During my Air Force years.....I stayed in six barracks or dorms (counting basic and tech school). Five had nothing much to say negative. The sixth....from the Barksdale period....would best be described as a marginal living situation.
It'd been built in the early 1960s with all the positives of the period. It had a sink in each room....a central toilet/shower, and AC on the floor (3rd). Oddly enough, it had a twelve-foot ceiling. By the time I got there in 1981, it had reached an end-point. The carpet had some moldy smell (still from the original 1960 construction). Cockroaches were hour-by-hour thing. The AC could no longer function. The heat could handle temperatures only down to 20-degrees (beyond that....it was marginal).
In twenty years, there had been two single upgrades or renovations. They put some shading film on the windows in the late 1970s, and the month that I got there....they'd added cable TV connections.
Renovation? About 18 months into my 'visit'...they announced that they were tearing the place down in a year....it was not capable of handling renovation. I ended my period on base as the month came when they were shutting down the building.
The three peaks of miserability?
The last summer there....the AC simply died and they refused to fix it (cost-wise, it made sense). So you sat in 95-degree heat with two fans whirling hot around the room. Your only relief was a refrigerator that you kept beer and ice in abundance.
Then winter came....with a shocker period of two weeks in December where the temperature dropped to minus-temperatures on three or four nights, and room temperature for seven days in a row could only be kept at 40 degrees. The system was at maximum capacity and was never made to handle minus-0 temperatures.
Then came the explosion. Some natural gas leak occurred at one side of the building and they evacuated the whole building for 72 hours while they repaired the gas leak and cleared the threat. It wasn't a big explosion....just enough to burn half the hair off some kid who who'd showered and lighting up a smoke while he was going blow-dry his hair.
In some ways, it was a cursed building.
Probably everything that came in 1984 has already met their end, and been replaced as well.
Sunday, 30 August 2026
Saturday, 29 August 2026
If You Asked Me.....
If you asked me....to identify who really makes up the left 'folks' of America....I'd generally say it's formed in its majority by students who do not study, educators who do not educate, workers who do not work, people with one single form of news, and people expecting the government to 'save' them/society/democracy.
If you asked me....to define the true meaning of DEI....I'd say you've set up your office, company, church, organization....to hype-up the lesser crowd (in terms of abilities, performance, and background) for management or leadership. You aren't asking to make things better, or at least the same....you are asking for a step back (or two, or three, or four steps back).
If you asked me....the odds of a future civil war in the US, or the UK....it's no longer zero-chance.
If you asked me....the one key job in forty years that will be mostly all AI-run.....it's a therapist. AI will simply learn to ask question after question....leading you to conclusions. I think therapy will eventually be a 'free' deal....even forced upon people whether they want it or not.
If you asked me....do TDS-suffering folks have only 'yes-people' around them....I'd say they have no choice. They need support 'groups', and fellow TDS-folks are the only option. Yeah, they will always seek out new friends....but somewhere in the first three minutes....the question will come up.
If you asked me....rating roller-derby and WNBA basketball....I'd rather watch roller-derby.
The Fake Study
A couple of years ago....there was this Stanford University research project, and it came to some startling but not surprising conclusion.
For some reason....this sticks to my mind and probably comes up at least three times a year.
They took roughly 7,000 students (high school and university)....across the whole US (urban and rural)....and they asked them to evaluate news items which came from social media.
What they came to realize is that the bulk of these kids would accept some caption on a photo that declared some disaster, or event, or terrible woes.....and that was the acceptance of the item....whether it was true or fake.
They were unable to identify real stories from fake stories.
Of course, I looked at the story and then wondered....why limit this to students? Why not go ahead with a second study and just look at 21-year-olds to 60-year-olds.....and see if they have the same issue.
My humble guess? Yeah, they'd fail as miserably as the punk kids.
The problem is that you have some many misleading and carefully crafted stories from literally hundreds of sources....the odds are that you only have thirty to sixty minutes a day to absorb and grasp what the story is about. You don't have time to ask why CNN built some interview into a story which was worthless, or why the BBC showed you misleading images, or why the Washington Post wrote a fairly long story with only three simple facts taking up nine lines of a 140-line summary.
