I Had Two Incompetent Teachers In High School

 It's not worth discussing, and I didn't really figure this out until my late 20s.

The first teacher was a science teacher that I had for four years.....who absolutely prevented evolution from coming up in the class.  I actually figured her tactic of skipping chapters (she'd start the year on chapter 6, then go to chapter 4, then onto chapter 16, and so on).  At the end of each year....the one single chapter on evolution would have been quietly skipped.

You can laugh over this today, but it's just remarkable this occurred each year.  

Getting knowledge across?  No....you eventually figured out that memorizing about 25 things for each test....was  the only way of passing.  After that....you would forget everything taught.  She did a remarkable job in making you hate science.  

The second teacher situation was a series of math teachers that the school had over a four-year period (the old gal had health issues and was gone mid-way through the 6th grade, the gal for the same class for the 7th grade stayed one single year, same for the 8th, and 9th grade).  

None of the four seemed capable of getting a simple problem across to the majority of the class. It became a root-canal-like experience sitting there daily.

This was the early 70s, and these were mostly people who'd passed out of the college system in 1950s/early 1960s.  

If you'd just gone to a self-taught or occasional seminar system?  I probably would have been ready by age 15 to test-out and progress out of high school.  I think a third of all kids are capable of that level (even today).

The fact that probably a quarter of all kids are low-IQ and just see school as baby-sitting?  Well....yeah, that factor is driving a lot of this poor quality business that you see. 

Oregon Story

 

I sat and pondered over this story in the news from yesterday.  

Basically, Oregon has passed a law and said that things have reached a level....that we don't want to burden stupid kids....so ease up on reading, writing and math in high school.

What'll happen?  I would suggest one of three things.

First, you will start to notice in three years that those graduates of high school in Oregon....arrive at college, and can't meet the general entry requirements.  So the colleges will rig up a semester (maybe two) of fake college....basically charging you $2,000 minimum to take 'real' high school math, and English classes (instead of college-level classes).

Yeah buddy.....what you didn't learn in high school.....you will waste six to twelve months in college (call it the '5th' year).

Second, about ten years into this era.....people start to remark that young folks can marginally read at the 6th-grade level....at age 25.  Nationally, folks start to point out what seems to be a low-IQ status of Oregon residents.  Some term will be created....'he seems oregonish' will be uttered (meaning not too bright).

Third and final.....blacks only make up around 12-percent of the demographics.  If you throw the map up....the majority (say near 75-percent) live around Portland, Bend and Eugene.  If you head to the eastern half of the state....I doubt if they make up more than 3-percent of the population.  Maybe they injected 'people of color' to mean Hispanic folks....but I doubt if they want to be included in this group.

More or less, this is just going to drive the wedge to split half of the Oregon off to Idaho at a faster pace.

Waste of Money Story

 I paused over a Wall Street Journal item for today: "DECONGESTANT IN COLD MEDICINES FOUND INEFFECTIVE."

Basically, for several dozen cold medications  in the US.....they never had any effective 'power'.

If you'd asked me about in 1980....to recommend anything....I'd say most did almost nothing.  Same in the 1990s, and for the whole past 20 years.

How much have I wasted?  Probably well  over $1,000 since August of 1977.  

What'll happen?  I'd say almost 95-percent of people will continue on....buying the same crap.  

How to Properly Money-Launder 'Bad' Cash

Back in 2018....it came up in the banking news....ABLV, a Latvian bank....was noted for serious money-laundering.  This involved not only Russian money-laundering, but also cash for North Korea.

The US had a serious meeting with Latvian leaders and kinda hinted in a serious way.....they needed to correct some serious problems.

The odds that ABLV was the only Latvian bank doing this?  That's a curious question.

But that wasn't the only problem....Latvian was allowing shell companies to be staged and operated, without much control.  You'd just show up....file some paperwork, and 'X-to-X' would be created.  It might amount to be strictly a mailbox where 20-million a year would flow into, and out....seemingly on paper to be legit but mostly non-existent.

So after the money was cleaned in Latvia, it'd move onto Cyprus....where another company would be created....another mail-box scheme.  Here, you could show enormous losses or business deals being made (at least on paper), and then the money could flow cleanly back to the US.

Yeah....in a way, this would be a way that Hunter Biden might have moved cash around.  Some Ukrainians gave him money, which he shifted to Latvia....cleaning it.  Then he flipped the money to a fake shell company out of Cyprus, and then delivered it back to the US. 

So there's this curious part of the story....around back in the fall of 2018, Cyprus got all heated up and dumped 20,000 fake business accounts....to show they were 'serious'.  There is no evidence that Hunter Biden's fake account was in the 20,000.  Maybe he was never into using Cyprus banks, or that his account avoided the cleansing.  

Any of this reported to IRS?  No, but they might now be interested.

Just Three Odd Things I Noticed In The News

 1.  The CIA went out (early on in the Covid business) and hired 'experts' (people who weren't already working for the CIA)....to proclaim that Wuhan labs didn't trigger the outbreak of Covid. 

It's like they needed to protect someone or something.

I saw this yesterday and generally shake my head.  You'd almost have the opinion now that this was a 'plan' of some type to bring down the massive economy of China (which is obviously underway at this point).  

2.  The Air Force sent up a F-22 to shoot down another Chinese spy-balloon 'thing'.  Front-page news?  No.   You might have accidentally noted it.....maybe one American out of a thousand saw the story.

3.  Polls say three out of four Republicans now say 'ditch-McConnell'.  Odds of this happening?  Zero.  

Why No Democratic Governors Have A Chance Now For The Presidency

 You can go down the list of all current Democratic governors, and find that any of them who attempt a 'run'.....will have hundreds of videos made of the crappy condition of their states, from drugs and crime.....to extreme poverty.  

It's an odd position to be in....tons of effort to get to the governor's chair, and then nothing to show for four years of effort.

My Two Walks of Arlington Cemetary

 The first time I ever walked through Arlington....we had a senior NCO of the organization who'd died of cancer (went from office-work to a hospital setting) and was dead about four months later.  This was in the DC region.

Arlington was his choice to be buried.  His problem (not really his after the death)?  To get on their schedule for a service, it takes 6 months.  

So we waited in the organization, and the day of the funeral came up.  We left the office and took the Metro over, and met at the chapel.  

It was probably one of the most impressive days out that I had in DC in that 3.5 year period. A ceremony concluded, and we walked with the casket for about three-quarters of a mile....on a damn-hot day (easily 94 degrees, with 75-percent humidity).  By the time it concluded....mid-afternoon....I was in a heat-distressed situation.  I made my way to a soda-machine and drank a bottle of water and then a Pepsi.

About two months later....I decided to spend eight hours over at the cemetery.  It is a unique place and you simply are amazed at the history laid out.  

My general advice?  Don't attempt to park there....park way on the south side of Arlington, along the Metro, and take the rail over to the cemetery.  Bring along a minimum of 1-liter of beverage.  I'd suggest a combo of Gatorade and water.  Spring or fall months would be recommended.  After you conclude this....if you still have an hour left....walk over the river to the Lincoln Memorial, and conclude near the WW II Memorial. Then ride the Metro back.  If you don't have energy or have a hip problem....forget about it.  It's a challenge but worth it.