Sandpipe Cove - Destin, FL

First Impressions on First Arrival...

We had been here before so we knew where the arrival desk was located and we knew that we had to check in at the Guard Desk to get our parking assignment and access codes...  so, none of that was a surprise to us...  and we knew how the condos were numbered so it was a simple matter of finding the right road that began with our number group.  But, what we did not expect was that the keys that we were given did not work...  and, the office manager that came to our rescue brought over about 6 different sets associated with this property and none of them worked either.

The office manager knew the condo had been inspected and the cleaning crew had gotten access so our very apologetic office manager called the crew, found out where they were and went to retrieve the key.  That key worked but we have gone into 90 minutes of wait time after our initial arrive.  We unpacked the car and got things situated inside...  now we are waiting on the office manager to return with our new set of keys...  and the waiting time before we can do anything has jumped to over 2 hours.

We were not in a hurry this morning when we left Montgomery, Alabama where we spent the night to break up our 8 almost 9 hours of drive time...  but, in the course of conversation with the office manager, we heard that our unit was good to go yesterday which mean we could have gotten into our condo upon arrival.

The weather forecast changed and we arrived at Destin in a barrage of afternoon showers which were not predicted yesterday or the day before when we checked...  however, Mother Nature can never be held accountable for anything that she does or does not do for vacationers.

Americans and Politics

 

Most Americans...  and, I use that word liberally...  don't give a rat's ass about politics...  that is to say that they are either liberal or conservative but they do not let the opposing party's leadership negatively influence their day-to-days lives...  They work and play regardless of what party is in power and regardless of immigration and regardless of taxes or the cost of living...

Most Americans simply try to do the best they can, given their opportunities and limitations and don't piss and moan if things do not go their way...  like a lot of these BLACKS are doing...

Most Americans are white (60% of the population) but they do not think their lives have been based or predicated upon WHITE PRIVILEGE...  although, they do believe that the WEALTHY WHITES have been living a life based upon or predicated upon white privilege...  but, there is really nothing that they can do about it...  so they just GO WITH THE FLOW...

Personally...  I really don't give a shit about the wealthy whites or black lives matter or cancel culture, the WOKE Mob, the tearing down of Confederate Statues, Slavery, or the Defunding of the police...  in fact, I hope the police are reduced or re-indoctrinated or restructured...  BUT what I cannot tolerate is TAX INCREASES...

If illegal immigrants move into my location, I will simply ignore them as I have always done...  My retired life will continue regardless of what happens here...  if America changes...  then, it frigging changes...  Life goes on for me...

Made in America

This morning on FOX News, it was reported that in Biden's first State of the Union Address to Congress. in addition to pushing his extremely bold and costly spending agenda and not really mentioning the crisis at the boarder, he articulated in no uncertain terms that his administration was going to push made in America or purchased in America which is somewhat redundant; however, it is the same rhetoric that was originally used by Donald Trump about which the Democrats and the liberals would not support...

Many of us should find that ODD INDEED.

Destin, Florida

I am watching FOX News in the breakfast room of Days Inn in Montgomery, Alabama because my wife and I are on our way to a vacation at a private condo with a private beach in Destin, Florida... and driving from TN to this location took us about 5-1/2 hours instead of the 8-1/2 it would have taken if we had driven straight through.  As we get older we understand and respect the fact that we can no longer drive long durations without stopping.

I awoke first and decided to have breakfast while my wife continued to sleep which brings me back to the origins of this post.

My breakfast consisted of several cups of coffee which always seems to taste better away from home than at home and a couple of tiny bran muffins that were sprinkled with oats on top.  The bran muffins were perfectly cooked and tasted better than most that I have had as I recall...  and, while I ate my breakfast, I watched FOX News on the screen mounted on the wall.

The trip to Montgomery was for all intents and purposes uneventful except for a couple of areas where driving through congested cities slow the traffic down a "tad," but for the most part, the vehicles on the interstate drove no slower than 80 mph and most of them were clipping along at 100 mph and wanted you out of their way immediately as they approach you from the rear.

Since we were not in a hurry, I maintained a speed of 75-80 mph which was still 5-10 miles over the posted speed limits  while most of my fellow drivers took those posted speed limits to be a suggestion rather than the law.

No matter where we stopped...  either at a rest area, a fast food, or a gas station, NO ONE was wearing their facemasks...  except us...  even though my wife and I have had both our COVID shots and it has been a month since our second one.

This morning we are going to remain at the Days Inn until we have to check out because the rest of our journey is only going to take 3 hours and we cannot check in until 5:00 pm so even if we left at noon, we would still have a 2 hour wait until we can get settled in...  knowing that, we decided that we would probably do our grocery shopping while we waited.

This is our first vacation in over a year due to COVID, the 3-4 maybe 5-6 that we normally take each year were cancelled or not booked because of COVID.  We are hoping that the weather will be nice on the Gulf Coast.

