Is It Even Possible?

Is it even possible to have a world WITHOUT RACISM?

If you are an idealist, you will obviously say YES, it is possible...

If you are a realist, you will obviously say NO, it is not possible...

So,
who is right?

RACISM is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the 

basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or 

marginalized.

Human Beings discriminate all the time towards others who are not like them...  because they are different.

• Wealth and poverty
• Working and unemployed
• Attractive and unattractive
• White and black
• Black and brown
• Black and dark black
• Northern and Southern
• Tall and short
• Fat and thin
• Teacher and student
• Doctor and patient
• Parent and child
• American and all others
• President and citizen
• Politician and citizen
• Immigrant and illegal immigrant
• Law Enforcement and law breaker
• Military and civilian
• Sick and not sick

This is not a game that we play...  this is the reality of the world...  and, this discrimination started from the very beginning between God and Adam & Eve and eventually between God and the serpent...

WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE DIFFERENCES AND BECAUSE OF THOSE DIFFERENCES WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE DISCRIMINATION, ESPECIALLY RACISM...

World's First Floating Luxury Hotel

At the origins of this incredible project, there is the dream of Jean-Michel Ducancelle (photo left), Naval architect, directly inspired by James Bond’s floating pod in « The Spy Who Loved Me » , 1977.

For 25 years, Jean-Michel has been wondering about how humans can inhabit the Earth. He passionately cultivates the idea that tomorrow’s habitat should be at the heart of natural environment in order to offer to all, a life in an immersive marine & submarine world. He envisions a way to apprehend the future differently, with a solution for the increasing reduced availability of construction on the coast and a new look at the floating habitat.

His decisive meeting with the visionary industrial Jacques-Antoine Cesbron, enabled the culmination of such years of patented research and innovation.

KOMIC KORNER KARTOONS

Taking A Rain Day

It is not often that I have the opportunity to sit on my screen-in back porch in the summer because of the position of the sun and the humidity, but today, it is raining and has been raining ever since I awoke two hours ago.  And, there are no colors in the sky except a solid grey that actually serves as a background to highlight all the red brick homes, green grasses, and green leafed trees.  It is a picturesque sight even though it is a tad dismal to my sight; yet, the sound of raining falling is not just relaxing but it is mesmerizing as well in its persistence and relentless assault upon the ground.

From my vantage point, I see no animals flying or scurrying about except for a few hummingbird who, despite the rain, are enjoying and feasting upon the food we put in hanging containers especially for them and to attract them.  There are about 6 hummingbirds that visit our location each year but we have no way of knowing if it is the sames birds or not...  we'd like to think that it was and that over time they would become familiar with us and let us get closer...  but, that has yet to happen.

It is nice, to say the least, to sit out on the porch admiring and listening to the rain and not listening to FOX NEWS and the terrible "THINGS" that are going on in our country because of the upcoming election and because and because Trump's opposition has hated him from the GETGO.

Interestingly, I was raised a Democrat because both my parents were Democrats but after graduating from Wake Forest University with an MBA, I became a CONSERVATIVE LIBERAL and turned my back on the Democratic Party.  My Business Education, gave me a strong belief in the importance of Business and Economic Growth but my liberal background continued to ground me in the reality that there is a HUGE WEALTH GAP in this country and until that gets solved LABOR and MANAGEMENT will never agree on anything and more importantly they will always be enemies.

Another issue is the idea of EQUALITY...  and, while I also strongly believe that we are all equal in GOD's eyes, I also strongly believe that GOD created us with the thoughts of being UNEQUAL in physical, mental, musical, athletic, and social abilities as well.  And, while that may seem like a contradiction, GOD knew that is mankind is going to grow, WE CANNOT ALL BE EQUAL.

AND, as soon as we realize that inequality, our country and world will become a better place to live...

If you don't agree with me, then why are we all not like Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley or Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks or Martin Luther King Jr. or Jack Kennedy or Steven Jobs or Mohammed Ali???

Think about that for more than a minute or two if you will...  and then tell me I am wrong...  These GIFTS were given to these people by GOD....  who also wanted all men to be equal in HIS EYES...

THIS and THAT

Trump is Behind...

Maybe

We All Have Bosses

Common Sense

Friday Morning in the Valley

Another day...  another dollar...  as my dad used to say...  and, when I heard that and obviously remembered it, I did not understand his sarcasm but I do now.  Pay raises are a necessary evil in that when one receives more money, one has to pay more taxes, and what I always experienced was that my insurance costs also went up, leaving me receiving not much of a gain.

The only way to BEAT THE SYSTEM is to receive SUBSTANTIAL pay increases of $10,000/year or more and the best way (I found) to achieve that growth in pay was/is to leave the State and move to another State.  Not necessarily UP NORTH (if you are in the South) because with that increase comes a higher COST OF LIVING situation...  which negates the increase.  But, move laterally...

I moved from NC to TN in order to receive my SALARY INCREASE and actually moved from a higher cost of living to a lower cost of living without realizing it until after the move...  plus TN has no STATE INCOME TAX effectively boosting one's salary by 7%...

Good Morning

It's Just Business

L I B

Setting Goals

Most CEO's, Managers, Supervisors, and Organizational Trainers (which was my area of consulting) believe that there are seven rules to follow when setting goals.

First -  Think about the results you want to see. Before you set a goal, take a closer look at what you're trying to achieve and ask yourself the following questions: ...

Second -  Create SMART goals. ...

S - SPECIFIC

M - MEASURABLE

A - ATTAINABLE

R - REALISTIC

T - TIMEBOUND --  ties to the 5th rule (see below)

Third -  Write your goals down. ...

Fourth -  Create an action plan. ...

