About ten days ago, CNN (I still do occasionally review their 'product')....wrote up a fine piece on too much news being bad for you.
I sat and pondered over it for a while.
In the mid-1970s, you basically had 30 minutes of local news and 30 minutes of national news, a brief eight minutes of Paul Harvey news via your radio, and a chance to read one of four regional newspapers. You might have had Time and Newsweek, or perhaps gone overboard with US News and World Report. Then from your front porch in Alabama, you would have engaged conversation on folks about something you read. The conversation might have gone on for ten minutes, and then the other guy would have chatted on some church revival. The stress level of a guy over this type of news and conversation? On a scale of one to ten....it barely ever arose above a 'three'.
Today? You could watch four different morning pieces of local news....then get three hours of C*PAN. Then you'd go to CNN, Fox or MSNBC for four hours of news. Then read through not only the local newspaper, but had access to the London Telegraph, the NY Times, and some Texas business journal. By 10 PM, you probably have poured over 700 bits of news. The stress level? Some folks might be able to limit the intake and still have a 'six' for stress, but I would imagine some folks are moving along with a 'ten' (maxing out).
The question is.....how would you throttle back?
In some way, we need a rehab center where there's just a eight-minute version of the Paul Harvey news. All of this news business is creating heart-attack situations.
Tuesday, 12 June 2018
Saturday, 9 June 2018
The Strategy of Hauling Hay
My brother has brought up the topic today. He intends to be 'hauling'.
High for today? 93 degrees. Humidity? Roughly 90-percent.
As a kid, there were a list of farm job which were on some miserability listing. Hauling hay for me....was about a 95 on a list going up to 100. Maybe if you'd hauled in April or October.....you wouldn't feel so bad about.
The amount liquid replenishment? You could easily go through a gallon of water in four hours.
There were four key elements to work of the day:
1. Stacking on the truck or trailer in a way that it would be stable for five levels. Everyone has a particular method. And the worst pain was to have it up to four levels and the truck hitting some groundhog hole and tossing the load and the two guys off the truck. The guy on the tractor or driving the truck? You wanted this person to be absolutely 'slow' in turns and never stopping.
2. Timing this between rainstorms. You were basically looking for a seven day period where you could cut the hay....have it dry out enough.....then haul it. The doppler image was surveyed hour by hour.
3. Backing a trailer with a tractor into a tight barn area to be unloaded. With very little to see, this would eat up fifteen minutes of attempts.
4. Finally, came the worry of the lightning storm. Nine times out of ten....you could get this done and no rain. But on that 10-percent situation....you were basically observing dark clouds off in the distance and estimating that you had a 90-minute window before it arrived. This pressured you into doing stupid things and doubling up the odds of a screw-up.
Oddly enough....about two years after I left the farm....my dad went to round-bales. The trauma and adventure? Gone. In recent years, for some odd reason....the square bales have returned in some ways and folks seem to desire the suffering side of hauling hay. Guys sit around the general store and talk over the differing strategies of round versus square. Each gives a scientific view and personal suffering from square bail years (usually having fall 20 feet from the back of a truck).
At the end of the day....you walked back into an air conditioned house....then took a shower to wash off the sweat, and you emerged ready for a catfish dinner somewhere. That was the only positive moment of the whole day, in my humble opinion.
High for today? 93 degrees. Humidity? Roughly 90-percent.
As a kid, there were a list of farm job which were on some miserability listing. Hauling hay for me....was about a 95 on a list going up to 100. Maybe if you'd hauled in April or October.....you wouldn't feel so bad about.
The amount liquid replenishment? You could easily go through a gallon of water in four hours.
There were four key elements to work of the day:
1. Stacking on the truck or trailer in a way that it would be stable for five levels. Everyone has a particular method. And the worst pain was to have it up to four levels and the truck hitting some groundhog hole and tossing the load and the two guys off the truck. The guy on the tractor or driving the truck? You wanted this person to be absolutely 'slow' in turns and never stopping.
2. Timing this between rainstorms. You were basically looking for a seven day period where you could cut the hay....have it dry out enough.....then haul it. The doppler image was surveyed hour by hour.
3. Backing a trailer with a tractor into a tight barn area to be unloaded. With very little to see, this would eat up fifteen minutes of attempts.
4. Finally, came the worry of the lightning storm. Nine times out of ten....you could get this done and no rain. But on that 10-percent situation....you were basically observing dark clouds off in the distance and estimating that you had a 90-minute window before it arrived. This pressured you into doing stupid things and doubling up the odds of a screw-up.