Black Market Grass

Noxon, whose name has been changed, started selling weed about eight years ago in Dutchess County.

His legitimate job barely paid rent and bought food, but the discretionary income from selling weed and concentrated cannabis, including THC vape cartridges, which he said are diverted from the legal market in California, gave him what he called “a quality-of-life cushion.”

He has no plans to stop.

People don’t like paying taxes, Noxon said of the prospect of competing against legal adult-use cannabis in New York, especially when they already have an established black-market connection.

Noxon, and the black market as a whole, is one of the many wild cards in determining how many cannabis consumers in the state begin to purchase marijuana legally once dispensaries open. But a low tax rate on cannabis could shift consumers to the legal market more successfully than states like California.

After years of starts and stops, legislation legalizing adult recreational marijuana was signed into law by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on March 31. The Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act [MRTA] was intended to make up for a $15 billion budget shortfall, nearly all of which will be filled by the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, though the law is still on the books.  READ MORE

Intelligence or Not...

Psychologists and other experts have come up with many ways of looking at human intelligence.

You’ve probably heard of IQ (intelligence quotient) tests. These assessments are specifically designed to measure aptitude and ability.

But intelligence isn’t all about IQ, and here’s why:

• IQ tests measure specific skills like reasoning, memory, and problem-solving. They can’t capture the broader picture of your capabilities overall.
• IQ tests don’t assess important traits like creativity or emotional skills.
• People from different backgrounds have varying levels of familiarity with test concepts and structure, so low scores may not always represent actual intellectual abilities.
• A 2016 research reviewTrusted Source suggests people with autism often have higher intelligence than standardized IQ tests indicate. This intelligence is simply imbalanced in ways that can negatively affect social interactions and task performance.

Many experts believe a single test can’t give a clear picture of intelligence, in part because there are multiple types of intelligence to consider.

One popular theory, introduced by psychologist and professor Howard Gardner, suggests nine different types of intelligence exist.

Wondering how intelligence shows up for you? Here’s a look at 11 signs of varying types of intelligence.  READ MORE

Democrats and Liberal Progressives

 As far as I am concerned, these people can do whatever the hell that they want to as long as my taxes do not increase that much...  a little increase in taxes is fine and can be easily accommodated  but a substantial increase in taxes should only be directed towards the wealthy.

Conservatives believe that if you tax the wealthy they will not put as much money back into the society as they did before the tax increase in terms of jobs, investments, and donations...  I find that to be a load of horseshit...

The wealthy are going to invest their money regardless of their tax burdens into ventures and investments that are going to make them more money...  because they are financially greedy.  And...  their greediness will never slow down or stop...  it is their nature.

Since I am no longer working in the marketplace, I don't give a damn if jobs go to the unqualified or not...  yes, it does mean that the US will no longer be as competitive but that trend started a long time ago when this country lost its STEM focus.

While Democrats are fighting Republicans, and Liberals are fighting Conservatives and Blacks are fighting Whites, CHINA is gaining SUPERIORITY over the US in both the economy and in the military...  and, no doubt, it will soon be seen in SPACE as well.

Just HOW STUPID ARE WE?

Visualize

 

A Relationship With Creativity

People under the influence of psilocybin — the active component of magic mushrooms — report having more profound and original thoughts, but tend to score lower on cognitive tests of creative ability, according to new research published in Translational Psychiatry. But the findings indicate that the psychedelic substance can still boost creative ability in the long-term.

The study also collected functional magnetic resonance imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy data, providing some new insights into the underlying neurobiological mechanisms associated with creative ability.

“Creativity is an essential cognitive ability linked to all areas of our everyday life, allowing us to adapt to an ever-changing environment and come up with ways to solve problems,” said lead researcher Natasha Mason (@NL_Mason), a PhD candidate at Maastricht University.

“Importantly, as well as being an essential process for everyday functioning, the (in)ability to think ‘outside of the box’ has also been associated with psychological disorders, such as depression and anxiety. These individuals can get stuck in maladaptive thought patterns, which can facilitate habitual (negative) behaviors. Thus, finding a way to enhance creativity is of broad interest.”

Scientists had found some preliminary evidence in the 1960s that the psychedelic drug LSD could enhance creative problem-solving. There was also some evidence that the psychedelic state induced by LSD could harm creative ability. But the issue has received little scientific attention since then.

“Over the years, a number of anecdotal reports have accumulated suggesting that the consumption of psychedelic drugs, like LSD and psilocybin, can enhance creativity,” Mason said. “Famous examples of psychedelic-affiliated creative breakthroughs include Kary Mullis’ discovery of the polymerase chain reaction, the 1960’s California-based computer industry, and the literary works of authors, such as Aldous Huxley and Ken Kesey. That said, although there are a large number of claims that psychedelics do this, no one has investigated this in a placebo-controlled experimental trial.”  READ MORE

Telling You What To Do

 Do you want our Federal Government telling you

 what to do...

how to do it...

and when to do it???