The amusing thing is that Stanford researchers will sit there and poke into things which will upset a number of journalists and news organizations because it's obvious....there is very little difference between real journalism and fake journalism.
More research? It would be of interest if they'd go and study adults....thus proving this whole fake reality of life today. But if you did prove that virtually everything has an element of false nature to it....then what?
For some reason....this sticks to my mind and probably comes up at least three times a year.
They took roughly 7,000 students (high school and university)....across the whole US (urban and rural)....and they asked them to evaluate news items which came from social media.
What they came to realize is that the bulk of these kids would accept some caption on a photo that declared some disaster, or event, or terrible woes.....and that was the acceptance of the item....whether it was true or fake.
They were unable to identify real stories from fake stories.
Of course, I looked at the story and then wondered....why limit this to students? Why not go ahead with a second study and just look at 21-year-olds to 60-year-olds.....and see if they have the same issue.
My humble guess? Yeah, they'd fail as miserably as the punk kids.
The problem is that you have some many misleading and carefully crafted stories from literally hundreds of sources....the odds are that you only have thirty to sixty minutes a day to absorb and grasp what the story is about. You don't have time to ask why CNN built some interview into a story which was worthless, or why the BBC showed you misleading images, or why the Washington Post wrote a fairly long story with only three simple facts taking up nine lines of a 140-line summary.
The amusing thing is that Stanford researchers will sit there and poke into things which will upset a number of journalists and news organizations because it's obvious....there is very little difference between real journalism and fake journalism.
More research? It would be of interest if they'd go and study adults....thus proving this whole fake reality of life today. But if you did prove that virtually everything has an element of false nature to it....then what?
PBR
I noted from about 10 days ago....some idiot stole around 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in California. Whole truck-load.
I paused over this....PBR.....most marginal-tasting beer in existence....wondering how you'd sell off or 'fence' the goods.
On top of the fencing problem....you don't want a nickname to be attached to you....as the PBR 'dealer'.
Friday, 28 August 2026
Sears
I grew up with the local Sears which operated in some 'giant' location in the midst of Florence, Alabama. It was mid-town (well, in the sense of what mid-town means in Florence). In retrospect, I doubt that you could have put more than 100 cars in the entire parking lot. So on occasion (especially around Christmas), you had to park on the main street and put a nickle in the parking meter.
My folks would have made the trip into Sears about every six weeks. It was the obvious place for clothing, tools, or Christmas toys. I can still remember the Christmas catalog which would arrive in early fall, and you'd have an entire hour of enjoyment checking out what they offered for sale.
Across the street was the Sears annex where lawnmowers were sold, and tires were available. My dad bought tires from them on a random basis. At some point, he flipped to Wal-Mart and their tire shop.
By the late 1970s....that location had reached it's maximum usage and they swung Sears around to the new mall on the end of town.
Over the 40 years since....I've probably been in a Sears at least fifty times....mostly for clothing or shoes. In the past decade? I've been in Sears once. I'm probably one of the reasons why they are in the negative position that exists today.
The thing is that they always had quality clothing or shoes, but beyond that....they were in a competitive situation with a dozen other companies and Amazon. When I needed plain white shoes for the office....I went to Landsend and ordered via the internet.
I see this end as some comment to an era that is closing out. Radio Shack (sinking at the same rate as Sears), Grants, Big "B" Drugs, Circuit City, CompUSA, Woolco, Zodys, ABCO Foods, Blockbuster, Tower Records, Price Club, etc. It is a totally different environment today than in the mid-80s. You can drive across various urbanized areas now and see various large store-fronts which are empty and waiting for the next start-up and their eventual failure. At best, you probably have six to ten years of life upon opening some store these days....before you stumble or meet up with real competition.
So I have this image in my mind....Christmas....mid-70s....and this small town Sears decked out in Christmas decorations and lights flashing. That's the Sears that I remember.
