One year ago today: January 18, 2018, at Sun City Center.
Five years ago today: January 18, 2014, jammin' with Jag.
Nine years ago today: January 18, 2010, nicest car ever.
Random years ago today: January 18, 2015, call me 'noid.
I put the walkie-talkies through the paces this morning. There’s your proof that the old Radio Shack gear was often top-notch. The system has one broken transmit indicator, so it was not brand new. It does use the earpiece to pick your voice and the transmission is crystal clear. If I get the sidecar back on the road some day, that solves the driver passenger communication problem. I mean, really crystal clear. I’ve seen throat mics that had such quality, but never an earpiece. This device is a keeper.
It was a seriously long day for me, listening to Boss Hogg and cleaning up the shed. They pipe the news in from Tampa, so it is all anti-Trumping. They couldn’t beat him at the polls, so now they are clutching at any straw. Can’t win an election? Impeach the guy who did, even if I was a liberal, I don’t know if I could deal with their kindergarten mentalities. During coffee breaks, I watched scenes from one of the crummiest videos ever made, called “Boys of Lost Island”. It’s a modern take on a Jules Verne story and it is revealing how the political mind of his day must have worked.
For example, they find food, water, and an inhabitable cave. To me, I’d leave it at that. But Verne takes the attitude of the times and suddenly the boys decide they must have a leader. And therein, the trouble starts. But if you read a lot of history books written at the time, the people of the day seemed to not sense there was any connection between the existence of a leader and most of their quarrels. Succinctly, they know there is conflict, but it is always caused by who the other people elected, not the one they did.
Now I do believe in leadership, but not in elections. Elections presume the majority will always elect the best leader, but the fact is, the majority are never the best specimens of mankind. They tend to elect people as mediocre as themselves. Myself, I believe in times of crisis, a leader will arise naturally. And once the crisis is over, so is the need for that leader. I could not show you a man who has a demonstratable need for a leader without showing you an idiot. Jules may have been satirizing political formations, but he isn’t known for that.
The book also smacks of the early views of communism a utopia. The problem I have with assigning tasks by ability is that rarely is anyone with any ability allowed to self-assess. Did I say that right? My meaning is that I don’t like the situation where somebody else decides what your abilities are. That’s way to “English” for me. Anyway, this DVD may join my very select group of movies that I did not watch through to the end. The caliber of the acting and the plot are about the worst I’ve seen, it’s more like a home video by somebody who just read the camera manual.
The Temple Bar.
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Here’s the progress with our loquat tree. The temperature has fallen below the point where this tree may shed its leaves. Any fruit would be damaged, but other than sagging leaves, this one seems to have survived well. Yes, those are the edging bricks from the front yard. Found me a better use for them while I get the front area cleaned up. I may get up on the roof with my electric chain saw to tackle some of the overhanging branches. It has been 18 months since Agt. R said he’d give me a hand with that.
Nor did I make it to the used paint store. The shelving went so well, I almost suspect I’m beginning to get the hang of it. So I stuck with that, and also reading more of the “Eagle Against The Sun”. I rarely get more than a page or two before it puts me to sleep. It is fascinating in one unplanned way. Anybody who thinks the US military “society” has changed much since 1905 should have this book as assigned reading. There are problems and they are identical. What’s changed is the weaponry, but the fundamental flaws remain. The concepts of quick, clean victories, precision bombing, promotion by reputation, over-faith in technology, and lack of inter-service cooperation still dominate the military thinking that produced failure in Viet Nam and are doing the same in Afghanistan and Syria. Once the enemy adapts to a situation, it is time for change—but that’s hard to do when you have billions invested in what no longer works.
I’m saying the circumstances remain the same. That the people in charge are aware of what produces victory, but are rooted in the wrong ways to apply them. We also need to stop certain practices, like the preferences given to military families, the use of married men in combat, anything like military balls, and the employment of ex-military brass by procurement companies. There can be no progress that I can see because there are other, far more serious problems that need solving first. But they are political, not military.
The obvious answer is a smaller, more flexible, and elite striking force. This is something the American military has long attempted. But it seems to fail because what makes that tick is far too “civilian” for the establishment. And I have always been against both the concept of the military as a “job” and the subsequent distortion of the economy by giving preferential employment to veterans who seem rarely qualified for most professions. That one, I don’t know any answer to.
ADDENDUM
Damn, my pharmacy. Not only have they been not meeting deadlines, they completely missed one of my prescriptions. I recounted it for them to make sure, as I always do. They are a day late on me, then I get home and find one not there, it is not even on the co-pay list, like they were not listening to me make sure they got the order right. Also, they gave me 30 of each instead of 90. It has been 90 for how many years now? These people are seriously fucking up every order. Since it is the same individuals I see every time, I wonder if something else has gone haywire over there.
Now, I either go without an important dose, or make another trip to Miami to pick it up. No, can’t get it locally, they would love to find out I’ve moved. Tomorrow, I’ll see if there is a generic product I can take temporarily. But, I will never trust that pharmacy again. And this is what drags Florida down to third world level. I have allocate the time to go to through the bags one by one to make sure supposed professionals get the damn job done right, and they’re offended but what choice do they give you?
It is a fool who trusts anybody in Florida these days. Not only is the average inhabitant an incompetent loon, American society has devolved to where anybody who makes mistakes can get away with it or scream they are offended by any reprimand. It’s a disgusting reality, all of it.
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