This is what bothers me more than anything else about the DEMORATS and the PROGRESSIVE LIBERALS...

I am my own person and I don't need the Federal Government telling me what to do with my life...  and, controlling my behavior with MONEY...

If I want to drink alcohol, I will...

If I want to use illegal drugs, I will...

If I want to support abortions, I will...

If I want to own a firearm, I will...

If I want to support the transgendered, I will...

If I want to overeat, I will...

If I want to work or not work, I will...

If I want to steal, I will...

If I want to get more education, I will...

I understand that the wealthy have a fundamental right to become wealthy but I do not think it is appropriate for our Federal Government to take money away from them just because they are wealthy...

If the wealthy want to share their money on their own, then they should be allowed to do that...  and, if the wealthy want to donate money to a political campaign to influence elections then they should have the right to do so.

Relax...

 

Expanding Into What?

The universe is everything, so it isn't expanding into anything. It's just expanding. All of the galaxies in the universe are moving away from each other, and every region of space is being stretched, but there's no center they're expanding from and no outer edge to expand into anything else.

But that doesn't mean that the universe is infinite. That brings us to the long answer. To understand how something could be finite but have no edge, think of the fabric of the universe as the surface of a balloon. As the balloon inflates, the surface stretches and every point on that surface moves away from every other point, but a tiny being on the surface of that balloon could walk forever and never run into the edge of its balloon universe. There's no edge, yet that balloon universe has a finite volume.

The Shape of the Universe
But the balloon is just one example. Scientists aren't actually sure whether the universe is finite or infinite, or even what shape the universe is. There are three options: spherical, flat, or hyperbolic (that is, it curves upward). Evidence from the earliest light in the universe suggests that the second option is on the money, and the universe is, in fact, flat.

Even if the universe is flat and not balloon-shaped, however, it's still easy to think about how it could be finite with no edge. Think about a flat piece of paper. You could take two opposing edges and make them touch, creating a cylinder. If a tiny 2-dimensional rocket ship traveled from one of those edges to the other, it would arrive back where it started. You could do the same thing in the perpendicular direction: Connect the two ends of the tube to each other (pretend this is magically stretchy paper, for the sake of argument) and create a donut shape, also known as a torus. Now your 2-dimensional rocket ship could travel anywhere it likes, and it would never encounter an edge — even though your paper torus has finite volume.

But wait, you might be saying. Paper is flat; a torus is curved. Isn't that cheating? No, and that's because scientists have a very specific definition for the word "flat." When they say flat, they mean "Euclidean," which means that parallel lines always run parallel and the sum of the angles of a triangle is always exactly 180 degrees. This doesn't happen on a sphere or a hyperbola, but it does on a cylinder, a torus, and any other shape you can make out of a flat piece of paper.

This suggests something kind of exciting: If we live in a flat universe, you could potentially travel in one direction for long enough (or build a telescope that can see far enough) to end up right back where you started. Even cooler things happen when you think about other weird shapes — shapes that twist back on themselves could make you arrive back at a mirror image of where you started, for example.

But no matter what shape the universe is, it's not expanding into anything. There's nothing outside of the universe because the universe has no edge.  READ MORE

Division Dilemma

The 2016 Election divided the United States of America along the lines of liberals and conservatives even though there was a division among the wealthy and the not so wealthy that had been lingering around for decades...  or, at least since the 1960's but became more apparent in 2000.  In addition to the wealth and political divisions in this country, we are also facing since the 2016 election a racial division the likes of which has not been seen since the 1960's as well and the era of MLK Jr.

BLM and ANTIFA have exacerbated this racial division along with the pushback from White Supremacists but the black movement against whites has become far more powerful than any push back, especially with the killing of George Floyd.

Blacks now want to tear down Confederate Monuments, Rewrite the US Constitution, Receive Slavery Reparations, Teach Critical Race Theory, and destroy whatever White Privilege really means...  just because it is white I suppose.

What bothers me and no doubt others is the fact that Blacks only represent 13% of the overall population with the whites representing 60% of that same population...  and if, only half the whites FIGHT BACK, there will still be TWICE AS MANY WHITES as blacks...  and, the resulting confrontation could be seriously troublesome.

The last thing that any political administration in power wants is a HIDDEN AGENDA mental battle between whites and blacks...  in other words, each side giving the other side the COLD SHOULDER and refusing to be cooperative and friendly, especially in communities where the opposite was previously taken place.  This silent treatment will foster ill will and resentment on both sides that will eventually manifest itself in more obvious confrontations like refusing to eat at the same restaurant, or attend the same movie or share drinks at a bar...  or allow children to play on the same sports team.

ALREADY, blacks and white attend separate Churches and for the most part live in separate communities, but we shop at the same stores and at the same malls and that could change.