Oddly enough....about two years after I left the farm....my dad went to round-bales. The trauma and adventure? Gone. In recent years, for some odd reason....the square bales have returned in some ways and folks seem to desire the suffering side of hauling hay. Guys sit around the general store and talk over the differing strategies of round versus square. Each gives a scientific view and personal suffering from square bail years (usually having fall 20 feet from the back of a truck).
At the end of the day....you walked back into an air conditioned house....then took a shower to wash off the sweat, and you emerged ready for a catfish dinner somewhere. That was the only positive moment of the whole day, in my humble opinion.
Thursday, 7 June 2018
Ten Questions
Almost everyday, I sit and go through 250 stories via the internet, newspapers, news media sources, magazines, business channels, and networks. And I typically come to a series of ten-odd questions that fundamentally damage the whole process of news....because journalists just won't ask the questions, and you are left to wonder.
Today?
1. Is there really anything worthwhile to gain out of this weekends G7 meeting in Canada? You know....other than images....fake chatter....hyped-up bits of nothing....is there anything worth the fantastic cost of running this fake gimmick?
2. Did the Canadians set the White House on fire in 1812? Well, the news media will say absolutely NO. Here's the thing that you have to ask. Where exactly did the Brits come from? Well....yeah....they basically came from Canada....across the border, and set the grounds on fire. Oddly enough (some say caused by God)....a magnificent storm occurred and rain put out the fire.
3. Is there anything left for Stormy Daniels to gain? No. In fact, job-wise, other than pole-dancing....there's not much of a career left.
4. Does anyone really care if NFL championship teams get invited to the White House? On a list of 500 things that might matter....most Americans would rate this near 2,555 on their list of important things to worry about.
5. Will anyone remember Paul Ryan after he leaves office and the House 'boss' job? Well....no.
6. Can the American general public even name the Chancellor of Germany (Merkel)? My humble guess is that less than 8-percent can name her. In fact....more can name the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, than the Chancellor of Germany.
7. There are 30,000 teachers in Illinois who make 6-figure salaries (100,000 or greater), which adds up to 3.7-billion dollars. When does the bubble burst? At some point, between five and ten years from now....massive financial failure will come....cuts will arrive...teachers will strike....and a whole year will disappear with kids unable to complete requirements.
8. Sports reports indicate that out-of-work Kaepernick (the knee-on-the-turf guy) intends to drag President Trump into his legal case against the NFL. Really? A subpoena? So you really want to bring the President in and let him say in some statement that he thinks your social justice gimmick is stupid, and when you try to play this game out....he'll lay down the public card and tell you that you aren't fighting some social justice 'war'....you were hired for a sport and apparently can't grasp who or what your customer is.
9. If the Democrats don't win big in the House this fall....what exactly is their strategy for 2020? Oh....well...yeah, there isn't one.
10. Are there any cuss words left, that CNN hasn't dramaticized?
Today?
1. Is there really anything worthwhile to gain out of this weekends G7 meeting in Canada? You know....other than images....fake chatter....hyped-up bits of nothing....is there anything worth the fantastic cost of running this fake gimmick?
2. Did the Canadians set the White House on fire in 1812? Well, the news media will say absolutely NO. Here's the thing that you have to ask. Where exactly did the Brits come from? Well....yeah....they basically came from Canada....across the border, and set the grounds on fire. Oddly enough (some say caused by God)....a magnificent storm occurred and rain put out the fire.
3. Is there anything left for Stormy Daniels to gain? No. In fact, job-wise, other than pole-dancing....there's not much of a career left.
4. Does anyone really care if NFL championship teams get invited to the White House? On a list of 500 things that might matter....most Americans would rate this near 2,555 on their list of important things to worry about.
5. Will anyone remember Paul Ryan after he leaves office and the House 'boss' job? Well....no.
6. Can the American general public even name the Chancellor of Germany (Merkel)? My humble guess is that less than 8-percent can name her. In fact....more can name the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, than the Chancellor of Germany.
7. There are 30,000 teachers in Illinois who make 6-figure salaries (100,000 or greater), which adds up to 3.7-billion dollars. When does the bubble burst? At some point, between five and ten years from now....massive financial failure will come....cuts will arrive...teachers will strike....and a whole year will disappear with kids unable to complete requirements.
8. Sports reports indicate that out-of-work Kaepernick (the knee-on-the-turf guy) intends to drag President Trump into his legal case against the NFL. Really? A subpoena? So you really want to bring the President in and let him say in some statement that he thinks your social justice gimmick is stupid, and when you try to play this game out....he'll lay down the public card and tell you that you aren't fighting some social justice 'war'....you were hired for a sport and apparently can't grasp who or what your customer is.
