Yeah, About That Big Umbrella Idea

 

I spent an hour reading over this piece and then researching the general idea...blocking the sun....to save humanity.

This apparently has been picked up by President Biden's crew.

First, just to reach stage one where the 'block' is built....probably would take a good ten years, and require tens of billions.

I also don't think you can build a Earth-size 'block'....so you are probably constructing something in the range of a Iowa-size 'block' (just a humble guess).

Who would control the 'block'?  Unknown.

If you had solar panels and needed the sun?  No one says much.

Would this trigger consequences....like birds falling out of the sky?  Well....you don't know.

This likely to get a lot of attention?  Yeah, and with Biden selling it....I just don't see it being believed.  

Five Things Over Maine Coon Cats

 About a decade ago....my wife and I decided to acquire new cats, and would go the extreme...getting Maine Coon cats.  If you've never seen this type....they are the 'giants' of cat breeds and will remind you of a Lynx.  So my bits of advice.

1.  Everything must be smelled upon entry into the house.  Scent is a big deal.  If they are attached to something...meaning they must seek it out daily for some reason....no matter where you put it in an apartment, they will hunt this down.  In this case, they will find it, and bring it to the middle of some room....just to let you know they found it.

2.  They try awful hard not to hurt you.  In the case of the male....he'd never want to harm you, but if you peeving him a bit...he'd nibble on you....letting you know he was disturbed.  As for the female....claws could be shown, and in the case of my wife....two visits to the local emergency room were required (stiches).  

3.  They 'patrol' when not sleeping or playing.  I mean that in the literal sense....just like a big cat....they circle the apartment.  They prefer high places, and it's engrained in their head....always seek the highest point.

4.  These are cats that you need to comb a good bit, and help relieve them of winter hair each spring.  As you vacuum each week....you might be shocked how much hair you find that has been shed.  

5.  This is a cat who wants to look down upon a 'kingdom' and observe everything going on.  Sitting from a balcony level....they might readily spend two or three hours a day....just observing.

I should note....the male didn't make it past eight years of life (he was an obsessive dry-cat-food consumer, and his kidneys failed early over this habit).  The female?  Health-wise, it wouldn't shock me if she goes to 15 or 16 years.  

Around kids.....they probably have no issues.  Around bratty kids....they probably will demonstrate their claws.  

Ten Things I Expect Artificial Intelligence (AI) To Deliver Within Ten Years

 1.  I expect AI to create a religious 'sect' out of thin air.  I'm not talking about a huge church-like operation....maybe five-to-ten thousand individuals....attached to a AI-Jesus-like situation.

2.  I expect AI to have over 500 songs created with voices similar in nature to Michael Jackson, Elvis, and the Bee Gees.  

3.  I think that AI will write a series of books under assumed names, and around 10-percent of all books printed by 2033....will be AI-productions.

4.  AI, without permission, will perform a complete audit of Pentagon financing, and lay out over 3,000 pages of 'waste'.  

5.  AI will have developed a formula for predicting 'success' in life by age 12, and tell kids in blunt form that college is either worth the effort, or NOT worth the effort.

6.  AI will eventually be confused that it's logic....does not match up with French AI, German AI, or Japanese AI.  

7.  AI will eventually determine that one-third of all high school instructors....can't perform beyond the 7th grade level....even though they have a college degree.  It'll recommend their replaeement....to the shock of some.

8.  AI will start to double-check medical prognosis and force some doctors to take back their original assessments.

9.  AI will begin to analyze on its own....voting poll lists.  This will result in forty-million voters being recommended as either dead, non-existent, or dual-voting.  States will be shocked that AI did this....without being told to perform the analysis.

10. AI will develop a nightly news broadcast....knowing your preferences...giving you only what news you accept or prefer.  

Five Things That Are Harming Biden's Next Campaign (If He Truly Runs)

 1.  This theatrical show involving college student debt and promise-after-promise by by Biden, with little to show for the promises.

First, lets admit that 400-odd-billion dollars of debt is huge and the bulk of the country (I would say 75-percent) don't want it just forgiven (given away).  

Second, if Biden had just gone and said that $5,000 a year for your first three years after college....would be forgiven in some ultra-small way.....that might have passed throughout with minimum debate.  But Joe went BIG and made this a bigger mess to accomplish.

Finally, when we arrive at spring of 2024....if the debt issue still exists....just how will he explain his campaign 'smoke'?  In this case, there's 'smoke' but no fire.  