Small businesses not controlled by Government Regulations could stop hiring blacks for a variety of LEGAL reasons, especially in the South and Employee at Will States.

If Americans are forced to direct their efforts to repair divisions between:

• politics
• wealth
• race

then, the rest of the world will be afforded an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the United States because of that perceived weakness.

Retiring Law Enforcement

All over the United States, law enforcement personnel are retiring and/or leaving their jobs because the general public no longer has respect for them...  in addition, the general public is calling for the defunding of the police departments and some members of the US Congress want to abolish the police altogether...

I think this a great idea for America...

We do not need the police...

However, if the general public cannot have the police then elected officials should not have the police either...  whereas, if you are wealthy you can do anything damn thing that you want to do...  and, believe it or not...  the wealthy have been doing that for decades...

I like the idea of violent cities that perpetuate the increase of illegal drugs and crimes...  as long as it stays in these larger cities, it will not move out to the rural areas of the country...  where people like me live.

My wife and I are going on vacation soon and it would be nice to drive as fast as I want to without concern that highway patrol are hiding behind some blind spot trying to give people like me speeding tickets instead of protecting the citizens against violence.

Keep up the good work...  those of you who want to defund the police...  I support your efforts.

Also, I think more and more law enforcement people all over the United States should retire and find some other kind of job like building solar panels or windmills.

Art

 

Chahokia Mystery

For a couple of hundred years, Cahokia was the place to be in what is now the US state of Illinois. The bustling, vibrant city was at one time home to some 15,000 people, but by the end of the 14th century it was deserted – and researchers still aren't sure why.

A new study has been able to rule out one previous idea – that deforestation and overuse of the land around Cahokia caused excessive erosion and local flooding in the area, making it less inhabitable for Native Americans.

Through an analysis of sediment cores gathered near earthen mounds in the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, researchers have established that the ground remained stable from Cahokia's heyday until the mid-1800s and industrial development. In other words, there was no environmental disaster.

"There's a really common narrative about land use practices that lead to erosion and sedimentation and contribute to all of these environmental consequences," says geoarchaeologist Caitlin Rankin from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "When we actually revisit this, we're not seeing evidence of the flooding."

The mounds that the excavation site was next to are in low-lying areas and close to a creek – a prime position for any local flooding that would have happened. Yet there were no signs of sediment left behind by floods in the layers of earth.  READ MORE

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-mystery-deepens-over-why-the-lost-city-of-cahokia-was-abandoned

Komic Korner Kartoons

 

Through My LENS...

The last time I looked...  I was...

1. Southern Born
2. Cancer survivor
3. Heart Attack survivor
4. A few pounds overweight
5. Over 6 feet in height
6. INTJ Personality
7. Scorpion
8. Retired
9. Married
10. Divorced
11. Veteran
12. Educated
13. Religious  
14. Teacher
15. Father
16. Husband
17. Writer
18. Poet
19. Artist
20. Male

There is nothing I can do to change the way I am even though I can change my behavior...  but, whatever happens to me, flows through the LENSES of my preconceived ideas and ideals that have been forming and reforming throughout my entire life.  I am not who I was nor will I become who I am today.  Choices help formulate my life and its experiences but my life has already been seen by our Creator who is the past, present, as well as the future.  I am and will become that which I am supposed to become and nothing more or nothing less.  Life conforms to my development and evolution as it revolves around my essence and my essence is what life has given me.

Critical Race Theory

Critical race theory (CRT) is an academic movement made up of civil-rights scholars and activists in the United States who seek to critically examine the law as it intersects with issues of race, and to challenge mainstream liberal approaches to racial justice.  Wikipedia

According to Purdue University
Critical Race Theory (1970s-present)
INTRODUCTION
Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is a theoretical and interpretive mode that examines the appearance of race and racism across dominant cultural modes of expression. In adopting this approach, CRT scholars attempt to understand how victims of systemic racism are affected by cultural perceptions of race and how they are able to represent themselves to counter prejudice.

Closely connected to such fields as philosophy, history, sociology, and law, CRT scholarship traces racism in America through the nation’s legacy of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and recent events. In doing so, it draws from work by writers like Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others studying law, feminism, and post-structuralism. CRT developed into its current form during the mid-1970s with scholars like Derrick Bell, Alan Freeman, and Richard Delgado, who responded to what they identified as dangerously slow progress following Civil Rights in the 1960s.

Prominent CRT scholars like Kimberlé Crenshaw, Mari Matsuda, and Patricia Williams share an interest in recognizing racism as a quotidian component of American life (manifested in textual sources like literature, film, law, etc). In doing so, they attempt to confront the beliefs and practices that enable racism to persist while also challenging these practices in order to seek liberation from systemic racism.