My folks would have made the trip into Sears about every six weeks. It was the obvious place for clothing, tools, or Christmas toys. I can still remember the Christmas catalog which would arrive in early fall, and you'd have an entire hour of enjoyment checking out what they offered for sale.
Across the street was the Sears annex where lawnmowers were sold, and tires were available. My dad bought tires from them on a random basis. At some point, he flipped to Wal-Mart and their tire shop.
By the late 1970s....that location had reached it's maximum usage and they swung Sears around to the new mall on the end of town.
Over the 40 years since....I've probably been in a Sears at least fifty times....mostly for clothing or shoes. In the past decade? I've been in Sears once. I'm probably one of the reasons why they are in the negative position that exists today.
The thing is that they always had quality clothing or shoes, but beyond that....they were in a competitive situation with a dozen other companies and Amazon. When I needed plain white shoes for the office....I went to Landsend and ordered via the internet.
I see this end as some comment to an era that is closing out. Radio Shack (sinking at the same rate as Sears), Grants, Big "B" Drugs, Circuit City, CompUSA, Woolco, Zodys, ABCO Foods, Blockbuster, Tower Records, Price Club, etc. It is a totally different environment today than in the mid-80s. You can drive across various urbanized areas now and see various large store-fronts which are empty and waiting for the next start-up and their eventual failure. At best, you probably have six to ten years of life upon opening some store these days....before you stumble or meet up with real competition.
So I have this image in my mind....Christmas....mid-70s....and this small town Sears decked out in Christmas decorations and lights flashing. That's the Sears that I remember.
Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Ten Observations about Star Trek
If you count up the five different Start Trek series....I've watched about five-hundred episodes. After a while, there's some things that you notice.
1. It seems like no one ever has to go off to the latrine and spend some sitting time after eating some pretty solid chunky food.
2. No one seems to have any necessity for duct-tape.
3. Everyone in Star Fleet appears to be some male model. No chunky women, no beer-gut guys, etc.
4. No one on board ever drinks Pepsi or Coke.
5. You never seem to see any bad behavior occasions from the crew where you need to have Lt Jones punished or sent to the brig.
6. You never see any of the quarters for the junior guys onboard.
7. You never seem to see any mental nutcases onboard.
8. You never see a BX or shoppette onboard.
9. No one ever talks NCAA football, which means that it must have just gone away at some point.
10. There's never any uniform inspections, which just strikes me as curious how you can go so long without jumping on folks.
1. It seems like no one ever has to go off to the latrine and spend some sitting time after eating some pretty solid chunky food.
2. No one seems to have any necessity for duct-tape.
3. Everyone in Star Fleet appears to be some male model. No chunky women, no beer-gut guys, etc.
4. No one on board ever drinks Pepsi or Coke.
5. You never seem to see any bad behavior occasions from the crew where you need to have Lt Jones punished or sent to the brig.
6. You never see any of the quarters for the junior guys onboard.
7. You never seem to see any mental nutcases onboard.
8. You never see a BX or shoppette onboard.
9. No one ever talks NCAA football, which means that it must have just gone away at some point.
10. There's never any uniform inspections, which just strikes me as curious how you can go so long without jumping on folks.
Economically Illiterate?
I got onto a business article last month, and it's been on my mind for several weeks. The writer suggested....that a majority (maybe over 80-percent) of Americans were economically illiterate. I paused over it.
I grew up in a rural area, and by the end of a dozen years....yeah, there was zero knowledge passed onto us, in terms of economics.
To be honest....even the first ten years of the Air Force....it was near zero. Then one day....I ended working with a Captain who had a degree of study in finance (besides Civil War history which was his major). Almost daily, I got a 15-minute lecture on finance, economics, trends, etc. I should add...once a week...he'd also give a 15-minute lecture on either Lee or Grant, battles of the Civil War, and 1800s economics of the south
The degree of hopelessness existing....mostly due to stupid financial decisions? I'd say most of the national spiral....leads back to credit, debt, and poor decisions.
We need some national year of finance chatter....getting kids smart, and leading to better finances across the country.
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