Library Chatter

 For those who didn't know...in Alabama....there's a battle brewing over state libraries....with ban-some-books being discussed.

There's a draft state bill....that would move control of libraries....from library 'folks'....over to local politicians.  Just the way it's worded....it sounds like a school board situation....but just for library actions.

I have a different prospective over this.

If you'd asked around 1977 (when I left the farm)....fewer than 20-percent of folks in the county knew precisely where the county library was located.   A year or two later...some funding came up and a regional library started up (outside of the county 'seat').  

If you asked about the regional library, I'd imagine today that 80-percent of local folks know where it exists, but fewer than a quarter of them have ever used it. As for the country seat library...fewer than 10-percent regularly use it.

As for this control chatter?  There's some opinion that maybe the pro-library people might be pro-p0rn in some odd way, whether true or not.  This being some situation where they have a bundle of Playboy/Penthouse magazines around?  Well....no.  This is more of the case where some books would have fantasy stories relating to Doctor Bud having relations (physical) with Doctor Marvin, and possibly involving Nurse Wendy in some capacity.  Yeah, like those cheap $4 sex novels you'd see.

So the general idea is that protective folks want the library to stay 'pure'....with good wholesome Jack London, Charles Dickens, or Edgar Allen Poe stuff.  The library 'bosses' seem to believe that they know better, and sex stuff is desperately wanted by these poor rural folks.   

I used to go over to the Air Force library system a good bit, and there's be a card in each book....to  indicate the last sixty-odd times it'd been checked out.  Somewhere around the summer of 1983, I'd gone and checked out a Edgar Allen Poe book....it'd been checked out three times since acquired in 1972.  I'm not saying there's a lack of business....just that the bulk of whatever the library has in inventory....is probably only read a dozen times over a twenty-year period.  Maybe with p0rn....there's more business or check-outs?  

It's just funny how this came up suddenly to be a hot topic, and fierce librarian folks fighting for lusty written material.

My Gut Feeling Over Biden's 'Pier' At The Gaza Strip?

 Thousand guys assigned to assemble this....probably takes less than 20 days to accomplish.

I'd go ahead and pre-order at least 100 'Purple-Heart' medals for anticipated attacks.

As for people needing to stand there and keep it operational?  You can anticipate them being attacked sooner or later, and the structure itself being destroyed or damaged somewhere in the next 365 days.

As for who pays for the cargo to come ashore?  Well...the EU and the US are probably going to pay something in the range of $40-million a week to keep this Cyprus-to-Gaza route open and operating.  

Just asking for trouble?  Yeah, but someone behind Biden (on the staff) sees this as a plus-up regionally...even if it comes under attack.  

My Thinking Over TikTok

 For a brief time in 2020 (Covid era), I got onto the App, and probably wasted about forty hours viewing 'crap'.

Majority of stuff I saw was low-class personal production of stuff made by high-school kids and university students....occasionally adults trying to be funny with marginal effect.

Probably one out of forty videos I viewed were somewhat dangerous.

Back on the farm (mid-1970s)....in the community, we had two brothers (the Barr boys) who were notorious for doing crazy stuff.  They had a old pick-up which they would start at one end of the field....then with it still progressing at 10 mph....they'd climb out of the cab to reach the tail-gate and then jump back in before the truck reached the end of the field (10-ft deep ditch existed there).  They did it strictly for the thrill.  Had they existed today?  I think they would have recorded this at least a hundred times, and invented crazier stunts.

Some folks have posted videos from TikTok onto Twitter....where Gen-Z folks (college kids and up to age 25)....where they are crying and awful disturbed about the unfair life they've been dealt.....how their salary of $45,000 isn't covering their cost of living, or how their 50-year old boss seems demented/crazy.  It disturbs me watching these....mostly because the participants don't seem ready for the big world and harsh reality.

I see TikTok as having marginal value.  But to ban it?  Kids would just use VPN services to get around the ban.

It's just funny....in a way....we are evolving in the opposite direction.  Being stupid....is enticing.  

About Politics

 Just a little history over the Republican Party....originally created in 1824.  They wer nicknamed in this era....'Adams-Clay Republicans', 'Adams's Men', and 'Anti-Jacksonians'. 

Leadership originally?  John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay.

How long they lasted?  Well....ten years (they dissolved in 1834).

I should note here that the leading national conservative party was the Whig Party. Both Adams and Clay felt they were 'losers'.

We go through a period in the 1830s where the Whig Party has problems, and are trying to get a wild group up.....themselves, the National Republican Party folks, disenchanted Democrats, and a group bound and determined to anti-Masonic folks (one-issue party and feeling Masons were cult-like).

This lead to a 20-year period of marginal success in elections.

Then in the mid-1850s....along came a revolution in politics....where disenchanted members went off to create what was called the 'American Party'.

I should note in this short era....they also came to be called the 'Know Nothing movement' and "Native American Party." 

1860 election....they finally evolved into the Republican Party.

Yeah, to some degree....there were periods where they were fake Republicans, fake Whigs, fake Know Nothings, and fake anti-Masonic folks.  There is always such a trend going on.  

Movie Review

 This past weekend....I attempted to watch Netflix's Spaceman.  Chief actor?  Adam Sandler 

Basic story?  Astronaut Jakub (Czech guy) is sent off on a space mission by himself....in a crappy ship.  This guy originally applied to NASA and was turned down twice.  He's now working for some private company.  Six-month mission.....with Jakub's wife about to dump him.

So...somehow....Jakub finds this creature in his vessel, which he deems friendly, and names Hanus.  Hanus appears to be intelligent....and mostly resembles a six-foot spider.  Hanus talks a lot....trying to understand why Jakub has screwed up.

Movie is mostly about some relationship between the Czech guy....in a crappy ship....with Hanus.

On my index (1-to-10)....movies worth watching?  I give it a '2'.  Maybe as a book....it works.  Trying to find any humor in it (this being Sandler)?  NO.  

I have to admit it....with Netflix....it's hit-and-miss 50-percent of the time.  

What If Biden, Trump and RFK Jr Were Dumped?

 If you went up to most Americans and said....you'd don't need a Jesus-like character for President....you just need a downsizing of the federal government (massive budget cut) and some executive-like guy to fill the role for eight years.

Who?

Well....I'd dump all 100 Senators.  

I'd dump the 50 governors.

You can't have Elon (he's got better things to do).

You can't have any technology geek, because they lack common sense.

Vivek?  Well....yeah, that's about the only guy capable of filling the role.

Just Thinking

 I sat and watched a ten-minute interview with Yuval Noah Harari....one of those PhD types who spends time thinking about what we teach kids today and whether it has any value in the future. 

So he got onto this one topic.....today (2024)....we have NO idea what to teach young people that will still be relevant in twenty years.  

The art of typing?  Yeah, I would imagine voice recognition will be replacing typing by 2035.

Most math skills?  Replaced by AI within twenty years.

Driving a car skill?  I'd easily say by 2040....more than half the nation will not have a need to drive themselves.

The art of brewing beer?  I would imagine by 2050....in America...fewer than 500 folks will have the skill to do it.

Bartending?  Why?  AI will arrive via a machine....ready to make 1,000 mixed drinks.  Just some kid name 'Woody' to reload the cannisters in the basement will be needed.

Car repair?  Some AI system named 'Barney' will be set up in a garage, with two half-wit guys to drive the cars into place and hook up the system.

Piggly-Wiggly clerk ladies?  All replaced by 2050.....AI.

My question....more than half the US population probably won't need to get educated beyond the 7th grade.  Their jobs?  Curious question and no answer.