Top Five Democratic Contenders?

 At this point...mid-2026....I am basically discounting all House/Senate potential candidates in 2028....none are 'worthy'.

Governor Newsom?  Based on potential charges....fed-type....he's probably out.

Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania governor) leads the marginal pack.

Stephen A. Smith (ESPN moderator)?  I'd actually rank him in the top five now.

Mayor-Pete?  Oddly....still in the top five.

I'll just say it....it is the weakest field in three decades....unless Newsom runs.

AOC News?

  I got up this AM....top story?  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez splits from fiancé Riley Roberts.  In fact....they kinda hint that this split actually occurred 18-to-24 months ago.

After pondering it for a while....I had four questions:

1.  How did the news folks miss the break-up.....for almost 2 years?

2.  At this age point....is there any guy in his 40s to 50s....capable of hooking up with AOC?

3.  Is there something 'toxic' about AOC....in terms of a relationship situation?

4.  Can AOC run for President....single?  I have my doubts on this angle.

This being four-star news?  NO.....but there's just not much going on this week.  Other than NFL camps, WNBA draft potential for guys, and three states fixing up charges on Fauci now....there's just not much going on.  

The Hidden Codes Story

 I worked with a guy in the late 1990s.....who had this relative who'd come up in conversation.  The key point of this relative?  Well....paranoid schizophrenia.  And they were particular about their problem...that they were always secret codes/meanings being hidden in everything.

The Bible for example....had thousands of these hidden codes/meanings.

Daily newspapers....had hidden codes/meanings.

Billboard advertising....had hidden codes/meanings.

T-shirts....could have hidden codes/meanings.

There was no limit.  

There ever being some true hidden meaning?  Occasionally....about three or four times a year....yeah, they would make and prove their case with some subliminal advertising gimmick.

Thesis BS

 I worked for a Air Force Captain in the 1990s....who was working on his master's degree thesis.  It reached a point where the original idea, and written 'draft' wasn't working. He had me go and read what he had (I was probably the 4th person he asked).  

Note, I have 3x Associate Degrees, and 2x bachelor degrees.....all pretty much worthless (I even admit it).  I'll even admit....I just never had some end-goal, and was just taking courses which interested me. I'll also admit....I took around 25 CLEP/DANTES tests, and passed enough to equal one entire year of college.

After reading this draft....I went to the opening statement, and tried to value the statement to what he wrote.  It just didn't work.  He was discouraged enough....that he almost desired to pay some gal for a thesis copy (someone else's work from five years prior).  I don't remember the cost level, but for me....it was near a month's paycheck (enlisted guy).

I'm not into master's degrees or thesis-writing....but I suggested a name change to it.....throwing out 50-percent of the content....then wrote ten points (a paragraph opening each), and suggested he do more research on a more 'pointed' subject.  

Two weeks pass, and draft one is done.  In the end, the thesis was accepted, and the 'pain' was lifted.

I noted today....this fake professor in the UK deal.....they listed the title of his thesis: "An exploration of peer-mentoring among student teachers' to inform reflective practice within the context of action research."

Yeah....just looking at the title.....it sounds 98-percent BSish.

It has a fair amount of plagiarism, and was mostly a copy of someone's else's work.  Whether or not....it was a faked-up creation as well....from some guy in 2005, and that was a faked-up thesis of someone from 2001, and so-on, and so-on?  Well......you just wonder about that.  It could very well be....there's forty-odd versions of this....since 1970.

Final observation?  I'm not into the Master's or PhD crap, and even if you paid me money...I see it as wasted value.  We appear to need such people.  But I would imagine fifty-percent of them are mostly on some PhD-welfare fraud.

Hack Story

 I was reading this AI story in the AM.

Guy had gone to 'Claude' (the AI) and wanted to get into a yoga class (particular time/place).  'Claude' searched and search....discovering that the date requested (by the guy) was reasonably far off in the future, and the 'center' simply hadn't created vacant seats for this yoga class.

'Claude' then hacked into the system of the yoga-folks....added the dates that the guy requested, and wrote up an 'order' (fulfilled).

Somehow....never detailed....this was figured out.  

I pondered upon this.

AI never accepting defeat....calculating a alternate path....even if it had to re-write code/cheat?  Yeah.

To be honest, this is the AI I want....one never accepting failure.

Footnote...I have a slight bit of skepticism over the story...a 'guy' joining a yoga class?  It sounds fake.

Where I Evolved: 'Why Not Allow People To Have Their Delusions'

Probably up to the late 1990s....I was pretty open to the idea of allowing people to have delusions.  If people wanted to have invisible friends....believing they have talent (when they have none)....beliefs that they have medical conditions (when they have none)....believing that husband-x is engaged in infidelity when they aren't....I just let it go.

At some point....over a pretty short period....I dumped the free-to-have-delusions 'ticket', and started to get blunt.  If a guy or gal needed plain old 'get-your-act-together'....I gave it to them.

Part of this reality got intense as the trans-business started up.  

The intellectual arguments currently?  It simply leads back to some invisible or fake-reality. 

The idea that there are more of the delusionary crowd today....than in 1980?  That is the troubling part of this discussion.  I might have run into five or six people a year who had this issue.  Today....via social media or the news media...I probably observe five or six a day.

My Stop-In-The-Middle-Of-Nowhere-Parking-Lot Story

 My German wife hyped up a vacation in Italy....at the Garda Sea (northern quarter of Italy)....where we would drive from central Germany down.  I agreed to this, and had a fine route drawn.  Everything ran according to plan (excepting turning 'left' in Milano).  (Another story I'll tell one day)

After seven days...it's time to return.  I suggested a alternate route.

This would avoid the tunnel-business, and we would literally drive OVER the Alps.  When I say over....it means elevation climbs of 3,000 to 5,000 feet up.

At some peak-point....after a massive climbing experience with the car....we hit the peak area....where the Italians have a gravel parking lot for folks to halt, and get a 'whiff' of fine air.  It's at this point....the last five minutes....I start to notice cows just wandering around....no fencing....just loose.

So we hit the gravel parking area....I stop, and the wife agrees...it's a fine time to exit the car....get pictures, and get a 'whiff' of real fresh air.

She opens the door, and steps out without looking, and I've managed to park the car (with her door)....on a fairly fresh cow-paddy.  Full-step in.

There was about ten minutes of German cursing, and naturally.....I was blamed for the parking location.

This one event....labeled the alternate route....a complete and utter failure.

But this was not the worst part of the trip....about 30 minutes later....I came to discover that the brakepads were finished, and brakes marginally worked for the remainder of the trip home.  Monday morning....came the mechanic's view....roughly $1,500 for a full-complete brake job. 

Whenever trips come up now....where driving is an element....the route there, and back....have to be laid out completely....with no crazy Alps alternate routes possible.