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.

Intellectual BS

 I tried to read and grasp this opinion essay that appeared out of the NY Times.  After about 60 seconds, I had to put the article down....feeling that the person writing this....had the mentality of a 12-year old kid (not a neuroscientist).

I've reached the point where I suspect out of a hundred people who want to portray themselves as intellectuals....university-degreed...probably a quarter of the groups are not capable of independent thought or capable of any type of analysis.

I don't know if they finished high school with this mental defect, or that college just made them more stupid....but it's a simmering problem.

Trying to see Biden in some age discussion?  No, this was wrong to say only old people are diminished.  I'm at the point of suggesting that 20-year old folks have competency problems....just as much, and even 12-year old kids are diminished in some ways.

Money Dysmorphia?

 I had to look the phrase up.

Its when you have a fake or distorted view of your personal finances.

You could be making $6,000 a month on take-home pay, and be under some mindset that it won't work....that you are broke.

Sitting and thinking about this feeling.....when I was a E-1 in the Air Force...bringing in $300 a month.....I just never felt this way.

The ideal that you make 6-figures income, and you marginally make it...yearly?  Yep....same deal.

Some folks have been polling the public for several years and report this as a major problem now...folks claiming $150,000 is just 'poor'.

How would you recover from this 'illness'?  I'm not sure.  Maybe you could get folks onto some 3-month recovery situation...surviving off $100 a week, and realizing that even $3,000 a month is not 'poor'.

Washing Feet Propaganda?

I had zero interest in watching the Super Bowl from last night (I haven't watched a single NFL game since early 2013).  But I ended up watching a couple of the commercials from  the game.

So the one that 'poked' interest in me?  This Christian theme campaign ‘He Gets Us’. The basic sales job?  Christians washing people’s feet.  

AI-creation....an alcoholic getting his feet washed by a Christian....a migrant getting his feet washed....gay guy getting his feet washed....an activist of some  type getting his feet washed.

All of this is to convey that you will accept them and show Christian acceptance.

So I sat and pondered.

Since 16 December 1620....when the first real settlement folks arrived in Amercia...no one has been bathing anyone's feet.  Washington didn't bath anyone's feet.  Folks crossing the prairie....didn't bath anyone's feet.  Guys going off in 1917 to France for the war...didn't bath anyone's feet.  In the midst of the depression era....no one bathed anyone's feet.  To get two guys on the moon.....no one bathed anyone's feet.  In the midst of the 2008 economic spiral....no one brought up bathing someone's feet.

What I found interesting is that they had to do this via Artificial Intelligence (AI)....since a real scene could not be conveyed.

A propaganda piece?  Well....on my index of propaganda-developed crap....it's marginally a '5' (1-to-10).  

On the Jesus-factor?  As much as the Bible lays out the story....Jesus does go and offer up a foot-wash as being neighborly.....however, in a slanted way....Jesus is saying while in the act....you screwed-up....you did some folks wrong, and sinned yourself into a hole.  I'm absolving you of the guilt, but I'm not condoning what you did.  

This commercial being mostly thought-provoking?  I would imagine next Sunday....probably a quarter of all ministers will attempt to work this into their sermon (mostly out of desperation of material for a 30-minute sermon).  Most guys sitting there....will be thinking over what kind of heavy-duty soap would Jesus use in modern-day foot-bathing.  Most women will be thinking over modern-day foot bathing and what kind of Hydrogen Peroxide that Wal-Mart has on sale (preferring the extra strength stuff to get rid of 'stinky-foot').  

Pardon me....if I don't buy into this BS.

How Far We've Fallen

 I sat and spent about 15 minutes reading this story out of Canada....probably doing a 2nd and 3rd read.

First, it's not the regular police....it' the transit police.

Second, they admit they have a sexual assault (no doubt about that).

Third, they have a person as a suspect, but they can't reach a conclusion whether the person is male or female.....EVEN with semen evidence in some bag.

Ten years ago?  Same crew....same scenario....same semen....it would have been a 10-second conclusion about the male-female business.  Today?  No....they can't reach such a conclusion.

It's just another example how stupid people have gotten.  In another ten years....whether the person is black or 'other'.....will be non-conclusive.