Fifth -  Create a timeline. ...

Sixth -  Take action. ...

Seventh -  Re-evaluate and assess your progress...

Let's suppose that someone wants to loose 60 pounds from their current weight in 12 months.

Rule 1 - we have thought about this result

Rule 2 - this goal is SMART in all the 5 categories and is 5 pound/month

Rule 3 - this goal has been written down

Rule 4 - this goal involves exercise, eating healthy, proper sleeping, and not being a couch potato

Rule 5 - using a calendar we can create a losing timeline of 5 pounds each month and can record both the goal and the actual as a way of keeping track of our goal and our progress.  We can also create documents that would record our various daily exercises and if we do them as well as what we eat and how much, watching either our calories, carbs, or fat grams or all three.

Rule 6 - this simply involves having the motivation to carry out our action plan

Rule 7 -  since we are recording daily and monthly we can monitor our progress and make any course corrections that need to take place.

KEY:  

ONLY YOU CAN MOTIVATE YOURSELF

Ain't This the Truth

B L I N K

Blink, a nonfiction work by Malcolm Gladwell, explores the psychology of snap decisions and quick thinking, illuminating how subconscious biases affect the way we think and behave.

• Gladwell introduces the idea of “thin slicing”—using little slivers of information about a person to form a larger opinion. He concludes that this method is most effective among strangers and breaks down in intimate relationships, such as marriages.
• Gladwell examines how subconscious racial and socioeconomic biases affect how we think about other groups of people and the language we use to describe them.

The author also discusses how subtle nonverbal messages that provide quick cues have been studied and classified. For example, the Facial Coding Action System (FACS) categorizes all the muscles in the face used in expressing emotion to interprets facial expressions (including insincere smiles). Gladwell points out that some people with autism may not be able to interpret nonverbal cues, which contribute a great deal to our “gut” assessments of what goes on beneath the surface of spoken words.

I am sure that we all have made snap decisions based upon a sense that something was just not right...  and, another way to look at this is the idea that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is...

FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS...

Cannot Rely On Government For Protection

Unless you have had your head up your rear end or been hiding in the closet, you are aware that SEVERAL MAJOR CITIES (under Democratic Leadership) have initiated action to DEFUND THE POLICE, reduce salaries, and eliminate SWAT teams since their residents find the police offensive to their pursuit of happiness and quality of life.

Purpose of Government
The oldest and simplest justification for government is as protector: protecting citizens from 

violence. Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan describes a world of unrelenting insecurity without a 

government to provide the safety of law and order, protecting citizens from each other and from 

foreign foes.


For me, it is obvious what we must do...
Rely on our SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS for protection...

Buy Your Own Firearms

If the State and Local Government REFUSE TO PROTECT YOU, then you MUST set about protecting yourself.

This may not have been the intent of the Second Amendment by our Founding Father and after all, they owned slaves so they really cannot be respected or trusted...  but, at this point-in-time, what they did is somewhat irrelevant and until the SECOND AMENDMENT is REMOVED from OUR BILL OF RIGHTS....

Buy Firearms and Protect Yourself

Beetle Bailey Cartoon

Living On Borrowed Time

A few years ago while receiving chemo treatment, I was informed by my Oncologist after a taking a PET scan that while the melanoma that had been removed from my left foot 5 years ago (without any followup treatment) had metastasized to the left side of my groin with a vengeance and that I was being referred to a Surgical Oncologist to see if surgery of the Melanoma was again an option.  My surgical oncologist, after reviewing the most recent PET scan told my wife and I that I was living on borrowed time.

We both rode home after that comment in a stupor not saying a word to each other...

Neither of us believe that the Surgical Oncologist had not done his homework but what we do believe is that he was not thorough in doing his homework and after reviewing the PET scan images made the assumption that everything that was highlighted was Melanoma when in fact that is was a combination of Melanoma and Lymphoma.

Shortly after that meeting, I met with the Radiologist who told my wife and I that the latest and greatest treatment for my kind of Melanoma was concentrated radiation followed up with Opdivo infusions because the data was showing that the radiation supercharged the Opdivo as it attacked the Melanoma.

Fortunately, my body responded PERFECTLY and my results were exactly what the data showed...  When a lump was removed a year later from my neck, we were again informed by that same Surgical Oncologist that he removed lymph nodes and DEAD MELANOMA.

I still have a few lumps on the left side of my groin that I have been told is more than likely dead Melanoma.

It is interesting to note here that my attitude towards life has changed and I know see each day as a gift and try to make the most of each day and sometimes I recall the living on borrowed time comment, but for the most part I just appreciate each day and be positive about whatever life bring my/our way.

Out of the Closet

Despite Pentagon statements that it disbanded a once-covert program to investigate unidentified flying objects, the effort remains underway — renamed and tucked inside the Office of Naval Intelligence, where officials continue to study mystifying encounters between military pilots and unidentified aerial vehicles.

Pentagon officials will not discuss the program, which is not classified but deals with classified matters. Yet it appeared last month in a Senate committee report outlining spending on the nation’s intelligence agencies for the coming year. The report said the program, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force, was “to standardize collection and reporting” on sightings of unexplained aerial vehicles, and was to report at least some of its findings to the public within 180 days after passage of the intelligence authorization act.
                       

While retired officials involved with the effort — including Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader — hope the program will seek evidence of vehicles from other worlds, its main focus is on discovering whether another nation, especially any potential adversary, is using breakout aviation technology that could threaten the United States.

Senator Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who is the acting chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told a CBS affiliate in Miami this month that he was primarily concerned about reports of unidentified aircraft over American military bases — and that it was in the government’s interest to find out who was responsible.