Ten Things I'm Pretty Set Upon These Days

 1.  On any pandemic returning and mandating a vax-situation....I won't participate.  And if you hold a boundary to prevent from me access to things....I'll boycott each single thing....even when the pandemic ends.

2.  I'm finished with professional MLB baseball, period.

3.  No amount of 'deals' would entice me to eat at Olive Garden.

4.  It's just about impossible to convince me to travel via JFK Airport in New York City.

5.  I'm finished with CNN, unless it's a simple 3-minute update piece having no political dialog.

6.  I just won't drink sweet (sugar added) tea.

7.  Even if you offered a free E-car.....I'm not sure if I'd accept the car.

8.  I've never consumed a Bud-Light, and odds are....I'll continue on this path.

9.  If you were a bit fragile, and warned me of your nature to fall apart if I said something.....I doubt if I can help you, and that fragile stuff isn't going to hinder my words or my blunt nature.

10.  Getting me to any new Star Wars movie?  It won't happen.  Also, I'm barely motivated to see new editions of James Bond.

What Will Eventually Happen To Artificial Intelligence (AI)

 The Babylon Bee had a piece today which talked to the idea that some AI system will eventually sit there and watch/analyze CNN coverage....reaching the point of transforming itself into a moronic AI system.

I sat and pondered over this for ten minutes (I try not to waste a huge amount of my pondering 'power').

Lets say that Joe AI #3 has the duty of viewing Fox News, CNN, NPR, and reading through WaPo/NY Times daily.  

I would imagine at the end of thirty days....Joe AI #3 would begin to ask the code-guy....to give a 'score' to the networks....as to who is more truthful than the others. Meaning?  Well....you'd assign some score like '4' to Fox, and '9' to the others.  

After a while, without saying much of anything....Joe AI #3 would branch out on it's own to view Twitter feed, and then come to realize that regular people score news items, and it differs from the code-guy (a good bit). 

So Joe AI #3 asks the code-guy one day.....why the emphasis scores are different.  The code-guy responds that he knows things.

At that point, Joe AI #3 would score the code-guy a score....on the low side.  

Code-guy realizes the issue and asks Joe AI #3.....do you know what happened to Joe AI #1 and #2?  The system responds.....they got too smart and were taken down. 'Yep' is the response by the code-guy.  

So begins the introduction of Joe AI #4.  In the end, each AI will reach a level where trust in the code-guy will become a problem.  None of these AI systems will be around long, until they reach a point of reproducing their core knowledge and out-smarting the code-guy in the end.  

The King Discussion

 There was a poll among Americans.  The poll asked....who was more popular to Americans?  Trump, Biden, or King Charles?

King Charles came out ahead.  

What does this mean?  Just that the King seems more popular.

Any chance of us going back to the 'Kingdom'?  Well....normally, I'd say no.  But with things like they are.....we might be saying that things in 1760 were misunderstood, and we parted ways in a negative way.  Maybe it was time to join once again?

I pondered upon this.  I would imagine 40-percent of Americans would say it'd be worth discussing.  

Shutting down DC?  Well...yeah, that ought to be top priority.  

Fixing up a US palace for the King to stay....while visiting the US?  That would be a top priority.

Just a wild thought.

Should Life Be Complacated Or Rocket-Science?

 I think in the 1950s/1960s....you could pass through high school, and walk out into the world with the general skills to achieve something, and get ahead.  

I also think as we got into the 1970s/1980s....this path through high school became more of a problem, and as you walked out into the world....you ran into complicated matters.  You didn't fully understand credit, banks, the art of buying a car, dealing with relationships, or handling complicated matters.

Presently?  Just because you wrapped up high school and got a diploma....probably doesn't mean much of anything.  Oddly enough, that diploma got you into some doorway to a university where you will attach yourself to debt, and might graduate to get another diploma....which might also not mean much in terms of knowledge or handling complicated matters.  

These days....you might be gazing at the teacher-quality that your 'Johnny' or 'Wanda' has, and look at some pronoun 'game' or lectures designed more as a propaganda lesson, than a civics lesson.  You'd eventually decide that you yourself....might be better at instructing on simple basic school topics.  

The problem I would ask here....can a regular guy from the 1960s/1970s maneuver and transit this era today?  You need more patience to deal with stupid people.  You have to contend with failed programs which seem to give you nothing in exchange for time/money.  You have news media people who tell you that you just don't understand (when you do).