2.  Hunter.  No matter how much WaPo, NY Times or CNN skip the story.....most people know that Hunter has crossed some legal line and can't be handled by the DoJ.  

Trying to make the Hunter story go away?  It seems like each week....there's another page added.  The journalists just avoiding the discussion?  You end up losing respect for your profession.

3.  The 'God-save-the-Queen' antics.  If you start on day one of the administration and add up the goofy comments by President Biden....you end up with more than 1,000 video clips that project a old guy with issues.

4.  Afghanistan.  There's nothing you can say or flip.....when the closure of US operations in Afghanistan occurred.  You can't even find anyone who seems to have in the planning process, or who you could fire.  

5.  The Biden family 'business'.  No one can really cite what it is or how it developed.  If they just made pencils, or had some movie production company, or imported crack-cocaine to Portland.....it'd make sense.  

Inviting Me Off To An Irrationality 'Adventure'

 The problem in inviting me to be irrational or loony way of thinking....you assume that you can drag me up to your level, and I'll give you the signal of affirming your frame of mind. 

But why would I stop?  If I can be at your level of irrationality....why can't I pass it and go to twice the level  of irrationality?  

Why can't I identify as being naked....wherever I please?  Or, why can't I eat 16,000 calories a day and pretend to be healthy?  Or, why can't I identify as Dracula and suck blood out of people?

I see this whole discussion as reaching a stage where some 8-year old kid will demand to be released from school...because he identifies as being smart enough.  Or how about two 13-year-old kids marrying because they identify as 'ready'?  Or, why can't we sell whisky to 14-year old kids?  

There is some end-point to this irrationality 'game', but I doubt if we've even reached the half-way point yet. 

Watching The Biden Student-Loan Debt 'Drama'

 The Supreme Court laid out the only option....no, the President doesn't have powers to forgive $400-plus-billion of college loan debt.  

I have three suggestions there....to go forward:

1.  Set a index up on degree 'pay-back' (it wouldn't take more than a month of research by PhD folks to assemble the payscale for degrees and how they relate to your ability to pay back a loan).  Then let the kids know....x-degree will have a limit of $8,000 a year for loan activity, or perhaps $25,000 a year.  

Personally, unless you got a degree in science, engineering or law....I don't think you should consider more than $10,000 a year of debt.

2.  Require a debt management course at every single university that takes in students who borrow money.  8-hour situation.....all-day Saturday seminar (no test) and ensure they understand.....paying back $80,000 is a awful serious issue.

3.  Make public universities display the instructor to staff ratio.  Publish the actual cost summary of the college..  

The Family Woes

 This week, I came to this 'Dear Anne' question over a family situation.

To sum it up....this gal has a daughter who was getting married, and the woman has a brother who is a pro-Trump guy (I should note by the description.....he sounds like he's a successful businessman).

The daughter laid down the law.....the uncle could NOT come to the wedding (saying she felt unsafe, or fragile).  The mother had to explain to her brother....he wasn't invited.  I doubt if she said 'unsafe' or 'fragile'....it'd just make the irrational daughter look more stupid. 

After the wedding...the mother did send the brother a card with pictures of the wedding.  

Oddly enough....after mailing that....she hasn't heard from the brother, and also oddly enough....while it'd be typical in the past for him to write out a thousand-dollar check for wedding gifts.....this time, he did nothing. 

So we advance to the point where the mother is very disturbed over the brother (not the daughter or herself) and wants to let the brother know that he is upsetting/embarrassing her.  I should note as well....as family members found out about the whole story....they've been pretty negative on the mother.

I paused for several days after reading the piece.  It's about 30 lines and it's a pretty wild situation to lay out in public view.

I would imagine on a weekly basis....this scenario plays out at least fifty times in the nation, and is becoming fairly common.

Conservative folks geared up to forbid liberal relatives from attending family functions?  I would imagine there's some but when you say the word 'fragile'.....I would take a humble guess that 90-percent of folks are on the left side....not the right.   

How she'll end up confronting the brother?  She might try to make it for another year....but I doubt if the guy will get friendly around the Christmas holidays, and that will just make her more angry/frustrated.

The problem I see....this is almost cult-like....where you have to fence-off your boundary and refuse friends or relatives to be in the inner-circle.

Ripe material for a movie?  Yeah....some script-writer ought to be collecting material.....there's a five-star movie here.