As such, CRT scholarship also emphasizes the importance of finding a way for diverse individuals to share their experiences. However, CRT scholars do not only locate an individual’s identity and experience of the world in his or her racial identifications, but also their membership to a specific class, gender, nation, sexual orientation, etc. They read these diverse cultural texts as proof of the institutionalized inequalities racialized groups and individuals experience every day.

As Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic explain in their introduction to the third edition of Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge, “Our social world, with its rules, practices, and assignments of prestige and power, is not fixed; rather, we construct with it words, stories and silence. But we need not acquiesce in arrangements that are unfair and one-sided. By writing and speaking against them, we may hope to contribute to a better, fairer world” (3). In this sense, CRT scholars seek tangible, real-world ends through the intellectual work they perform. This contributes to many CRT scholars’ emphasis on social activism and transforming everyday notions of race, racism, and power.

More recently, CRT has contributed to splinter groups focused on Asian American, Latino, and Indian racial experiences.  Read More

Saturday in the Valley

I woke up this morning to the sounds of rain outside my window and felt the immediate congestion inside my head specifically around my sinuses...  one of the pitfalls of living in East TN.  But, for me the advantages out-weigh the disadvantages...  especially at my age where sights and sounds are worrisome. 

As an English major in College, I am very familiar with the symbol of rain in literature...  and, is omnipresent in both prose and poetry to create the proper mental environment among the readers and the critics.  Whenever you have literature present, you have a whole host of critics who like to criticize writers for not writing as they would have expected them to write.

But, college has been behind me for over 50 years and I simply don't give a shit anymore what the critics may or may not think...  Rain, is a necessary evil in the South, especially in the Valley where a little rain is so necessary for survival.

I just mowed my lawn and with this rain and lots of sunny days after the weekend, no doubt I will have to mow my lawn again once maybe twice before the week is over...  While it is not that annoying to mow since I daydream while mowing, it does take time and money...  and, gasoline is not necessarily cheap anymore.

Once it warms up a tad, I plan to put on a sweatshirt and go out on my screened in back porch and listen to the rain for an hour or two...  for me, it is just as relaxing as sitting in my hot tub for 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, I only started learning to relax after I retired in 2015...  perhaps, if I had learned to do this earlier, I would not have experienced a heart attack...  who knows?

Need Coffee...

 

What Does RAIN Symbolize?

The Symbolism of Rain – 7 Examples in Movies & Books
By Chris Drew, PhD

The symbolism of rain varies across different types of literature and movies.

It has been used as a symbol for many thousands of years, perhaps most notably in the floods in the bible.

Rain can symbolize many things. It can represent unhappiness, rebirth, foreboding, determination, the breaking of a drought, and a pause for introspection.

Here are some examples of how rain is employed as a literary device.
1. Unhappiness and Melancholy
2. Ominous Foreboding
3. Rebirth and Renewal
4. Romance
5. Determination
6. A Pause for Introspection
7. Cleansing

1. Unhappiness and Melancholy
Rain often washes over a scene when the protagonist in a film, TV show or literature is ‘awash’ with sadness.

This may be because rain is oppressive. The clouds that it comes with lock out light and the warmth of the sun. It prevents us from going outdoors to enjoy nature. It literally makes our days grayer and darker.

When a character is sad or moody, rainy weather is often employed as a way of showing how the world is empathizing with the character.

An example is in the book Great Expectations. Pip narrates:

…stormy and wet, stormy and wet; and mud, mud, mud, deep in all the streets. Day after day, a vast heavy veil had been driving over London from the East, and it drove still, as if in the East there were an Eternity of cloud and wind. … gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of shipwreck and death. Violent blasts of rain had accompanied these rages of wind, and the day just closed as I sat down to read had been the worst of all.

Here, Pip is outlining how the weather is mirroring his gloomy feeling as he spends his days depressed in London.

2. Ominous Foreboding
Rain may also symbolize foreboding. In fact, this symbolism often parallels the use of rain as a sign of melancholy – because the rain is indicating that there are no good prospects to come. There are “dark clouds on the horizon”. Indeed, it can often take place in the final scene of a move that we know will not end well.  READ MORE

 

Multiple Intelligences

What is Multiple Intelligences Theory?

Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that people are not born with all of the intelligence they will ever have.
This theory challenged the traditional notion that there is one single type of intelligence, sometimes known as “g” for general intelligence, that only focuses on cognitive abilities.

To broaden this notion of intelligence, Gardner introduced eight different types of intelligences consisting of: 

Linguistic, 

Logical/Mathematical, 

Spatial, 

Bodily-Kinesthetic,

Musical, 

Interpersonal, 

Intrapersonal, and 

Naturalist.

Gardner notes that the linguistic and logical-mathematical modalities are most typed valued in school and society.

Gardner also suggests that there may other “candidate” intelligences—such as spiritual intelligence, existential intelligence, and moral intelligence—but does not believe these meet his original inclusion criteria. (Gardner, 2011).

