jefferson would laughing so hard that he'd probably have fallen on the floor from this 'joke'.
Fourth, once you seized all these weapons....where exactly do you intend to store them? There are 102,000 residents on the island and one might take a guess that at least 10,000 weapons exist there. What armory exists that can hold such an amount of weapons, and how many Guardsmen will you have standing there to guard the armory instead of being out in the hurricane zone?
Fifth, let's say that the Guardsmen do obey this, and the first place they stop is the house of the governor, and his chief of security. How exactly will either react....having their own weapons taken?
Sixth, the private property angle? Seizing some guy's store-front, or his car? I can't see any Guardsman obeying that order. It just opens them up for prosecution later about an illegal order.
Where this leads onto? At the conclusion of all this hurricane clean-up....likely to take six to twelve weeks minimum....this idiot governor will stand up and say proudly that his seizure program was a remarkable success, and that no one was shot. Then some Fox News guy will ask how many weapons were seized by the Guardsmen, and the governor will say he has no idea (the number likely will be zero).
Oddly, this will be talked about for weeks....how some governor made up some bogus executive order, and how no one listened to the guy.
The order allows the Adjutant General of the isle to dictate the rules to this and everything would be approved by the island's chief prosecutor.
Legal? I was amused at the idea.
First, you'd need a court order by a judge to go into each single house and you'd have to demonstrate how this guy or that family needed to hand over their weapons. Just in time constraints alone.....you'd have at least two or three judges around the clock....twenty-four hours a day....signing these search-and-seizure letters.
Second, the National Guardsmen obeying this? Having worked around such individuals in my life....I can vouch that no enlisted guy would obey some order to walk up to a house and attempt to enter the house, and seize the owner's weapons. There might be some Colonel at the head of the island's Guard unit, who says sure....but no one is going to obey that officer with this type of order.
Third, the Constitutional challenge? It basically suggests that you only have Constitutional rights in fair weather, and none in bad weather. Jefferson would laughing so hard that he'd probably have fallen on the floor from this 'joke'.
Fourth, once you seized all these weapons....where exactly do you intend to store them? There are 102,000 residents on the island and one might take a guess that at least 10,000 weapons exist there. What armory exists that can hold such an amount of weapons, and how many Guardsmen will you have standing there to guard the armory instead of being out in the hurricane zone?
Fifth, let's say that the Guardsmen do obey this, and the first place they stop is the house of the governor, and his chief of security. How exactly will either react....having their own weapons taken?
Sixth, the private property angle? Seizing some guy's store-front, or his car? I can't see any Guardsman obeying that order. It just opens them up for prosecution later about an illegal order.
Where this leads onto? At the conclusion of all this hurricane clean-up....likely to take six to twelve weeks minimum....this idiot governor will stand up and say proudly that his seizure program was a remarkable success, and that no one was shot. Then some Fox News guy will ask how many weapons were seized by the Guardsmen, and the governor will say he has no idea (the number likely will be zero).
Oddly, this will be talked about for weeks....how some governor made up some bogus executive order, and how no one listened to the guy.
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
The Thousand-a-Month Idea
MSN brought up this report, which I read through three or four times. It's a curious piece.
There is this research foundation....the Roosevelt Institute....which did this study, in connection with the Italian University of Cassino and Southern Lazio and the Bard College's Levy Institute.
The result of the study is a suggestion that you ought to give every adult (assuming over the age of 18 years old)....$1,000 in a cash handout each month. If you did this....the US economy would surge by $2.5 trillion in just seven years.
The tail-end of this study suggests that by paying out the handouts....would result in increased taxes, which is a slight negative and you'd have to find some method to avoid this angle of the consequences.
For several years, this hand-out deal has floated around Europe and been a popular idea for fringe political parties.
The general issues I see with this?
First, you assume that each person getting the $1,000 a month....will spend it. There's never been a real study done to say what a thousand people getting the $1,000 a month would do with the money. I have doubts that all of the thousand would readily spend it each month. If you had ten to twenty percent who stock-piled the money....it wouldn't be such a positive idea. The idea of some borrowing even more money, and that $20,000 loans being easily created and banks trying to gimmick-up 20-percent loans out of this thousand-a-month?