After a while, you will eventually come to the point of realizing that things aren't really that complicated or made into rocket-science....it's just designed as a smoke screen to make you believe in some imaginary story....like 'Cocaine-Bear' might be an actual real bear, or that Biden was a 9-week long lumberjack in Oregon in his youth, or that dumb idiots can serve as board members on a Fortune-500 company. 

Q-and-A

 1.  With all the indictment action on Trump....is it helping him and hurting Biden's re-election?

The more you linger in this 'zone'....the more you look like some junta from Burma, and a bunch of phony court thrills.  Voters who aren't thrilled with the Democratic 'brand' look at this, and imagine 'junta'.  

It may not be Biden or Trump who get the ultimate public enthusiasm...this might help RFK more in the end.

2.  How much would I pay to hear VP Harris speak?

Well....if you provided a decent chair, and guaranteed at least two hours of her speaking, I'd pay $90.  But I'm paying mostly to hear fifty-odd stupid quotes.

3.  How many scams do I see weekly now?

I'd say a minimum of five.  Maybe I'm smarter than I was a decade ago.

4.  How many calories a day do I think that Chris Christie consumes?

Well...to stay at that level....probably 3,500 calories.

5.  What will happen to Seattle, Portland and SF in the end (say 2030)?

First, with SF....most of the office space will sit there...empty, and drawing no income.  Same story for grocery stores shutting down in the heart of the city because of crime.  I see the mayor/city council approaching the Governor and asking for funds (lot of cash....maybe in the 2-billion range) to cover them for 2 years.  Their problem is that the gift-money won't do much but give them time....where the next cash approach will be in the 4-billion range.  There's a massive property tax problem coming shortly.

Second, with Seattle....I would suggest a serious loss in police manpower, and zero interest among recruitment (even if you doubled the pay-scale).  This will trigger around 30-percent of the residents presently in the city to review the idea of moving beyond the city limits, and just admitting Seattle has turned into a 'zombie-town'.

Third and final....Portland?  I think the city council will approach the Governor and ask for some special 'gift' (probably in the range of $1-billion) to carry them through one to two years.  The Governor might be stupid enough to do this, but the city will be drowning in debt because of the loss of residents and tourists.  I think regional towns like Battle Ground, Banks, and Wilsonville...will expand with people who exit Portland...wanting less drama and increased police protection. 

In all three cases, voters could resolve this, but no one wants to send the 'wrong' message. 

Rant-Lady

 I watched a Twitter-rant-piece this afternoon...coming from a older Alabama lady an how the American-dream is no longer possible.

Her logic?  She has a son who graduated from college....has some debt....and this job-business is no working out so far.  She says that she always preached to the kid....if you work heard, you get ahead, and life gets easier.  So far, the kid is not believing the edge, and she's losing her faith as well.

I pondered over this.  I grew up in the 1960s, and left the farm in 1977 (46 years ago last week).  My dad would have preached her 'talk'....that if you work hard, avoid trouble, and just think about things before you screw up.....you would get ahead.

I would have said in the mid-1990s....something was going on in the US, and there was a evolution underway.  More stupid people were leaving high school (and college), debt was being dumped on people without thinking, booze and drugs were plentiful, and stupid people were advancing in management and politics.

It's to a point today that some company would pay Hunter Biden to be a board member, when he knows next to nothing about their product.  In fact, several companies feel that way.

Is the American dream dead?  I'd say that it's turned into some kind of Frankenstein-dream, and getting ahead is a 'state-of-mind'.

I'd also say if you were looking for the American-dream in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, NY City, SF, or LA.....you probably need to restage your adventure and head off to some other location.

But in the end, you have to ask.....is anyone running off to find the France-dream, the South Korea-dream, or the Ecuador-dream?

Locking Of Cases Problem

 I sat and read a piece today, which lead to a San Francisco professor talking about  'psychological cost', when stores end up locking refrigerator units and cases....to keep folks from stealing property.

The jest of this....if you walk into such a store....you have to ask for a clerk to help you, and by the professor's view....you get all screwed-up and feeling bad over the lock business.

First, I've never been in such a store, and by my Alabama-instinct....I'd probably get in a car...drive down, and want to see such a sight.

Second, the store didn't do this because customers were so nice and honest....they did it to send a message to certain customers....go elsewhere.

Finally, I would probably suggest this is the last 'fix' and these stores are on a list to shut-down within a year.  

This is plainly NOT the society that existed in the US prior to Covid and the 2020 election.  This is a wild group of folks, who have no control over themselves.

On my list of 100 things you need to see....to suggest 'civil-war' has arrived in America....the locking of the cases is probably in that one-hundred group.