Student Loan BS

I read this statistic over the weekend.

More than three million people....age 62 and older.....owe federal student loans, up from 1.8 million in 2018, according to Education Department data.

Some went back to school....probably in their 40s....for a master's degree or PhD.  Some got into a $100k debt back in the early 90s, and just never caught up.

A poverty-class at age 65?  That's what I wonder about.

You ending up at age 67.....delivering pizzas....because $500 a month is still going toward a stupid student loan?  Probably.

Illiteracy in Society

 I saw a comment this weekend.   One of the anticipated skills you probably will have to learn in the near future....is how to cope with an increasingly illiterate society of emotionally dysregulated people. 

I thought about this 'coping' mechanism required.

When you refer to illiterate....we are suggesting a 18 to 30 year old 'kid'....who has the knowledge level and maturity of a 12-year old 'kid'.  If you asked them to define a quarter of an hour.....they can't come to 15 minutes.  If you asked them read a simple to-do list....they'd have questions that take up to an hour.

West coast kids more affected southern kids?  I would imagine so.

Military to be the first place where this problem is noted?  Yeah...probably so.

Us old guys (65 to 90)?  Yeah....we probably will be dragged back into the work-force...to 'kick-butt' and cuss-out the emotionally distraught folks.

Seattle Saga

For about two weeks....I've been watching this odd mass shooting episode at the Bite of Seattle food festival (the 26th of July).

The basic story?  Somewhere around 6 PM....gunfire broke out at Seattle Center (near the Space Needle) during the final day of the local 'free' (to enter) food festival. Some gang-BS started up....shooting....with apparently three folks shooting.

Three folks dead....two were just guys hanging out....one was apparently one of the shooters.

Four folks wounded.

If you go by the textbook....cops did everything possible to halt the mess....I'd give them credit.

So....two issues pop up.

First....one shooter got away, and the cops simply didn't want to advertise his appearance.  

Second, while the got-away guy stuff was going on.....city leadership didn't want to talk about it.  You get the impression.....no one knew much of anything, and they didn't want to share that lack of knowledge with the news people.

Five hours pass.  There's a conference scheduled....but they seem to be waiting on the arrival of the Governor.

The mayor?  Well....this is the gal who is fully unqualified for the job.  

Somewhere in the middle of things....it's apparent that the chief of police doesn't really LIVE in Seattle.  The guy was hired out of Chicago....keeping the family/residence there, and simply renting an apartment in Seattle. You get the impression he was a temp-guy....waiting for a chance to return to Chicago, and be chief of police there.

The mayor gets the ideal....because the police chief is gone so much....out of the city....she needs to blame someone, and he's the 'one'.  So in the past couple of day.....she fires him.  Oddly, the city has to pay him off....at least $600,000 from the details I can figure.

The replacement guy?  Well....he's a temp-filler.....keeping a apartment in Seattle, while living elsewhere....as well.

Journalists?  Well...you get the impression that for 20 years....they've been hibernating, and just woke up...asking weird blunt and direct questions....which the mayor can't answer.

I paused here....wondering....well....does Seattle just not have mass shootings, and this was a one-of-a-kind?  NO....statistics show 3 to 7 mass shootings a year.  So it's not rare.

Finally, I come to this odd part of the story.  There is still apparently one shooter from this event....still on the run.  

My take?  The mayor probably has about six months of time left...before the pressure gets to a 'joke' level.  

Trekkie Episode

 'Strange New Worlds'....the Star-Trek series....season four opened up and I watched episode one.  I sat and watched the episode ("Valles Marineris") yesterday.  One of the weirdest and thought-provoking episodes of all the series.

Brief description?  Pike and crew are ordered to observe some 'natural-event'.  They show up....get drawn into some vortex, and lickety-split....are 65-million years in the past.  Based on stars....in 30 seconds....they figure they are in the Earth/Mars region...oddly enough.  The engine is down....fuel used up....crappy mess.

So they send three ladies to gather up fuel noted on Earth.  The intention for the 'slant' of the story....they are three bad-ass ladies.  (I can buy into this....slightly).

