The Times Story

I sat and read over this piece from the NYT....'Where Southerners Go to Fill their Tank and Feed the Family'.

I paused for about 10 minutes thinking over this. 

There's typically about three reasons why I don't read the NYT much.  One of those is that you get the feeling....they've NEVER left NYC itself in their life.  Another is that they write about something....trying to suggest they know something, when they don't. The third reason is that most of their 1,000 word stories....probably could be told in 300 words.  Meaning?  They try to say they can write like Hemmingway or Steinbeck....failing.

In my youth, my dad would organize a trip or two yearly (probably 20 of them really), and you left awful early.....then you'd stop at some gas station or grocery operations....buying a loaf of white bread, a fair amount of baloney, some soda, and maybe a couple of bananas.  

In the 1970s...in the south, there were still gas stations that were offering deli-like services.  I will admit throughout the 1980s and 1990s....that kinda went away.  Presently, with the Buc-ees....it's returning.

Just a southern thing like they suggest?  Well....you can go into parts of Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska and Wisconsin, and find this tank-pizza shop-deli situation.   I would imagine in the urbanized areas of Alaska....it exists as well.

In some ways, I feel for the NYT's reporter.  They ought to be forced into a truck and told to spend six weeks a year....touring the nation and getting orientated to reality.

As for those who haven't had the experience of tanking up and eating on the run....maybe the summer of 2024 is a great time to rediscover the heartland...go spend ten days on the road and live like it was 1975 again.  

My Trend Story

 I sat gazing over this chart from yesterday.  What the data shows....of college graduates....not high-school level...that some trend is showing a high level of undergraduates having a diagnosis of 'some' type of mental illness.

It didn't break it down into men versus women.  It didn't say people with electrical engineering degrees versus people with journalism degrees.  It didn't say undergraduates from Portland versus Little Rock.

So yeah, it's just a half-ass study, as far as I'm concerned.

What does bother me...the trend continues upward...meaning that depression-wise, it'll pass the 25-percent point by the end of 2024.  Panic or anxiety?  That will pass 30-percent point by the end of this year.

In both cases....what do you do as a time-limited mental health consultant?  You prescribe happy-pills.

Marvin, in his first year of college....on happy-pills, and working on a teaching degree....probably is going to be blitzed about six hours a day, and graduate from college in four years....being less intelligent  than he was in high school.

Judy?  In her second year of college, will seek help for panic attacks, getting Benzodiazepines.  She'll develop memory loss in the 3rd year of college, and fall asleep in half of the morning classes.  She'll marginally graduate and end up at some school....barely teaching  kids and making $40,000 a year.

All of this brings me to the idea....maybe we were always mentally screwed-up, and prior to 2000....we just sipped through a case of beer each weekend and accepted the fact that life was rather rough.  

I end this discussion with this odd feeling.  If the trend holds....somewhere around 2075 (I will have passed on)....the vast majority of undergraduates will be royally fu**ed-up, and unable to function in a valued way. Other than being a Uber-driver, hauling hay, or being a dim-witted Senator....there's no hope for your work-future.  

Relationships Story

 Yesterday, I watched a podcast, and the main focus was economics/finance...but the guy got onto the topic of dating, and if you should develop a relationship with a heavily-in-debt person.  

Generally, the question is....if you were around age 25-to-30....having met up with a gal graduate of some college and working, would it be a no-go situation if you figured out her debt is $80,000 (and it's not a house debt)?

Today versus 1980s? That's really the discussion.  

I might have had two or three filters in the 1980s for dating.  In the 2024 era....if I were 25....there's going to be twenty-odd filters.

Yeah, I'm likely crossing off some gal with a college debt of $50,000 or more. 

Yeah, I'm likely crossing off the extreme view of reality gal.

Yeah, I'm crossing off someone who bought a $75,000 new car last year, and has a 8-year payment plan.

Yeah, I'm crossing off the gal who spends four hours a day on social media.

This brings me the consequence....where there might be twenty-million men and women in America today who are ill-prepared for any relationship. They'd be better off to say....'hook-ups' are the way to go and just prepare never to have long-term relationships.

More guys than women on this path?  Yeah, it might be that way....but no one is collecting this type of data to tell a story.  

Ten Observations

 1.  If you come to walk 4,000 kilometers (Mexico, Central America, etc).....how do you arrive at the Texas border still with 40 pounds of excess 'fat'?  

Over a 2-month period....I would have lost fifty pounds.

2.  Science....isn't an absolute.  It evolves, changes, matures, and in some cases....gets dumped into a pit (better to be forgotten).

3.  When you reach a stage where shoplifting has destroyed your corner grocery or drug-store....what exactly do you expect the outcome to be?  We will wake up one day in SF to find only five drug stores left in the city....each guarded by armed military-style guards.

4.  At least once a week, I get this impression that Joe Biden doesn't grasp that he's President.  I'm guessing Jill has to keep reminding him of the actual job.

5.  It's easier to brainwash low-IQ people than high-IQ people.  So you might want to ensure college people are 'dim' as they graduate.

