Cognitive Decline?

 Pentagon says it will mandate a 'new' test to assess troops’ cognitive performance.

To be honest....since the mid-1980s....there's been a test existing...continually modified and upgraded.

So if you ask some folks....the hype to the new test....to study if Covid has affected folks....especially 'long-Covid'.

In the period prior to the new test....if you'd been in a accident, or  suffered a concussion....the test was mandated.

My thoughts?

I've known probably six folks since 1977....who had concussions, and half of them really didn't recover or come back to normal.  But that was via accidents or falling off the side of a building....NOT with long-Covid.  

Gut-feeling with long-Covid?   I suspect if you tested a thousand folks....at least ten have suffered serious cognitive decline.

Gut-Feeling

 When some fellow or gal utttters....that capitalism is failing them....I generally look at their shoes....then the clothing, and if wearing glasses....what type.

My skepticism goes into turbo....if you are wearing $200 Nike shoes....a sweater in the $150 range...tattoos in view costing $500 or more, or glass-frames in the $700 range.

If I notice a I-Phone,  or a $1,000 leather jacket....it reaches maximum turbo.

What I tend to believe....a fair number of folks have been 'enriched' by capitalism....but they can't really see the landscape.

It is an odd world  that we live in....feeling oppressed....in a fake sort of way.

How Much of the Odyssey Is Science-Fiction?

 Well....as Homer wrote it.....2,000 years ago....a good bit.

First....Agamemnon’s armor (Benny Safdie): It's described as elevated-status gear using blackened bronze, silver, and sulfur, looking like an “alternate-universe Batman” suit. 

Second....the Cyclops (Polyphemus): Built with heavy practical effects—animatronics, puppetry, a 60-foot on-set contraption, and Bill Irwin’s performance—plus digital enhancement.  Sort of a horror creature rather than a cartoon monster.

Third....Circe’s transformations: Men turned into pigs.

It's not something (Nolan's version)....that you want a 10-year-old kid to watch.

Odyssey Movie On My Mind Over The Weekend

First, some folks suggest a Odyssey II movie might be made.

I thought about it...maybe you could bring King Kong in....perhaps have the sister of the snake-hair-lady get introduced as a nice person.

Second, some lightly educated folks are asking questions over this 10-year war....how was this possible?

Third, it is obvious.....the book/story by Homer....is a guy-thing....not designed to  be liked by women.

Fourth, if you interest folks in the story....to read the book....it might dismay them. Movie is a bit different.

Quad Bike 'Adventure'?

 My German wife gave me last year.....a intro-to-quad-bike-riding...which I used this  weekend while up in Koln (Germany).

So I drove 'out'....this is 50 miles east of Koln...to what I call....the 'boney' of the bonies, of  the extreme bonies.  Yeah....middle of nowhere.

I got there (thanks to GPS).

So the 'guide' ('Frank') gave me  and four other guys (all in their 40s)...a 20 minute lecture....all in German.  I got about four points....out of forty.  

Brakes, turbo, 'hot', and something-something about making turns. 

I had thought this  would all be woods/dirt-roads. Wrong....paved roads.

'Frank' led us way out in the middle of nowhere.  There are farms out there....where four cars a day might pass through a point.

Roughly 2.5 hours.....getting  up around 40 mph at times. 

Dangerous?  Yeah....kinda what you should do before age 40.

I asked 'Frank' at the end....did he ever  have ladies attend? 'NO'....was response...awful rare.

Fourr Things About Homer, The Iliad, The Odyssey (The Story And Movie)

 First, there is a debate over if Homer wrote both the Iliad and the Odyssey.  If you use the Greek text....the wording is different between the two. 

What people believe? Some folks suggest a Homer-1 and a Homer-2.  My belief?  I think verbally....a Homer-1 developed both as entertaining pieces to be told around the camp-fire at night.  Along came some Greek to write down the story....earning the title of Homer-2, and  later....a third Homer (Homer-3) pieced together the last story.

Second, the entire story of the Iliad laid out in simple fashion? Well...it goes this way:

Homer tries to lay out the final weeks of the Trojan War (a 10-year epic period over Troy.

The 105 months of the war?  Not mentioned....just the ending.

So the weight of the story is about guy Achilles...a Greek warrior (described as the greatest of the great).  The Greeks  have raided some town and taken a virgin-gal captative (this is Chryseis....if you were curious).  Her  dad demands the return.  Eventually....this occurs....but the Greeks did go and grab Achilles’ own prize, Briseis.

There's some chatter where Achilles talks to Gods....at least he says this, and Homer relates it.

So we have this week where the Trojans lack Achilles....to make  up for that...Achilles’ close friend/buddy....Patroclus puts on the Achilles gear and pretends to be him.  He dies in a fight with Hector.  

Achilles arrives....peeved....bothered greatly....killing off a bunch of folks, and finally getting to Hector (killing him).  It's a messy end....He drags Hector’s body behind his chariot.

The poem ends with some words over Hector’s funeral.  

For a camp-fire story?  It's five-star, and a epic.  

Third.....the Odyssey?  I  consider it the 'lesser' of the two  (my humble belief).

This story the Greek hero Odysseus (king of Ithaca).  Oddly the Trojan war has ended after ten years, and his journey (about 300 miles in reality) consumes 10 years itself (part of the bogus-nature of  the story).

Here....Homer skips almost all of the 10 years of the war, and 95-percent of the trip home....talking mostly about 6 weeks of adventure.

 The key story-piece?  Back in Ithaca, Odysseus’ wife....Penelope...has stayed loyal (for almost 20 years).

Toward the end....they now assume that Odysseus is dead.

There's some words over Athena....goddess of wisdom....helping the son.

Apparently....at some point Odysseus has been held for years by sexed-up gal (Calypso) on her island. He finally escapes....gets shipwrecked and washed up among the Phaeacians.

There's some witch adventure....then a Cyclops adventure....then a Underworld adventure....then a monsters adventure (Scylla and Charybdis). 

The boys finally bring him home to Ithaca. He gets back with the wife....after 20 years.

Fourth, my view of the movie deal?  I think Nolan was led to make a movie that ha little  to do with Homer's story.  If this were Frankenstein....it'd been done with the guy being half-man, half-woman, half-beast (ManBearPig).  If this were Uncle Tom's Cabin....it'd been mostly a story of a Mexican 'Tom'....growing up in  Texas.

Are folks going to the movie?  I really don't buy into that....unless it's a money-laundering operation.  To be honest....I could  design the movie and the theater creation....as such.  

Debt BS

 "Nearly 10 million people in the U.S. age 50 and older have student-loan debt," per WSJ.

I paused over this.....reading several times.

To be fair....debt in general is a national issue  now.

I read a piece last week.....working couple....early 30s....both own 'new' cars.....each in the range of $70,000 spent on their car.....8-year loans.  Together....they still had around $60,000 left on the loans, with 3-to-4 years left to pay.

Somewhere....probably around 2035 to 2040....there's some massive financial collapse coming.

The four 'folks' who are going to be hurt the most?

I'd say the BIG banks, four-year university operations, the car-makers, and the housing market.