Just Something to Think About

 So, all this original chatter about Covid/Corona/Wuhan 'fever'....all comes from the suspected 'wet-market' in Wuhan (or if you believe the conspiracy stuff....some secret bad-ass toxic lab).  The creature in the 'wet-market' story is the Pangolin (I'd describe as a Chinese ant-eater).  

I noticed today a Chinese police story.

They (the cops) say they busted this smuggling ring operation....involving 62 tons of Pangolin 'scales' (used in Chinese medicine).  

Apparently, the backdoor Chinese herbal market and home-remedy market....is still active with this Pangolin stuff.

Now you sit back....as an American and think about things.  If there was some virus that started up in Nashville, or Austin....involving some kind of American-roadkill critter causing a triple-bad virus to occur....the last thing on Earth that you'd deal in, buy or make any kind of food out of....would be that roadkill creature.

These Chinese folks?  They went right back to the Pangolin critter.

Either they don't believe the Chinese 'wet-market' story.....or they just like Wuhan-fever type situations.  

Clinic-Hospital Visit

 I went to a clinic-hospital (not for myself, but for the wife).  It was a simple appointment, to a facility that we'd never been to.  Over my entire life (from Alabama, through the Air Force years, the contractor years and since retirement in 2013)....I've probably visited around fifty-odd clinics/hospitals.

So this visit on Thursday was a bit unique.  

I stood there about twenty minutes into walking around (you had to do a fair amount of that).....to gather the perception that about 90-percent of all nurses in this facility....were extremely obese (probably 50 pounds minimum over their regular weight, and by that that....I mean regular non-slim). 

Yes, here were a mix of male/female nurses (probably 80-percent female), from ages 17 to 60....all chunky to the extreme. 

I don't ever remember being in a place like this....in my entire life.

After about three hours of walking around, from paperwork-room-one to paperwork-room-two, and onto paperwork-room-three....I came to count the number of breakrooms (an abundant number), which all had a minimum of two soda machines and one snack machine.  I stopped counting when I got up to around thirty machines.  

In some weird way....there's some Einstein-like formula existing here....where x-number of break-rooms....related to x-number of snack/soda machines.....related to x-number of people....equal heavily obese people of some quantity.  It's pretty much that simple.  There's probably another Einstein-like formula for free-coffee type machines....related to hyped-up highly focused people, or horse-power related to speeding tickets.  

What's Not a Top 1,000-Related Problem

 Ok, so this is for folks who stop at McDonalds, and occasionally (maybe even five times a week) have a McFlurry (their ice cream).

Before we get into the 'problem'.....a moment to talk over calories in the Oreo-flavor McFlurry...it's 570 calories.  Yeah....it's a LOT.  For a normal guy (without a lot of physical activity).....your average calorie intake should be around 2,500.  

So if you stopped and had two regular burgers (250 calories each), medium fries (340), and a medium Coke (220)....you are up to around 1,000 calories for the day.  Add the McFlurry and that's all enough for two-thirds of your daily food intake.  Don't even start talking about breakfast, your mid-afternoon candy bar, and supper.

So, here's the problem....the machine that makes this McFlurry?  It breaks down often...a lot.  Just in general....to make 'soft' ice cream....most all machines have a break-down rate that is dismal.  It's not just a McDonalds problem.  

The FTC has decided enough complaints exist (not really a McDonalds problem), but an industry problem as a whole.....that they will assign people to find out why.

The odds that this will turn into a four-year investigation?  Well....yeah, that is probably a major part of this issue.  

The McDonalds view?  They kinda think that the folks running/filling the machines....aren't that trained, and they suggest maintenance-wise....there ought to be more visitations/pre-checks.

So if you sit and think about it....McDonalds probably would want every single machine to function correctly because if you deny sixty people in an afternoon their McFlurry....they walk away without contributing to the profit of the company.  

Somewhere out there, there ought to be this Einstein-like character....consumed with soft ice cream enthusiasm, and wanting to build the perfect machine.

The sad thing about this story.....typically, the last people on Earth that you'd want to drag in and figure a cause and solution to a problem....is the US government.  

Sick-Days? For Students?

 So I read through this story today....Governor of Illinois....J.B. Pritzker (a Democrat) did the final signing of a law...that basically says students (meaning college and high school) could take a "mental health" emotional/mental day off....without any real paperwork/documents.....or signed by a doctor.

Parent's signature?  No....there's no mandate that Mom, or Dad have to sign the note.

So you'd just wake up on a Tuesday, and think.....'boy, I just feel negative', and take the day off (from the 9th grade).  Teacher asks you the next day where you were, and you respond....you took a day off.

The odds that this expands....to one day each month?  Oh yeah.

The odds in two years that you get a day-off every two weeks?  Oh yeah.

