Recent Comments

1. about 17 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   How much national debt will we incur by trashing everything and then ‘rebuilding’?

   When Reagan tried reducing government, he did it somewhat methodically. But, between ’80 and ’88, the federal civilian workforce increased by nearly 100,000. Similarly, the national debt rose from 26% GDP in ’80 to 41% GDP in ’88 [i.e., it went from $712 billion in ’80 to $2.052 trillion in ’88, a nearly a three-fold increase.].

2. about 17 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   People always complain about the education system but I think they would complain more if we didn’t have one.

   The basic problem with our system is that it was designed originally with the idea that all students learn the same way, at the same age, and what needed to be taught were the skills required in a world where 85% of the labor force was agricultural and 15% manufacturing [e.g., girls needed home-skills and enough reading and writing to be able to handle a family budget].

   By the 60’s, these labor percentages had totally reversed and the material being taught was not providing the basic education needed in the modern world. The education system started trying to change to address the current needs — more science and 2nd languages, less Home Ec. At the same time, people were becoming aware that not all students learn the same way and different approaches were needed to “meet their full potential and become contributing members of society.”

   Studies showed that class sizes were too large and that secondary languages should be taught in elementary school [the brain absorbs new languages more easily before puberty]. And behavioral issues were becoming more common — at least more noticed — and were considered more serious [I would have been expelled if I had pulled even one of the stunts my mother did in the ’30s].

   Unfortunately, school budgets were pretty much back at the turn of the century — and so were public minds: “Why should they need to learn a different language in grade school? They’re just little kids.” “Why do they need a foreign language or computers or art or girls’ sports? We didn’t have those when I was in school!” “What do you mean Sally is having trouble with reading? You’re the teacher! Teach!” “Johnny says he didn’t start the fight, he was just defending himself. Why didn’t you have someone out there supervising the playground?”

   We have the public education we paid for — and they are our voting public.

3. about 18 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   Ukraine has rare minerals we need for our electronic lives as well as extensive grain fields that [used to] provide grain to much of the world. Of course, we won’t really get any direct benefit— that is Russia’s prize. But I’m sure Putin will cut some kind of trade deal for those minerals.

   Gaza will make a fine beach resort and golf course — imagine the challenges — really rough roughs, really deep sand traps, but not too many water hazards. Just what the world needs. Maybe they will employ some local Palestinian workers rather than import them from elsewhere.

4. about 18 hours ago on Brevity

   Sad commentary on our culture today — there is a “machine” involved in practically every aspect of our lives, separating us from other people. Online schooling and home schooling is great for learning about specific subjects, but is that enough for a child to learn how to be an adult and a member of society? Is reviewing pictures of homework really enough for a parent to tell how their child is doing? Is that enough for a teacher to determine if the child is really understanding the material and developing the mental and social skills expected for his age? Kids in school aren’t just there to learn subjects, they are there so they can learn how to act around other people, to learn how to “read” people so they know when someone is being facetious, sarcastic, teasing, angry, etc. People in face-to-face situations can’t display an emoji or /s

   We expect teachers to be the ‘objective’ reviewers and trainers of our children — we expect them to know who is being bullied and who is bullying, who is struggling to get the right answers and who gets them right away, who may have a learning/hearing/behavior problem, etc. After all, they are around our kids much more than we are [excluding sleep time] and “that’s what they’re trained for.”

   The US established public education to provide a free education to all children in the country for somewhat selfish reasons. To enable all children to achieve their full potential; but also to help students develop the intellectual and social skills needed to become productive citizens and a strong workforce. How do you learn to get along with real live people if you grow up just seeing them on a screen?

5. 1 day ago on Non Sequitur

   It’s not really fair to blame the employee for wasting money. They have limited control over what they get and how and when they can spend it. All those decisions are made by Congress. The agencies and SERVICE organizations are there to run the programs assigned to them by Congress.

   This is how it generally works: Someone puts together a proposal for a program to address a specific problem. Important: whatever the proposal is, it has to relate to national security, national prosperity, or the health and wellbeing of the population or individual rights of all [as defined by the Constitution]. It can’t just be a bridge to nowhere — it has to be a bridge leading to something beneficial for the nation [although there are a lot of glib talkers in Congress]. Incidentally, having electronic vehicles in our military isn’t such a bad idea — Germany lost the war because they literally ran out of gas in ’45.

   Congress studies the proposal, researches it, talks about it and eventually approves a program to address it and designates which agency/organization is to run it, how much money they get, how long they have [e.g., a series of annual budgets]. Sometimes they listen to experts who provide detailed information on what all needs to be involved and how. Sometimes they don’t.

   The people assigned to the program then have to figure out how to achieve the mission. Restrictions have been placed on what the money can be spent for — so much for personnel, so much for equipment, so much for year 1. . .so much for year n. And, the money allocated in year 1 has to all be spent during year 1: whatever isn’t spent, is removed from that program and the allocations for subsequent years are reduced as well — hence the spending flurry in August and September. The government employees then work their butts off trying to fulfill the mission on time and in budget.

   Unfortunately, the public seldom gets beyond the “soundbite” to the reasons the program exists.

6. 3 days ago on For Better or For Worse

   What he needs is to realize that he had been doing all the talking and none of the listening. Or at least that is the way the script has been going. He tells her all about his life, the exciting things he is doing, his plans, his dreams — but it doesn’t seem like he’s bothered to listen to hers at all. It’s all been about him, not about her or about them. Not an unusual story — one that too often continues into marriage before one of them realizes that they are just there as a cheering section and cleanup squad — that their hopes, plans and dreams don’t matter. And it isn’t always the guy. Gals can be self-absorbed as well.

7. 4 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Polytheism allowed people to accept gods with human failings — different gods had different powers, different opinions, different flaws. That made it easier for different cultures to view other polytheistic religions as equals — nobody had to be wrong. When you start having a religion say that there is only one god [my god], then you can’t see other religions as equal. They are a threat — both can’t be right - and we have to prove they are wrong. Mankind seems to need to see a lot of things in binary terms- my way, my view of the world [good and right] and not my way [wrong and bad].

8. 4 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Didn’t seem like a very tricky question to me — it seemed a valid one. But people who walk with blinders on often feel tricked because they don’t see the whole picture.

9. 4 days ago on Brevity

   I just remember the floppy disks we tried to use to store documents on for the Army. Regs required that every document had to have the highest security classification on its title page and on the file or folder that it was stored in/on. We had so many classifications stuck on those floppies [multiple documents, multiple classifications] that they would get stuck in the drive. So happy when that form went obsolete.

10. 5 days ago on Pluggers

    Technically, you only have to be weighed annually as part of your annual physical for your general practitioner. I no longer get weighed when I see my nephrologist, although the scale in her office was about 7 pounds “better.”

    I have hated getting weighed ever since grade school when we lined up for our annual medical — weight, height, eye and ear exam, [and sometimes vaccination]. A parent volunteer would stand at the scale in front of the line going into the auditorium and do the weighing, measuring and yell your name, height and weight and another volunteer would record it on the other side of the auditorium. I was the 2nd tallest person in class [until 8th grade], and ‘chunky’ so my weight was always high in comparison.