Trying to Do Andy Griffith in 2026

This weekend, I pondered upon someone coming up today and trying to remake Mayberry and do an Andy Griffith episode in today's atmosphere.  I doubt if they'd get past twelve episodes.

Andy today?  He'd be a failed student at Liberty University, who quit and spent six months trying to make it in Nashville.  On the final night before leaving Nashville, before returning to Mayberry....he got drunk and banged out three tunes in sixty minutes to some guy for $500....enough to pay his ticket home.  Andy remembers nothing of the night but all three tunes went over the next year to make $20 million for the country guy now made into a star. Andy returns to Mayberry mostly as a failure but just in time as the old police chief dies in some trailer on the south-side of Mayberry while 'hugging' some trailer-trash gal.  Andy agrees to the chief's job but admits he knows little to nothing about the job.

Barney?  He's be some Gulf War-vet who has PTSD and goes nuts about every three weeks from some drug that he's taking.  What no one knows is that he got there in Iraq a month after the war ended, and ended up as the custodian to one of Saddam's palaces, and was mostly there to water the plants, arrange for clean-up crews, and ensure Army guys hanging out there don't break anything.  He's convinced Andy to let him tote several military assault weapons in the police-car but no ammo.
Aunt Bee?  She's a cigarette-smoking ex-bartender from Tulsa who tinkers with motorcycles, makes apple pies from scratch, and has some mysterious past from San Francisco (claiming to have known at some point Charles Manson).

Otis?  He's been on sixteen different alcohol rehab adventures.  He's under study now by a Swiss PhD guy with radical ways of treating this.  Otis's wife is a die-hard far-left liberal who mostly drives Otis to drink.

Floyd?  He has a secret history of dressing up as women.  He's secretly written a dozen romance books and flies into the Bahamas once a year for two weeks while he writes another successful book.

Gomer?  He's mostly a gas-sniffer and comes in and out of brilliance about four hours a week.

Goober?  He's PhD character who flipped out and gave up a life in computer design to just repair cars.

Ernest T. Bass?  He's mostly a crazy nut, who can't be put away in a home.

And Helen Crump?  She's a fireball teacher who does crazy stuff and never seems to get arrested or fired.

The show would be watched intently for two or three episodes and then folks would say that it just isn't the same as the old show.

My High-School Math Experience

 Leaving the 5th grade and entering the 6th....there was some bump-up in terms of 'hard-stuff'.  We had a older lady (early 60s) as a math teacher....who had the method....home-work assigned at the end of class, with the hour spent the next day....everyone sent to the board to draw the problem (from the home-work).  Out of 24-odd people....maybe four understood the problem (or got help the previous night). 

We suffered for 50-odd minutes....with only about one-third  of the folks getting the problem right. Key issue....even if they draw the problem and right solution....they could not explain how they arrived at the end.

The teacher?  Mostly marginal competent at the math-crap.  Around mid-way in the year....she has health issues, and is replaced by someone even more dimwitted than her.

Sixth-grade achievements?  Zero (for me)..

Seventh-grade math....new instructor....same method.....same problem with the teacher really not capable of getting a problem across.

Eighth-grade math.....new instructor....same method.....same problem.  

Ninth-grade math....new instructor.....same method....same problem.

If you asked me....of 24 folks....four understood the formula crap...with another four getting older brothers/sisters giving them some marginal help.  The rest? Still at 5th grade level (this was early 1970s....rural Alabama).

10th grade.....I change schools, and the new math instructor hands the book out and says....USE the book and examples.

Over the course of three weeks....I progressed from 5th grade level to 10th grade level...simply reviewing the book examples, and methods.

By this work-at-your-own-pace....around  early January.....I had completed the entire course (tested out).

If you asked me about the four years of wasted math instruction?  I'd say the instructors weren't that capable of math (in the first place). Having a degree in math?  I seriously doubt it....they probably had some teaching degree 'deal'.  

This being the 'norm'?  I kinda wonder about that.

Under Islam, Is There A Precise List Of Haram Problems?

 NO.

Explaining haram?  Well...generally, anything that gives you pleasure and can be identifed....is on a list of things called haram (meaning you should avoid).

Example....if you had a bicycle and rode it to chill-out/relax....it would be on a haram list.  If you rode it strictly to reach work....it would not be haram.

So there cannot be a single precise, exhaustive, or universally agreed-upon list of everything that is haram.

There being things on one haram list....by one group...involving technology or medical stuff....being 'bad', but if you were a different group member....it'd be on the good list?  Yeah.

Magic-BS or fortune-telling?  Usually on the bad list.  Same story for gambling or bribery.

Sexual matters?  Well....it depends on the leadership interpretation....some might suggest being happy after sex....being a bad-thing....while another group would suggest being happy in any form....being a good thing.

All of this leading to confusion?  At some point....when folks ask enough questions....things get to a point of making little sense.

Engaging in a discussion with a Muslim guy on haram, and trying to make sense?  It's not likely to make sense.  Even the Muslim guy will admit it.  

In the end....to make public perception positive....it's always wise (if a member of this group) to say you are always unhappy....no matter what you are doing, and just fake it.