Second, none of the research ever done....has suggest how the $1,000 a month would be spent. This bothers me in some ways. Some people would go and find a upscale car, and put a thousand dollars down, and pay a monthly payment of $999 on the car. Some adults would spend the whole thousand on a weekend at some Indian casino. Some would buy a thousand dollars of meth. Some might go and buy shares of stock.
Third, you would eventually come around and ask....all these material-type products that the thousand per month went to.....are they actually made in the US? The laughable answer is no.....the vast majority would probably have been made either in Mexico, some Asian region, or China. It would be different if the money all went to US-made products....that would invent jobs....create a wave of enthusiasm within the US market, and be a great positive trend. But you can't even come close to even twenty-percent of this mass purchase each month being US-manufactured.
I don't intend to knock all of these efforts by the private foundations....we need research like this. But you see various limits to the concept and wonder why they won't investigate where the money would be spent or what materials/products would be bought?
There is this research foundation....the Roosevelt Institute....which did this study, in connection with the Italian University of Cassino and Southern Lazio and the Bard College's Levy Institute.
The result of the study is a suggestion that you ought to give every adult (assuming over the age of 18 years old)....$1,000 in a cash handout each month. If you did this....the US economy would surge by $2.5 trillion in just seven years.
The tail-end of this study suggests that by paying out the handouts....would result in increased taxes, which is a slight negative and you'd have to find some method to avoid this angle of the consequences.
For several years, this hand-out deal has floated around Europe and been a popular idea for fringe political parties.
The general issues I see with this?
First, you assume that each person getting the $1,000 a month....will spend it. There's never been a real study done to say what a thousand people getting the $1,000 a month would do with the money. I have doubts that all of the thousand would readily spend it each month. If you had ten to twenty percent who stock-piled the money....it wouldn't be such a positive idea. The idea of some borrowing even more money, and that $20,000 loans being easily created and banks trying to gimmick-up 20-percent loans out of this thousand-a-month?
Second, none of the research ever done....has suggest how the $1,000 a month would be spent. This bothers me in some ways. Some people would go and find a upscale car, and put a thousand dollars down, and pay a monthly payment of $999 on the car. Some adults would spend the whole thousand on a weekend at some Indian casino. Some would buy a thousand dollars of meth. Some might go and buy shares of stock.
Third, you would eventually come around and ask....all these material-type products that the thousand per month went to.....are they actually made in the US? The laughable answer is no.....the vast majority would probably have been made either in Mexico, some Asian region, or China. It would be different if the money all went to US-made products....that would invent jobs....create a wave of enthusiasm within the US market, and be a great positive trend. But you can't even come close to even twenty-percent of this mass purchase each month being US-manufactured.
I don't intend to knock all of these efforts by the private foundations....we need research like this. But you see various limits to the concept and wonder why they won't investigate where the money would be spent or what materials/products would be bought?
Sunday, 3 September 2017
The Don't-Goof-This-Up Situation
In this scene....the older gal had pulled up and President Trump walked up and had a brief chat with the older Houston gal. As you notice the moment...she has embraced the President with her hand on his left arm....a sign of connection.
I paused over the moment. She likely left that epic meeting between herself and President....teary-eyed and emotional. She probably drove back home and talked to her husband 'Lester'....noting how she'd bumped into Trump. 'Lester' probably asked if it affected her, and she probably went on for two hours talking of this one brief moment of dialog with Trump. Eye-to-eye....chatter over the weather, the flood, the compassion of people....Trump giving her a chance to say something that was bothering her, and for a brief time....she felt up-lifted.
Maybe she did admit that she voted for Hillary. Maybe she even suggested that she had voted for that McMuffin-guy. Or maybe she admitted that she'd forgotten about voting that day in November.
Here's the thing....on any given day, you might take a turn and stop in some parking lot....and President Trump might suddenly walk up to your car-window and want to start a chat. Don't goof this up. Offer up a 'howdy'....speak with some respect....and say your brief sixty-word commentary. This is it, your one brief moment in life when you might be able to influence or bring some insight to a situation. Don't screw it up by admitting you voted McMuffin.
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