9. If the Democrats don't win big in the House this fall....what exactly is their strategy for 2020? Oh....well...yeah, there isn't one.
10. Are there any cuss words left, that CNN hasn't dramaticized?
Saturday, 2 June 2018
The 4.8 Percent Story
It's a small note but kinda interesting....GDP forecast now for 2018? 4.8-percent.
The last time that this number was exceeded? 1984. You remember that period....Alf, Reagan, etc.
Oh, we did come close in 2000 (4.6-percent) and 4.5-percent in both 1997/1998).
And that period with Bush and Obama? Mostly around 2-percent. The year that Obama worked up the Iran nuke deal and release of the money....well, we did bump up to 2.9-percent.
What if we match or exceed 4.8-percent in 2019? More jobs.....more black kids hired up....more folks paying taxes....more folks happy with life.
The last time that this number was exceeded? 1984. You remember that period....Alf, Reagan, etc.
Oh, we did come close in 2000 (4.6-percent) and 4.5-percent in both 1997/1998).
And that period with Bush and Obama? Mostly around 2-percent. The year that Obama worked up the Iran nuke deal and release of the money....well, we did bump up to 2.9-percent.
What if we match or exceed 4.8-percent in 2019? More jobs.....more black kids hired up....more folks paying taxes....more folks happy with life.
Thursday, 31 May 2018
Disorder Story
I was read a short piece in the last week which picked up the topic noted by a single university, that they came realize around a quarter of their crowd are now admitting as they register.....they are mentally ill in some fashion.
Of course, the definitions were open to some degree. If you suffered from anxiety, panic attacks, bi-polar issues, eating disorders, ADAH, personality disorders, substance abuse, etc.....you fell into this 'pit'.
Course, the real issue is that for all these years....no one ever put this on a submission form and asked the kid as he paid the tuition...do you have problems that you want to admit? Frankly, until recently.....they didn't care. The university has a product and someone wants to buy it. The old attitude was just to sell that product and move on.
But this kinda makes you wonder....do we now have more people with mental issues than in previous decades? I would tend to argue that we always had people who had 'issues', and the vast majority just lived with it and learned some counter-balance solution on their own.
In the case of the university system....I see them wanting to broaden their product and attach more fees/costs into the system. If you had seven-hundred folks registered with the college and admitting eating disorders....well, you'd probably go out and hire two full-time counselors, and try to hype up their availability.....putting the cost into the tuition system. Or you might have 1,500 folks admitting that they were suffering from panic attacks, and you'd have a special office on campus where they could 'escape' into and get 'relief'.
But in the midst of all of this disorder business.....would you have some folks who just showed up with no issue and figured....what the hell....I'll mark down that I've got a personality disorder, and a eating disorder....then spend a fifteen minute session with the disorder 'chief' trying to convince them of a fake background. You can imagine 2025 rolling around and some university chief waking up one morning to be told that 88-percent of his students have some kind of disorder, and creating a whole department to micromanage the issue.
Of course, the definitions were open to some degree. If you suffered from anxiety, panic attacks, bi-polar issues, eating disorders, ADAH, personality disorders, substance abuse, etc.....you fell into this 'pit'.
Course, the real issue is that for all these years....no one ever put this on a submission form and asked the kid as he paid the tuition...do you have problems that you want to admit? Frankly, until recently.....they didn't care. The university has a product and someone wants to buy it. The old attitude was just to sell that product and move on.
But this kinda makes you wonder....do we now have more people with mental issues than in previous decades? I would tend to argue that we always had people who had 'issues', and the vast majority just lived with it and learned some counter-balance solution on their own.
In the case of the university system....I see them wanting to broaden their product and attach more fees/costs into the system. If you had seven-hundred folks registered with the college and admitting eating disorders....well, you'd probably go out and hire two full-time counselors, and try to hype up their availability.....putting the cost into the tuition system. Or you might have 1,500 folks admitting that they were suffering from panic attacks, and you'd have a special office on campus where they could 'escape' into and get 'relief'.
But in the midst of all of this disorder business.....would you have some folks who just showed up with no issue and figured....what the hell....I'll mark down that I've got a personality disorder, and a eating disorder....then spend a fifteen minute session with the disorder 'chief' trying to convince them of a fake background. You can imagine 2025 rolling around and some university chief waking up one morning to be told that 88-percent of his students have some kind of disorder, and creating a whole department to micromanage the issue.