Meanwhile....Pike and crew now encounter this highly advanced race of Martians.  Head?  Battle Commander Kassel....bad-ass-level 9 (out of ten).  

Apparently Mars is at war with a bug-people (don't ask).....there's not much told, except the bug-people have killed off millions of Martians, and Kassel is looking for a magnificent weapon to end the threat.  Pike keeps talking about peace, and 'talks'.  

At some point...Kassel realizes the Enterprise 'fuel-cell' is the perfect weapon (makes no sense)....then steals it.  

Pike's efforts to crank-up the Enterprise....go to full power....now wrapped up.

So by the rules of the Federation.....Pike needs to recover the fuel-cell, and halt the massive threat.  Well....it's too late....Kassel has launched the fuel-cell 'bomb'.....against the 5th planet.

Well...this gets to a half-reality/half-theory problem....yeah, there is a 5th planet out there....in reality....already destroyed. Pike has begun to realize the implications.

So with 30 seconds left to halt the fuel-cell-bomb....saving the bug-people....Pike says nothing and lets the bomb dissolve the bug-problem.  They use the explosion to rig up a path back to the right time, and the Federation leadership seem to want to limit the discussion of what happened.

My take....someone knew the timing of this and rigged up Pike and crew to deliver the fuel-cell-bomb.

All of this has brought up the 5th planet issue, and making folks wonder.....in reality, what really happened to it?

I have to admit....I'd kind like to see the Kassel character brought back

Kamala-Quote

 I sat this AM....watching a interview with former VP Kamala Harris....who suggested 600,000 to 700,000 'people' died because of Elon's USAID destruction.

First, it's round-number BS.....when you hear nice round numbers....it's probably 99-percent false/bogus.

Second, the reason for the deaths?  Left unexplained....like a Star-Trek episode.

Third, she can't equate $40,000 per dead person in any logical fashion.  It should make sense....but at the same time...it's like some algebra BS that you had in the 8th grade.....where nothing could ever be 'correct'.

Fourth, you could invent a counter-fact....saying by cancelling the USAID money....you thereby saved 1.5-million people....but never explaining how that factually occurred.

Finally, you get this odd feeling....Kam's math skills....might be questionable, and limited to 4th grade math (before the algebra era).

My Concept For a 3-Year Degree

 My humble suggestion.

Around Feb of your 11th grade....you'd test.....if you pass....you graduate and leave in June (no 12th grade).  Within this path....once you get the note to pass....you get a CLEP/Dantes test 'deal'.....10 free tests of your choice....if you pass any of them....it gets added to your record as college credit.

As you graduate....you get one year of community college as 'free'.  

Bogus BS classes (art, library science)?  None.

75-percent of what you take for the 3-year degree....would be within the 'core'.

Business math?  Required.  Financial management?  Required.  

Secret-Agent Gal Story

 I lived for about 3.5 years in Arlington, VA....working for the Pentagon.  I came to conclude about six months into the experience....about every 3rd day....some crazy-crazy BS happens in the region.

One of my favorite stories came from the apartment complex next to mine....on Columbia Pike....in the heart of Arlington.

This gal....late 20s...came to move into the apartment complex.  Early on...like the 1st week....she was greeting folks and making them aware that she worked for the CIA. 

She'd talk of experiences in Europe and the Middle East.  

Some guy (probably also in his late 20s).....took up with her (in the physical way).  About six months into this....she had him convinced of a potential job situation (overseas.....some hostile zone), and she could hire him as a 'assistant'

He gave notice, and would be 'hired-up'.  It was around Thanksgiving, and the two were to visit his parents (New England region).  All this was laid out.  The problem is....'dad' just didn't believe any of the BS....called some FBI agent, and in about hour or two....they confirmed she was NOT a fed-employee of any type, and did NOT work for the CIA.

Whole thing made up?  Yeah.  Arlington police investigated eventually....confirming that the gal was some 'kid' of a well-to-do guy....was bi-polar....'dad' was paying for the apartment.  

'Secret-agent' girl....was talked about for a week or two.  In my complex....we got to the key question....could there be a thousand fake bi-polar secret-agent gals in America?   Consensus?  Yeah....probably so.