Warm, but low humidity. Brought in another yellow squash and delicious red tomato.
"The man who rides alone can leave at any time." Thoreau
01. The Depressing Future Time
Hollywood describes their views of the future as "dystopian".. which is the opposite of "utopian".. or "defined by human misery, totalitarian governments, and environmental disaster." Movies described as dystopian make a lot of money at the box office, as they mimic famous depressing (but entertaining) books, such as:
1984
R.U.R.
Brave New World
Fahrenheit 451
Clockwork Orange
These are books that I read avidly before I was 21. Movies of this type were:
Blade Runner
Soylent Green
(and recently: The Hunger Games, and The Given)
Included in books of this type is Jack London's The Iron Heel... Never heard of it before, but I will try to read it, but not avidly.
However, my advice is to forget about this type of literature and focus on humorous material.. why worry about how the world will be in the year 2500? Let Captain Kirk worry about that.
02. Where have all the teachers gone?
Carroll County Maryland has lost 144 teachers since the beginning of Fall. Half of them left to teach in higher-paying locations.
Tea Party candidates are trying to get elected to the Board of Education... there goes the Neighborhood.. and even less teachers will survive if they are successful.. in my humble opinion. This is a new tactic of our Tea Party friends... if they can't get elected to the "big" offices, they will try for "lower" offices.. and work their way up. Watch out, Carroll County!
03. Salt
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that we all use about one teaspoon of salt per day, unless we are 51 years and older, African American and folks with high blood pressure, diabetes, or kidney disease.. in which case, we should cut that amount almost in half.
When using canned vegetables, we are advised to drain and rinse the vegetables to reduce the amount of salt.
What about animals and salt licks? And what about what they told us in boot camp?.. "Keep taking those salt tablets." This is summer, and fresh cucumbers and tomatoes are plentiful... and in my opinion, they taste remarkable when you sprinkle them with salt.. don't you agree?
And what about Lot's wife?
04. Philosophy of Life
"Most of life is driving somewhere and then driving back. wondering why the hell you went." John Updike.
05. Poker
American Heritage Magazine did an article on Poker some years ago. In 2003, a guy with the prophetic name of Chris Moneymaker was declared the first poker champion of the world and he won $2.5 million dollars playing the game, but, since this is the most democratic of games, (at which a truck driver can sit down with an executive and an amateur can beat a professional), in 2006, a new winner took home $12 million dollars. How high can it go?
Walter Matthau said of the Poker: "The game exemplifies the worst aspects of capitalism that have made our country so great."
06. *Lawsuit
The lawsuit filers have short memories about their own leaders.. as mentioned in American Heritage magazine
"President Bush (Dubya) ... since taking office, (his) administration has sought radical, cultural change in any number of areas, fighting with varying degees of success to privatize Social Security and transform other entitlement programs, deregulate much of the economy, end abortion rights, lower some of the barriers between church and state, curtail civil liberties and transfer vast new powers to the Executive branch for the purposes of fighting the war on terror, and disengage from long-standing American commitments, from the KYOTO agreement on global warming to the Geneva Convention. Others, in and around the administration have even talked about being able to create their own 'reality' and of the formation of an American 'empire.'"
Where was the Democratic lawsuit against President Bush?
07. Joke?
Mark Shively writes:
Driving to work, I had to swerve to avoid a box that fell out of a truck in front of me. Moments later, a trooper pulled me over for reckless driving. Luckily, another patrolman had seen the object in the road, so they stopped traffic and retrieved the box, which turned out to contain large upholstery tacks.
"I'm sorry, sir," said the first trooper, "but I'm going to write you a ticket after all."
"For what?" I asked, surprised.
He replied, "Tacks evasion."
(Now that is called a "groaner.")
08. Sedition
From Jason Stanford: Jerad Miller, one of the anti-government persons in Las Vegas who, along with his wife, murdered police officers, draped a "Don't Tread on Me" Gadsen flag (Tea Party Symbol) over their bodies. Why didn't the Republican Party condemn this killing?
09. *Guns again
Jason Stanford writes again that President George Bush, the elder, quit the National Rifle Association when they called agents of the Bureau of alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms "jackbooted thugs" for enforcing gun laws. Bush said that the anti-government language "offends my own sense of decency and honor."
10. Is it time to stop driving?
The USAA Educational Foundation says: If any of these things apply to you, you may want to consider giving up or limiting your driving:
I have trouble recognizing or observing traffic signs and signals.
I have trouble moving my foot from the gas pedal to the brake pedal.
I have trouble turning to look over my shoulder.
Sometimes other vehicles seem to come out of nowhere and surprise me.
Other drivers honk at me.
I have been getting lost more frequently.
It is difficult for me to judge gaps between vehicles.
I sometimes forget how to drive to familiar places.
11. Australian Residents
The kangaroo and the emu seldom move backwards. Kangaroos, because of the shape of their body and the length of their strong tail, can move forward ok, but have trouble shifting into reverse. Emus have joints in their knees which make backward movement difficult. Both of these animals appear on Australia's coat of arms as a symbol that the nation is to be ever moving forward and making progress. (See what you can learn from an Our Daily Bread brochure.)
12. And they will be our business leaders
Melvin T. Copeland wrote "And Mark an Era", which talks about the first 50 years of the Harvard Business School, and give examples of some "sterling" reports written by actual M.B.A. candidates:
"At this time there seem to be two problems which include many other problems relating to the general problem."
"This plan was very good so far so it went and that was too far."
"They should not, I would in their case, and barring one point, I don't think it matters much what they do so long as they do it with their whole heart."
Harvard's Graduate School of Business was the first in the country to require a bachelor degree for entrance.. they thought that this would result in better prepared students... not so. Most students were, in the words of one teacher, ignorant "of the first principles of English composition and even of spelling...deficient not merely in ability to write, but in any standard of decent composition."
Once, at the Social Security Administration where I worked, I had the opportunity to get an MBA at Harvard, but once again, my boss said that I was "too valuable" to be away from my duties for the time required. My co-worker, Lou, did go and got his MBA.. after which he talked a lot about "leading indicators" and such.
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