Food Chatter

 I had to stop in at a airport in the US in the mid-1990s....a four-hour delay to catch the last leg.  

Meal-time came up and I ended up walking into a grill-shop.  The burger-fries plate?  At that point in time....it was around $17.90 for the plate and soda.  If you did the inflation scale today....it'd be around $32.  

Being a E6 at the time....I kinda freaked but realized....there's nothing much on options.  

About 10 years would pass, and I was stuck in NY City overnight, and wanted breakfast (Roosevelt Hotel)....which was to be $32 (included coffee).  Today, that would be near $47.  Yeah, I paid it.  

Today, I was reading a piece  where a California Senator-to-be is talking of a $50 an hour wage scale for burger-flippers.  Doing the math for a BK double-whopper menu dinner (soda included)....I figure it'd cost me around $70 for dinner (figure tax included).

It is to the point where I'd probably only travel with a lunch-box....maybe some cookies and a apple or two....to survive for a trip.

The Paths We Take Essay

 As a kid attending 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade science classes in rural Alabama in the early 1970s....under Ms 'Hilda'....I was pretty set to be the C-minus kid.  

In the same era (4 year period).....I had four different math teachers....who were all 'losers' in getting the topic across. I generally averaged a C-minus through the  whole period.

I changed schools, and in the early 12th grade....the test folks came from the military and figure out our 'capabilities.  This was the ASVAB tests.

So this odd thing happened....in the area of general science (GS),  arithmetic reasoning (AR), mathematics knowledge (MK), and electronic information (EI)....I was around 50 points ahead of the general average.

In the area of General technical (GT)...with word knowledge (WK), paragraph comprehension (PC), and arithmetic reasoning (AR).....I was 40 points ahead of the general average.

In the area of Mechanical maintenance (MM)....with auto and shop information (AS), mechanical comprehension (MC), and electronic information (EI).....I pretty much maxed out.  

So getting into the Air Force wasn't an issue.

But there is this odd story which falls into play.  

I left the farm on 1 August 1977, and about two weeks after this....a recruitment letter came from the Navy.  They wanted me to call and talk to a particular recruiter....offering nuclear operations.  My mom kept the letter around but I didn't really see the letter for five or six years.

After reading the letter....I paused over this.  Me?  The kid with a C-minus science situation and marginally passing math for the mid-years of high school....being recruited for nuclear reactor training and duty?  For several years, I was mostly amused over where this would have led onto.

If the Navy had sent this note the month before I signed up with the Air Force?  Would I have been 'crazy' enough to talk to this recruitment guy and get tangled up into some kind of nuclear  'duty' and go off to the Navy?  The kid with dismal grades in science and math?

I worked with a guy who had this extreme of 'timing' being everything.  He believed entire paths of life....led somewhere, but it was on the timing of events that mattered.  

If I had avoided the science teacher (Ms Hilda) or had some decent math instructor...who knows?

China Agent Scheme?

 Yesterday, I noticed someone made a comment/question off social media....talking about these Chinese guys walking up from South America....through Panama, and heading toward the US border.

So they brought up that even if you use 'best-guess' estimates of the border patrol....there's probably 20,000 either in the US or heading....they went to this odd topic.

The topic?  The Pentagon is now desperate for folks and likely to bring up by early 2025....a offer to recruit non-Americans (migrants) and put some citizenship deal on the table (you do four years of duty, and we give you US citizenship).

So the chatter went to this....what prevents the CCP (Chinese government) from sending 50,000 young men over and getting them all into the US military (with clearances) and being long-term Manchurian-Candidate 'players'?

I sat there for a while pondering over this.

In the 1980s....1990s....we would not have been this stupid to engage in some weird crap like this.

Today?  I'm pretty convinced that it wouldn't take much to sell 50-plus Senators on the idea (bribes go a long way) and the US Army would literally beg to fill billets (even with IQ-disqualified folks).

This trek by the Chinese guys designed to fill the US Army billets?  Well....it's crazy but I have to admit it makes perfect sense.

Bag Story

 I spent a few minutes this AM reading over this California story.

A bag tax was implemented and they figured that this would cure the ills of people (they did the same thing here in Germany).

So the success story?  From what the state figures....plastic bag use went up by 30-percent.

I can say from a German prospective....two curious things happened to make this less-plastic agenda fail.

First, the tax was aimed at thin-plastic bags...so grocery store went to a heavy-grade plastic to sell people on the idea of re-use.  The heavy-grade bag...isn't taxed, but folks still throw them away at the end.

Second, folks eventually got smart and went to Ebay and Amazon....to buy bulk box form plastic bags.  They will walk into a shop with five or six bags....their own purchase....avoiding the tax and agenda entirely.

In a way, it's kinda funny how problems were going to be fixed, and just got you deeper into a mess.