6.  How many Gaza Strips exist within the US (at least version 1.0...not the current Israel versus Gaza one of today)?  Looking over NYC, SF, Chicago, Portland, SF and the top forty urbanized zones?  Probably thirty or more?  

7.  Bud-Light says they will do a massive 'saga' commercial for the Super Bowl.  Does anyone really care?

8.  The US Marines now admit that they have a ship shortage, and it probably won't be resolved for a decade.  I hear that various cruise ship lines are having a customer shortage.....maybe we should introduce the Marines to the cruise ship folks, and hustle up some deal?

9.  Just odd how we hear the word  'cult' uttered every week now.  Back in the 1970s....it just came up when we talked about Scientology.  

10.  Just odd.....Republicans now say they will launch a joint probe into a Chinese-tied group funneling cash to US climate initiatives.  

Evil Carbon Story

 I spent a good hour reading this piece on climate change, and trying to soak in the bottom line.

Basically, if you felt  really good and positive about having your half-acre garden and saving the Earth from carbon crap....you were lying to yourself, and creating a carbon footprint five times greater than that commercial farm operation. 

So I came to this one odd detail....carbon isn't really a bad or evil thing.  It's not exactly a demon thing worth worrying about.  

In fact, it's just odd how carbon came to be on some bad-boy list from a decade ago.  If you went back to the 1990s....no one ever wept over the bad-boy status of carbon.  

But now I wonder....if you have a bunch of folks read this news piece....will they cease their garden plots and chat over how they will only buy commercially grown food....to save the carbon problem facing the Earth?

UFO Chatter

This past week, I sat and read through a piece coming out of the Pentagon.  Basically...the insiders to the Pentagon issued a report that said the county IS NOT equiped to protect the country in a 'potential' alien invasion.

So they suggested eleven ways (fixes) to upgrade and resolve issues.

After reading it....I put it down and have spent a couple of hours pondering over this.

First, they still haven't admitted to anything (you know...like having a couple junked-up UFOs/UAPs or dead alien bodies).  They simply say.....if aliens came....they ain't got no way of defeating them.

Who wrote the report?  That was a big unknown.  I'm guessing it wasn't some Army major or Air Force captain.  It was probably a contractor....working for some aerospace company.....that has a crippled-up alien ship and is prepared to sell the Pentagon the technology to defeat the aliens.

Are the aliens evil?  Well....no one said that.  So where does the threat come from?  Unknown.

The fact that we can't even hinder or hold off alien-folks entering the Texas border?  Well....yeah, that does come to mind.

Do we even have anything that aliens want?  Like diary cows, peanut butter, gold, sport-related videos, dirt-bikes, Tom Cruise movies, waffles, flashlights, or Tab?

Yeah, it's just a lot missing....other than some guy saying we can't fight the evil aliens with what have today.  How can you grade or fantasize about this threat....without having something to look over?

What if the aliens really fear us....worrying that we are fairly advanced and might go off to Raja-Nine and steal their stuff?   

On my BS-meter....this whole statement by the Pentagon ranks on a scale of one-to-ten....near a '9'.  Now, if they pulled out a UFO in pieces and a dead alien body......I might be willing to believe in part of this. 

Selling Michelle Obama For The Presidency (Like Selling A 1974 AMC Gremlin)

 This week, I've contemplated the idea of Joe Biden exiting the 'race' and some point between May and August....Michelle Obama is now heavily rumored to be 'THE' candidate.  

Problems?

1.  Basically Joe Biden has to say either he's too old, too ill (in some fashion) or he's been told he can't repeat the 2020 numbers.  Its hard to imagine this guy doing that, and just going into lame-duck status for six to eight months. 

2.  On speech-giving....I've just never seen Michelle Obama give a 5-star speech.  I've seen around six interviews with afternoon TV moderators, but they weren't really memorable or dynamic.  

3.  Michelle Obama would have to walk up on a stage and invent some interest in international affairs, economics, legislation, and cultivating fusion among people.  Where exactly will this talent come from?

4.  Taking the step from non-elected to anything....to the Presidency?  Tyler, Grant, Washington, Hoover, Eisenhower and Trump....those are the only people to ever accomplish the act.  

5.  Resolving or fixing the immigrant mess created?  I suspect she'll just say that the House just needs to give her more money.  Beyond that?  Nothing.

6.  Selling the black-brand to black communities?  A lot of things happened since 2016, and in Chicago (for example)....they want the migration mess cleaned up asap (she can't deliver that).  

7.  In several states, she'll have to compete against RFK Jr.  I think he can win in California....against her.

8.  From the announcement day, to election day....isn't this really a hyped-up race where Barak Obama is the focus in 90-percent of interviews and speeches?  

9.  Other than writing a couple of books.....there's not much to say on the resume, other than being the wife of Barak.

10.  Will Joe Biden stand there and muddle up her campaign....explaining how he was the 'big' guy?

Yeah, so this is like trying to sell me on a 1974 AMC Gremlin.....as much as you might think it has value.....it doesn't.