The theory of multiple intelligences was first proposed by Howard Gardner in his 1983 book “Frames of Mind”, where he broadens the definition of intelligence and outlines several distinct types of intellectual competencies.

Gardner developed a series of eight inclusion criteria while evaluating each "candidate” intelligence that was based on a variety of scientific disciplines.

He writes that we may all have these intelligences, but our profile of these intelligence may differ individually based on genetics or experience.  READ MORE

 

Brick and Mortar is Going Away

Partly because of the COVID 19 Pandemic and partly because of
technology brick and mortar buildings, organizations, and institutions are going away...

The first of these will be EDUCATION...

Educational institutions both for profit and non profit have realized recently that ONLINE EDUCATION saves them "tons" on money each year in building maintenance and utility costs.  With instructors working from home or other remote locations, they are responsible for their offices and internet connections which they can then use as tax deductions when they file their IRS taxes each year.

Unfortunately, online education is not as knowledge transfer intense as in-class instruction but profits and reduced costs are more important than education.

I have taught both in online jurisdictions as well as in-class jurisdictions and in the online environment, I put in much more time than I do or did in the classroom environment.

The second group of organizations and institutions that will be giving up their brick and mortar buildings will be the RETAIL INDUSTRY.

Amazon and Ebay are good examples of organizations that have been very successful with just an online operation.

When the COVID Pandemic was in full force here in the US, my wife and I ordered as much as we could online to avoid having to go out in public to purchase what we needed.  This type of buying is only going to increase in intensity among the American people.

What will help spur this along will be the increase in popularity of using Crypt Currency and Bitcoins which is a natural byproduct of Pay Pal.

And...  as we begin to do away with gasoline vehicles and transform our transportation industry to electric vehicles and before we are able to build all those CHARGING STATIONS, Americans will be forced to do more and more shopping online rather than driving to a shopping mall or a grocery store.

You're Next...

 BLACKS DON'T WANT JUSTICE THEY WANT REVENGE...  AGAINST WHITES...

So...  this is now what America looks like...  to other Americans and to our global community...  

America is NO LONGER a respected Global Power...

Celebrities and Professional Athletes try to STIR THE POT of RACISM in the hopes that the WHITES will finally just GIVE UP and allow BLACKS to have whatever they want...

If this ever happens, then there will be RACE WARS in America especially since Blacks are only 13% of the overall population...

A majority of Americans, mostly whites, simply and politely try to be diplomatic as the racial events unfold in this country in the hopes that it will eventually be self-regulating...  however, if that does not happen, WHITES will begin to PUSH BACK as their toleration lessens...  and, when this push back takes place, the BLACK COMMUNITY better be prepared to RETALIATE or BACK OFF with their demands...  otherwise, violence and hate will flourish on both sides...  and, this divide will continue for many years.

Meanwhile, our global enemies will take advantage of this division...

A Dying Galaxy

From the smallest microbe to the mightiest oak, death is as true for above as it is for below, even for the mightiest galaxies.

The process, however, is not a quick one. A haunting new Hubble photo of the galaxy NGC 1947 demonstrates this well: Even from a distance of around 45.4 million light-years away (in the southern constellation of Dorado), we can see that the galaxy is slowly on the decline.

The clue lies in the dust and gas. A galaxy in the prime of its life will be filled with the stuff, using it to make new stars. Eventually, the star-stuff will run out, and that's what astronomers believe we are seeing with NGC 1947.

It's a rare type of galaxy known as a lenticular galaxy - disk-shaped, like the Milky Way or Andromeda, but without the spiral arms. NGC 1947 used to have spiral arms, but it has used up almost all the gas and dust that gave them structure; all that remains is a few wisps, backlit by starlight.  Read More

TEAR IT DOWN!!!!!!!!!

 

Mount Rushmore is a National Monument in the Black Hills region of South Dakota...  It was completed in 1941 under the direction of Gutzon Borglum and his son and depicts US Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln... 

We know that Washington and Jefferson were slave owners and while Lincoln did not own any slaves his wife's family owned slaves.  However, most historians will agree that Roosevelt was a racist and had no problems sharing his views with others...

CONSEQUENTLY...  this National Monument is the wake of the CANCEL CULTURE and the WOKE Mob needs to be torn down IMMEDIATELY...  otherwise, we will have a crisis on our hands that will negatively manifest itself as more and more blacks become aware of this national monument.

I would not have thought about this until the BLACKS brought it to my attention...  NOW, every time I think about Mt. Rushmore, I am going to think about my ancestors and how bad they treated blacks back then...  even though I do not know if my ancestors even owned slaves...  I am still going to feel bad for blacks...

If blacks want PITY from me because of what their ancestors endured through slavery...  then PITY they will have...  but, nothing else...  the rest they can earn by themselves...  PITY IS FREE...

