Trigger People

 Last couple of days....the gal running for governor of Wisconsin (Dem, Asian gal) wanted folks to know that she has panic/anxiety attacks.  In some reference, she noted just by eating a burger at some 'shack'....the number of white-people there....clicked her 'panic-level', and she started up a panic attack.

How a governor could work through panic attacks?  Unknown.  

A year ago....I was reading a piece by a woman who was visiting relatives, and the teenager grand-daughter....listed out about five or six things which would start up a panic-attack.  Crowded places and a second-floor/higher levels....were triggers on the list.  How she'd survive past age 20?  Unknown.

My father-in-law....passed on because of a trigger-feeling for hospitals/clinics....which delayed attention to a hernia....which eventually killed him.

I worked in some Air Force office....where a Lt had some trigger related to storms/lightning.  Working a vault....you didn't have any attention usually to weather.  But somehow....this guy would note thunder, and his trigger would activate over 'worry'.

It just seems like....we've doubled the population who seem to freak out over panic/anxiety attacks.  In a group of twenty....there's likely to be at least two folks with substantial problems.  How this doubled-up?  That's what I'd like to know.

Chow Hall Story

 RFK Jr...in the past couple of months....went to a Army chow hall (as the story goes).  Post of about 2k to 3k folks who'd normally be using the chow-hall....but only around 400 seated there.  At conclusion....RFK Jr came to the opinion....crappy food, and bulk of what they cooked....went into the trash.

So he brought in some civilian guy....remade the menu....drastic changes....nothing thrown out with the new menu offerings.

August of 1977....I arrived at Air Force basic training, and was introduced to the chow hall.  My initial impression....for a burger or grilled ham and cheese....it was four-star.  All the deserts were four-star (probably sixteen variations).  I rated breakfast three-star....no waffles, but pancakes were decent.

Over the next two years....I used the chow hall probably 95-percent of the time.  Over time....nothing much changed/improved, and I went to 80-percent use.  At some point around the 4th year....they offered me separate-rations (paying me $100 a month) to eat where I desired.  The chief problem was....by the time you reached the 15th of the month....your extra money had been spent.

At some point in the 90s....for a week....I was deployed to Incirlik and had to use 'Satan's Inn' (their chow-hall).  It was marginally decent food,  For me, that was the breaking point....I just refused to eat chow-hall food from that point on.

Three Observations

 1.  Mayor Mamdani says....to use the city-run grocery....you got to have an ID.  But we aren't talking about a state-license, or a state-ID.  No....it'd be a special ID that you'd get from the city.  So far, they aren't saying what's required.

I paused over this.  Just a plain license?  If that's not enough....you'd probably have to have a utilities bill, car registration, or rental agreement.

Poverty folks able to get this?  I'm not sure.  Lawsuits going to occur?  Yeah.....I'm betting on that.

How much for the cost of this?  No one says....but I'd bet on $40.

2.  There is this odd brewing issue in Denver.   The Denver City Council is debating reading a “slavery acknowledgment” at the start of meetings in addition to the “land acknowledgment” to talk about woeful history of America....from 150 years ago.

I paused over this....apparently Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who proposed it says it might be “uncomfortable” for white people, is peppy about the whole thing.  

The amazing thing?  There's probably 12,000 current problems in the city....affecting everyone....just from the past three years.

The odd thing....statehood for Colorado....didn't come until 1876.  Yep....20 years after the Civil War.  

Someone ought to hype up Indian ownership, and suggest that 75-percent of Denver be handed back over to the local tribes.

3.  I was reading a investigative journalism piece....that went back to mid-1980s.

Apparently.....$95 million of the Live Aid concert money in 1985....which was supposed to go toward  starving Ethiopians....ended up buying guns for the Marxist factions fighting each other.

No one is going to jail over this....but it begs questions.

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