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Starbucks and Racism
Over the past month, I've sat and read over various accounts of suggested racism, or perceived racism....within the Starbucks empire. So, my thoughts over this:
1. If you've been to as many Starbucks operations as I have....probably forty in my life (counting the airport operations, malls, and various street corners)....you've had a fair chance to notice the employees. Most are low-income minorities or college students. My guess is that those two groups make up 75-percent of the employees. The chief thing you notice is that you really don't have to be bright to make coffee. I'm not saying they are stupid, but if you had any remarkable level of clever nature, you wouldn't exactly make this a life-long career situation.
2. Pay level. If you work at most of the Starbucks operations (not NY City)....you get paid eight to eleven bucks. A manager? Somewhere between eleven and thirteen bucks. It's not bad but it's almost what you'd get flipping burgers.
3. Observing racism? Well....I've seen a lot of commentary at burger operations (unnamed) where the talk from the guys in the back....was in bad taste. But at Starbucks? No....you just don't hear that much in terms of chatty personnel, or people making bad taste comments. Oddly, I think that a majority of employees are women. Starbucks doesn't talk about the ratio, but I'd take a guess sixty percent of the employees are women.
4. Finally, if you had a pretty simple storefront, with only one single product...why would you do something stupid to suggest a racism angle? I'd be looking more at who I've hired, and if I'm making a mistake in the hiring process.
1. If you've been to as many Starbucks operations as I have....probably forty in my life (counting the airport operations, malls, and various street corners)....you've had a fair chance to notice the employees. Most are low-income minorities or college students. My guess is that those two groups make up 75-percent of the employees. The chief thing you notice is that you really don't have to be bright to make coffee. I'm not saying they are stupid, but if you had any remarkable level of clever nature, you wouldn't exactly make this a life-long career situation.
2. Pay level. If you work at most of the Starbucks operations (not NY City)....you get paid eight to eleven bucks. A manager? Somewhere between eleven and thirteen bucks. It's not bad but it's almost what you'd get flipping burgers.
3. Observing racism? Well....I've seen a lot of commentary at burger operations (unnamed) where the talk from the guys in the back....was in bad taste. But at Starbucks? No....you just don't hear that much in terms of chatty personnel, or people making bad taste comments. Oddly, I think that a majority of employees are women. Starbucks doesn't talk about the ratio, but I'd take a guess sixty percent of the employees are women.
4. Finally, if you had a pretty simple storefront, with only one single product...why would you do something stupid to suggest a racism angle? I'd be looking more at who I've hired, and if I'm making a mistake in the hiring process.
Monday, 28 May 2018
The Nine Out of Ten Story
I read a lot of science stuff, and dig into DNA-related science. So today, I came to this one odd feature, from Phys.Org news.
They talked to a DNA expert who has been reviewing the general path or 'life' of DNA with humans and animals. And there's this piece.
Nine out of ten species on Earth today.....counting humans and animals.....based on a study....came into being around 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
Prior to that, the species (to include modern humans)....didn't exist.
The odds of 90-percent of animal life being 'new' and from the same odd time-period? Well....the study and the science folks can't answer that.
As you look around at various dogs, cows, horses, birds, and various cultures of humans....they didn't exist 200,000-plus thousand years ago. It basically would lead to discount both evolution and creationism, and you'd have to entertain the idea that someone just kinda dropped off various critters and humans.....and some existence started all of a sudden.
I know.....this will be hard for some folks to accept. But the problem is that the DNA stuff has reached a level where you can be fairly sure about the general path and how things progressed. It also means that the folks who arrived....had some kind of Noah's Ark of their own, and believed that the species were going to be part of a long-term plan.
Just something to think about.
They talked to a DNA expert who has been reviewing the general path or 'life' of DNA with humans and animals. And there's this piece.
Nine out of ten species on Earth today.....counting humans and animals.....based on a study....came into being around 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
Prior to that, the species (to include modern humans)....didn't exist.
The odds of 90-percent of animal life being 'new' and from the same odd time-period? Well....the study and the science folks can't answer that.
As you look around at various dogs, cows, horses, birds, and various cultures of humans....they didn't exist 200,000-plus thousand years ago. It basically would lead to discount both evolution and creationism, and you'd have to entertain the idea that someone just kinda dropped off various critters and humans.....and some existence started all of a sudden.
I know.....this will be hard for some folks to accept. But the problem is that the DNA stuff has reached a level where you can be fairly sure about the general path and how things progressed. It also means that the folks who arrived....had some kind of Noah's Ark of their own, and believed that the species were going to be part of a long-term plan.
Just something to think about.
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