Alright Then

Special Instructions for WHITE PEOPLE...  (see left photo)  and these instructions are doing nothing to unite whites and blacks, instead they further divided whites from blacks...  at least in the eyes of some whites...  who now, will NEVER VISIT this site or any other BLACK SITE now or ever in the future,.

Blacks can have their special instructions to whites if that's how they want to play the game but the more they move in this direction, the more the white people are going to back away from them and keep their distance.

I had a black nurse putting in my IV line to receive chemo this morning but if this keeps up then I am going to refuse to let a black nurse deal with me...   and, since this is a public hospital, if I bitch loud enough the management team will have to listen...  and, now doubt other white cancer patients will follow suit...

I am glad that Derek Chauvin was found guilty of ALL COUNTS by the jury and will spend time in jail for the CRIME he committed but as far as heeding any special instructions by blacks well...  they can kiss my ass...

I have never had any problems with blacks until they started demanding CRAP because their ancestors were enslaved by my ancestors...  GET OVER IT...  that happened years ago and you don't deserve any special compensation...  and if, there are whites that are racist then deal with them...  THAT DOES NOT MEAN I AM RACIST...  at least not now, but there is good possibility I will turn racist if this stuff keeps building...

Either we unite or we don't and if the latter happens, then on opposite sides of the street we will walk and AMERICA will never be UNITED AGAIN...

Better learn to speak Mandarin...

Whole Bean Coffee

Coffee drinkers are often faced with a choice: Do you buy whole bean or ground? Choosing the bag of ground coffee or a Keurig K-Cup keeps things simple ― you don’t have to grind it, and because the bag and the cup are sealed, the coffee probably stays fresh, no? These are two of the easiest possible ways to get java in your mug in the morning.

But we’re here to tell you that once you start buying whole bean coffee, it’s an absolute game-changer. And we promise it’s not that much more time-consuming or difficult than brewing a K-Cup or scooping coffee grounds into a machine. The rewards for buying whole bean coffee are plenty, as it’ll open up new worlds of flavor and aromas.

But don’t just take our word for it! We spoke to numerous coffee professionals who back us up. They’ll convince you that whole bean coffee is way better than ground coffee.

All beans are legumes ― except for coffee beans. They’re not beans at all!  READ MORE

Why Not

 

One Step At A Time

Personally...  I am glad that Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts yesterday by the jury because the jury really had no other choice if they wanted to keep black people from revolting, rioting, burning, and looting...  and, we must always remember what one of the BLM leaders said when being interviewed by the media:

"...PEACEFUL PROTESTS DON'T WORK HERE IN AMERICA...  VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY WAY THAT WHITES WILL LISTEN..."

Perhaps...  he is right...  who knows?

But...  one thing is for sure and that is that the BLACKS will not stop here with their demands and requests...  they will not stop until they perceive that they have gotten all that they can from the white majority in this country...  Blacks are only 13% of the population in the United States and right now, the whites are listening...  and, making an effort to APPEASE...  but, at some point-in-time, this appeasement will STOP and the whites will retaliate in the only way that they know how and that is through their MAJORITY STATUS.

What is curiously interesting and absent in these debates about what the blacks demand is the fact that WEALTHY BLACKS are not making any comments at all...  or, if they do make comments they are DIPLOMATIC in nature and try not to take sides.

BUT... the real question here is:  IF WE EDUCATE BLACKS AND/OR GIVE THEM MORE MONEY WILL THEY STOP JOINING STREET GANGS...  STOP SELLING ILLEGAL DRUGS...  AND STOP COMMITING CRIMES?

Ever since I was a teenager in the 1960's everyone knew that one could earn more money selling illegal drugs than one could earn with a COLLEGE DEGREE.  And, that fact-of-life has not changed...

WHY?

AMERICANS BUY MORE ILLEGAL DRUGS THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW...

and, until you stop Americans from buying illegal drugs our government and our law enforcement agencies will not be able to stop illegal drugs from being sold here...

BUT...  more importantly what will be the FATE OF BLACKS IN AMERICA...  now that BLM and ANTIFA have decided that only violent protests are being recognized and addressed...

AND...  what will happen in AMERICA if police departments are defunded, restructured, and no longer permitted to use DEADLY FORCE???

WAKE UP AMERICA...

How True

 

Filthy Paris Streets

Paris officials have blamed a "political smear campaign" after angry comments and pictures of filthy streets spread on social media criticising a "trashed Paris".  The hashtag "saccage Paris" went viral over Easter, with many of the messages accusing the city's Socialist leadership of ruining the capital.  They complained of uncollected rubbish, damaged pavements and graffiti.  The Paris deputy mayor said keeping the city clean had always been a problem.

However, the social media campaign was a "travesty of reality", Emmanuel Grégoire insisted. Paris was densely populated and cleaners were doing all they could, he told RTL Radio, but he said the French capital was no different from London, whose mayor Sadiq Khan faced exactly the same issues.

