Ten Things I Tend To Believe

 1.  I think since mid-2019....Joe Biden has been in type of vegetable-status (1-to-10 index)......with most folks voting for him....not wanting to believe it.

2.  Eventually, the Mullah-guys from Iran....will get a 'team' into the US to do 'hit-jobs', and it'll freak out Homeland Security.

3. Mamdani's grocery sales operation....will last about 90 days....then collapse as theft becomes a big idea.  It might limp on, for another 90 days....before the cost factor is made public.

4.  Delta and United will likely merge by the end of 2026.  I'm not saying it's a positive thing....just that the market is presently 'crappy'.

5.  I suspect around 10-percent of Americans today....would be OK with a Nazi-party and a Nazi-platform.

6.  For those into major league baseball....I'd start to prepare for a 2027-season-long strike, and no games.  What fills the air-time?  I'm predicting roller-derby and demolition-derby to pick up the slack.

7.   People will eventually wake up and realize....for several decades....we had forest management, and then around 2000....just quit....to pretend we didn't need it.

8. Alberta, in 2027, will start state-talks with the US....with Guam quietly stepping forward (wanting the fast-track and 51st status).

9.  A AI-system will start to test/gauge/assign-scores.....to cult status.  HR organizations will start to discover that 10-to-20 percent  of their employees have a '5' score (1-to-10), and worry about cult-mentality.

10.  In 2028's national-across-the-landscape elections...at least 300 bartenders will be running for some office.  

The Obligation People

 'Freddy' the German World Cup visitor to the US....famous for his pictures and experiences....wrote a piece yesterday....relating to the question...where was the best place to visit?

Answer?  Texas, Tennessee and Alabama.

If you browse through the days that Freddy was in Alabama.....'FRIENDLINESS' seems pop up in a major way.  

So, being from Alabama....I will relate why we Alabamians score high on this 'index'.

You see....we tend to be under some pressure....when out-and-about...traveling around.  We  each see ourselves as a state-ambassador, and under some obligation.

We might take a turn in the road and here lays Elvis in the ditch, or 'Coach-Bear' with a flat-tire, or Miss Parton out of gas, or some Apostle (of the 12) dehydrated, or Kenny Rogers broke down on the side of the road.

It is our obligation to act friendly....offer help.....give advice....and be a kind person.

To be honest.....it's probably a points thing, and we reckon that upon arrival at the gates of heaven....these 'acts' make up for our problems in the past.

So we see some German 'Freddy' and maybe he's shaking his head a bit, and we interrupt things....to help the guy out.

Maybe we guided him to a bar-b-q shack.....or pulled out a beer for him....or offered a New Testament verse for adverse conditions.  

As for the competition thing with Tennessee and Texas?  Well....simply put....they aren't in our league.  

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.