May 19, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 19, 018, some military sayings.
Five years ago today: May 19, 2014, when I was 17.
Nine years ago today: May 19, 2010, Texas could feed itself.
Random years ago today: May 19, 2013, volunteers, my eye.

           The find of the day was this rock on the lakeshore. Natural erosion created this dinosaur skull. I might go back there and get it. I say pterodactyl, she says T-rex. Okay, baby T-rex. That was early this morning and of all the instances of Murphy’s Law, a heavy vase fell off the counter in the sun deck and landed right on her foot. I didn’t see it, I heard the thud. Yes, the foot that just took a year to mend from a broken ankle. How bad was it? Judge by the cussin’. Let’s say you’ve heard all those words before, just not from her.

           It was ice pack time and I don’t know if we’ll make her flight. Later, we made the flight with ten minutes to spare. This does not apply to her and I, but she has never understood my policy of giving anybody, even an enemy, a ride to the airport if they are stuck. I’ve had that [rule] so long I don’t remember where it comes from. But then, her and I have many opposites. She makes friends with people like herself, I avoid making friends with those who are not like me. What can I say, she has friends everywhere. By contrast, I have a small circle of people I associate with, but their accomplishments in life are measured on a scale that dwarfs being nice. I just wanted to point that out.

           What’s this? The Apple CEO has been advising college to think out of the box. When did he start reading this blog? He’s applying a band-aid to the real problem, which is the low standards of the education system. Add twelve years grade school plus four year college and you are up against 16 years of indoctrination. A couple sentences of good advice at the tail end is as worthless as a MicroSoft upgrade. He also apologized saying, “My generation has failed you.” Whoa, now just hold on there, Mr. Bigmouth. Who the hell do you think you are? Speak for yourself, Tim Cook.
           Certain people did mess things up, but let them blame themselves, without Apple’s help. My generation changed a world that was horribly unfair and out of date. But now all we hear is how the youth of today expect us to be around for ever to keep it that way for them, and from what I hear, do it for free, as well. My generation made mistakes as do all people who get off their asses and do things. The ass-enders, instead of picking up the struggle, have managed mostly to sit around demanding equality, gay rights, and $15 per hour as if those were part of their perceived entitlement package. My generation developed the rockets to go to Mars foolishly thinking the namby-pambies would actually go there.

           Instead, they blew the money on things like social networking and chasing around on crap like climate change. They love to hand out welfare, which has never worked out for any society since the dawn of time. So, Tim Cook, stick to apologizing for Apple, who started off as a great computer company, but by 1986 began deliberately over-pricing their product so only rich kids could afford them. I’ve never been able to buy an Apple computer since then. Outfits like Apple that could have done much more than others to change the world instead opted for their profit margins. And forty years later, they think they can start ladling out advice? Apple went downhill the day they contracted out their programming to MicroSoft.

           So to end the morning on a happy note, here is a great shot of the full moon over the reservoir last night. Glad you like it.

Picture of the day.
Lake in S. Africa.
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           SWhat do Tennessee and Florida have in common on warm summer nights? Mosquitoes. But we did get a nice long stroll around the west side marina last night. If I didn’t say, the rock band was recording studio perfect. While that isn’t always the best after-work entertainment, I liked it. And noted they had the same song list I did thirty-five years ago. Full moon gave us enough light to walk out along the piers jutting into the lake. And the sodium vapor lights lit up the rest of the frolic, some of which is depicted here.

           Now, she says it is a giraffe. I say it is a cobra. I’m beginning to wonder about her perception of animal shapes. Besides, watch closely. Does a giraffe kind of pounce on you? And don’t giraffes have like two knobby protursions on their heads just above the eyes? What’s that you say? Well, true, but we are not talking about Leonardo DiCaprio at the moment.

           The A/C is still on the blink, forcing me to have big fans in every room. It’s too muggy to moil, so call it an early day. I found a DVD with Nicolas Cage, “The Weatherman”. I set up my computer only to realize I’d left the printer transformer back in Winter Haven. I’ve got some trivia, if you are eating anything, put it down. In older castles, people used to just poop down a long shaft. They hung their clothes in that little room believing the smell would keep moths away. That is where we get the term “wardrobe”. Yew.
           The second yew is the Cage movie. It’s really bad, something about a weatherman with a dysfunctional family. I’m up to the point where he finds his daughter’s cigarettes, and this movie is not one of his major efforts. I switched to “The Four Feathers” but so far it is about some surplus English daughter. That’s where the English had so many wars that back home, there was a shortage of sons of dukes and earls to marry off the existing crops of females. My word, some of them were even marrying commoners.

           One accuracy in the movie is a lesson on the dangers of a nation having a professional officer class. The process by which these individuals are chosen, or more like created, assures that only rarely can a man with true qualities rises to the top. Sure, the graduates can win battles, but consider the total cost. Sooner or later, the officers become clones, fighting the last war. Similar to the decrepit American education system, they can only pass the exams by giving the approved answers, even when known to be wrong. The late British Empire epitomized this. As long as they could turn expensive European weapons against swords and knives, all was tickety-boo. It’s fine and good, until they meet the next Lion or Fox and get their royal asses kicked.

Last Laugh