Among the thousands of tweets, Cyrille Capuano said that for years Paris had not lived up to its reputation as the city of light, and he accused Mayor Anne Hidalgo of turning it into a public dump.  READ MORE

COMMENT:  My wife and I visited Paris last summer for 4 days and 4 nights and while we enjoyed being tourists and seeing all the sights that everyone has read about, we decided that we would never visit Paris again because of:

• the unfriendly rude people
• the poor street directions and signage
• the dirty streets

And, while it may not have bothered the seasoned traveler, I found the Paris Airport and its facilities to be a pain in the ass to find one's way around.  Very few employees at the airport spoke English  nor were they helpful with their directions.  This airport was HUGE and there was a lot of WASTED SPACE.

Hot Tub Fiasco

For several weeks I was unable to use my hot tub because of a heart monitor I was wearing as it was water resistant but not water proof...  Now that the 30 days are over, I am once again able to use the hot tub.  Typically, after a long day whether tired from working or not, I like to relax my body is the hot water of about 103/104 degrees...  and, getting into that hotness has to be done slowly and carefully but once in, I am usually in the water for about 30-45 minutes and run the jets about12-15 minutes as it makes one's body super hot.

Every other week or so, I pour into the hot tub about 1-2 cups of non concentrated bleach to purify the water as best as I can...  knowing that I am going to replace the water about every 3-4 months.  This last time of pouring in the bleach and setting the jets to CLEAN, I noticed that foam was being created and since there was nothing I could do about it at the time, I just went back upstairs.

The next day, I wanted to get into the hot tub and once I lifted up the cover, noticed that there was still some remaining foam but lowered my body into the hot water anyway.  And, once I turned on the jets, foam was created quite easily.  After a few minutes with the jets on and pushing away the foam, I decided to turn off the jets...  the foam gradually dissipated 

Tonight, I will get into the hot tub again and I wonder what will happen and how long this foaming condition will last...  I also wonder why the bleach I poured in caused this to happen...  but, since I am going to drain the water and refill the tub in a couple of weeks, I am not that concerned...  it is just a minor aggravation and/or annoyance with which I can easily deal.

The George Floyd Trial

Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA might have just given themselves a fatal blow with the recent comments of Congress Woman Maxine Waters about protesting until you get the verdict you want...

As soon as the Judge in the Trial was made aware of those comments, he told the Defense Attorney that he now had grounds for an APPEAL regardless of the verdict reached by the JURY.

How stupid can one person be?

Derek Chauvin will more than likely be found guilty of something...  at the very least MANSLAUGHTER but could have that verdict overturned as a result of Maxine Water's comments and the influence that could have had on the JURY.

This is worse that anything former President Trump might have done or said and the Democrats and BLM are finally going to realize that they have gone too far in a country where only 13% of the population are black.

It would appear that Maxine Water's comments will be the first step in the white majority taking back control or at least undoing what the BLM movement has tried to or actually has accomplished.

This is NOT GOOD for America...

WHY?

• Because it further DIVIDES our country
• It demonstrates nothing really is ever going to change

NAZI Police Chief

Franz Josef Huber ran the Gestapo secret police in Vienna

A Nazi SS general responsible for deporting tens of thousands of Jews to death camps worked for West German intelligence after World War Two, shielded from prosecution.  The protection given to Franz Josef Huber was revealed by the German spy service BND, in archives seen by German public broadcaster ARD.

Huber ran the Gestapo in Vienna, the Nazis' second-biggest secret police HQ after Berlin.  The US military knew about his crimes.  Huber took charge of the Gestapo in Vienna immediately after Adolf Hitler annexed Austria in March 1938 and held that post until late 1944.

Adapt and survive
When the Allies occupied the disintegrating Nazi Reich, Huber was on a US wanted list and was arrested by US forces in May 1945.  He was detained for nearly three years, but the US military found him to be co-operative and released him in 1948, so he escaped prosecution for war crimes, the New York Times reports. The paper was given access to ARD's material.

BND historian Bodo Hechelhammer told ARD that at that time "the Cold War was looming, so above all they were of course looking for hardline anti-communists.  "Unfortunately all too often they searched for, and found, such types among former Nazis."

From 1955 to 1967 Huber was employed by West German intelligence, the BND. Originally it was the Gehlen Organisation, headed by ex-Nazi officer Reinhard Gehlen, who had run agents on the Eastern Front.

Huber was pensioned off in 1967, as the BND had concluded that he could not be kept on, lest his role "endanger the service". He drew a German civil service pension, but also worked for an office equipment company, living under his own name in Munich until his death aged 73.

Among Nazi elite
In Nazi-run Austria Huber worked hand-in-hand with Adolf Eichmann, who set up the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna. It handled the mass deportation of Jews.  SOURCE:  BBC News         READ MORE