What does a kid do on a emotional day off?  Well...in my old days....being sickly on the farm....I'd watch Gilligan's Island, Password, Phil Donahue, and General Hospital.  I'm kinda wondering what these kids of today will watch (probably zombie movies, or Zoom-Chat with Chinese revolutionary geeks).

Crapped-up?  Well....yeah, I'd say that.  If you came to me about feeling negative...I'd suggest you go haul 100 bales of hay on a warm July afternoon,  or fill a hundred sandbags, or cut firewood for a couple of hours.  

You just end up breeding 'losers' and everyone unfit for any moment of chaos or frustration in life.  

Taliban: 'Yeah, Our Chief Partner is China'

 Via a spokesperson for the Taliban yesterday....the organization confirmed their chief trading partner.

The old version of the Taliban (1990s)?  They would never have gone to some arrangement like this.

So the trend here?  The Chinese will arrive and set up the mining operations, with an understanding by the Taliban not to screw around or bring harm to any Chinese worker in the country.  Whether or not this works?  Anyone's guess.

Observations

 1.  Someone ought to sit down....analyze things....and prepare what I'd call a 'MUTE-index'.  This is where a certain person suddenly appears on your TV, and your mind reacts immediately with the finger going to the mute-button of the TV.  I'd probably have over sixty prominent characters and politicians on that list.

2.  Yeah, that mid-July phone call from President Biden to Afghanistan's Ghani (President) has come up as a problem.  The House Republicans have demanded text of the 'talk'.  They don't have the votes to get it (they will in January 2023).  

It is a repeat of Trump-treatment over Ukraine, and Biden is sitting there in a pretty crappy position.  He might survive all of this right now, but the day will come when this phone chat will be dragged out and impeachment is openly discussed.  

3.  President Biden leaving Friday for another vacation episode?  Well....the rumor started up yesterday that he's leaving for Delaware.  With Americans still stranded in Kabul?  Well....yeah.

The President on 'burn-out'?  If you consider....throughout all those years as Senator and eight years of VP....he's probably never had a 40-hour work-week in the last forty years.  This President business?  If you looked at past history...since the 1960s...it's turned into a 60-hour a week job.  So I would suggest Biden burn-out is going on presently.

4.  Over a hundred generals have signed a letter to the SECDEF and four-star leading the Pentagon....telling both to resign over the chaos of Afghanistan.  

I looked over the letter....it's blunt and direct.  I looked down the list of names and it's a an impressive list of past generals (at least from the Air Force side).  

Will it do anything?  No.  Both characters are there to stay.

5.  The thing about all these US weapons being 'captured' by the Taliban....if you don't have the maintenance contract and parts to maintain them....the weapons are worthless.

This isn't 1966 where various rifles, jeeps, trucks and tanks operated on, and on, and on.

All this equipment is built to fail within certain parameters, and if you don't have some US deal for parts....the equipment is metal-clutter.

6.   Joe Rogan got Covid.  Joe Rogan went to the max-list of drugs recommended.  Joe Rogan beat Covid in roughly three days.  

Note, Joe eats pretty well (at least nutritionally)....works out daily...and from the list of nine ways to get 'bad-Covid'....he doesn't have any of the health issues they talk about.  I'm not going to say the drug business did the deal.  

Note: Joe also likes an occasional bit of cannabis.  Maybe that had a positive trend on the virus as well.

7. Finally, the AP brought up this topic....Chinese government policy came up with a new idea....no more 'sissy-guys' on TV.  Either you appear as masculine....or you don't have a career on TV. 

I sat and paused over this.  After four years of college, and maybe twenty years of working for Channel 9 out of Wuhan....you really don't want some government guy coming into the studio and pulling out the index to show you that your 'look' or behavior isn't manly enough. 

Where'd this idea come from?  Unknown.  But I'd be willing to bet within twelve months....the same index arrives in the US, and 3,000 male TV 'chatters' are told the same thing.  

The he-man era is returning.  

Those Missing Kids Story

 I was reading a piece out of the NY Post this morning.  They say (I assume they aren't lying)....that the administration kinda lost contact with several thousand unaccompanied illegal immigrant kids.

You remember them....the ones released from fed custody.

For some reason, HHS went and tried to make 14,600 phonecalls....to check on those released kids.  What HHS said....around 4,900 were NOT answered by the kid or the parent, or the sponsor.

In a real world situation, you'd call up the cops and ask them to check on the kids.  Here?  Nothing much has happened.

Why?  Well....I would go and speculate that if you had the cops called, and they showed up.....something 'freaky' or weird would be in the mix, and this would be one of those five-page police reports (sounding more like a Hemmingway novel). 

You'd find that sponsor 'Hernandez' probably wasn't the real name for the person who signed for the kid....that they left Arizona two days after they signed for the kid....and indications exist that the 12-year old kid is now working sixty hours a week for some grocery store in Louisiana.  

You might even find a dozen cases where a 15-year old showed up...pretending to be 30 years old, and signed for four kids who aren't even relatives of his.