Thursday, June 27
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> The 2024 NBA Draft kicks off tonight (8 pm ET, ABC/ESPN) with Round 1 from Brooklyn, New York; see full preview and mock draft (More)
> Shifty Shellshock, frontman for rock band Crazy Town, dies at 49 (More) | Gena Rowlands, "The Notebook" star and two-time Oscar nominee, has Alzheimer's disease (More)
> Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, organizers of the Oscars, invites nearly 500 new members, including Jessica Alba, Catherine O'Hara, and Lily Gladstone (More)
Science & Technology
> Waymo fully opens its self-driving robotaxis in San Francisco to the general public; service has been offered in Phoenix—a flatter and more grid-like environment—since October 2020 (More)
> Researchers pinpoint cellular mutation responsible for a rare condition known as Ondine's curse, where patients lack the ability to regulate breathing while unconscious (More)
> Scientists discover bacteria that produce antifreeze-like proteins; species of marine worms use the bacteria to survive in polar waters (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.4%, Dow -0.8%, Nasdaq +1.3%) as Nvidia shares rebound following Monday sell-off (More)
> European Union regulators charge Microsoft with violating antitrust regulations by bundling Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions; Microsoft could face a fine of up to 10% of its annual global revenue (More)
> Rivian shares rise over 50% in after-hours trading after Volkswagen announces up to $5B investment in the electric vehicle maker by 2026 as part of new joint venture (More) | Tesla recalls most of its Cybertrucks over issues with the windshield wipers and loose trim, impacting an estimated 11,000 vehicles (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Oklahoma Supreme Court blocks what would have been the first religious charter school in the US; Catholic school likely to appeal (More) | US surgeon general issues advisory declaring gun violence a public health crisis; US gun-linked deaths surpassed 48,000 people in 2022, over half by suicide (More) | See advisory (More)
> Kenyan police open fire on protesters storming and setting fire to the country's parliament, killing at least five people while lawmakers flee in underground tunnels; group had been protesting a proposed bill to raise taxes (More) | Kenyan police officers arrive in Haiti as part of international mission to quell violence (More)
> Ukraine and Moldova begin membership talks with the European Union in process expected to take years (More) | International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russia's former defense minister and another senior leader over alleged war crimes in Ukraine (More)
Rethinking College
In 1972, I was awarded a BA degree and in 1981, I was awarded an MBA degree. Both of those degrees were paid for by the GI BILL because I was in the military during the Vietnam War.
However, even though the GI Bill paid for books and tuition, I still worked full-time while attending college full-time.
While both the degrees helped me secure employment, I very seldom used the knowledge that I had acquired from both those degrees and NEVER during my 45 years of employment did my employer care about my frigging grades.
I had to earn 60 hours of credit in order to get my MBA. Today, students only have to earn 30 hours to get an MBA.
To me, they have watered down the education process making it easier for students to earn a higher degree. If it is easier to earn a degree, then these graduate students don't know as much as did previous students.
This tells me that a college degree in many cases is simply BULLSHIT and not necessary. This also tells me that employers are going to stop hiring grad students once they determine they don't know that much.
Aside from that, if I had it to do over, I would have never gone to college in the first place UNLESS I was planning to be a CPA, a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, or a dentist.
You do not have to go to college to learn about computers, programming, or information technology or how to construct algorithms. All that stuff can be learned in trade schools or specialized training. While specialized training is expensive, it is cheaper than a college education at $35,000 a year on average.
Most specialized education classes only cost $1,500 to $3,000 each. Usually, a half dozen is all you need in a particular area to be employable.
Another idea is to go to a community college for your first two years since it is lots cheaper. It is a hell of a lot easier to get into an IVY LEAGUE school as a junior than it is as a freshman, if that's what you really want.
PAY YOUR DUES - go to work at a restaurant as a busboy while you are in high school. After graduation, ask to be a cook and work at that for a few years. Then ask to be a waiter/server for a couple of years. The turnover at restaurants is high so if you are willing to hang in, in about 8 years, you will be promoted to assistant manager and after 12-15 years you will be manager. After twenty years of experience at that same restaurant, you will be offered franchise ownership. After twenty years, you're making over $150K a year plus bonuses.
Think about what you want to do in life and how you want to end up when you finally turn 70. Be smart about your future and use the internet to do research. Don't just go to college because your parents want you to, or your friends are going. College is not for everyone.
China's New High-Speed Sleeper Train
Hong Kong (CNN) —Interested in capping off your trip to Hong Kong with a long weekend in Beijing or Shanghai? A new high-speed sleeper train service is making that possibility easier than ever.
Two new overnight routes connecting the city with Beijing and Shanghai entered into service on June 15.
Both trains depart Hong Kong West Kowloon Station in the evening and arrive in Beijing at 6.53 a.m. and Shanghai at 6.45 a.m., making the journeys around 12.5 hours and 11 hours respectively. Return trips depart from Beijing and Shanghai at around 8 p.m. and arrive in Hong Kong at 8.47 a.m. and 7.29 a.m. These routes run four days a week, departing all three stations every evening from Friday to Monday. READ MORE...
Wednesday, June 26
JEW ME DOWN
A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to a yard sale in our community; it was close enough to our house that we decided to walk rather than drive.
We went there for shits and giggles because since we have downsized, we stopped buying STUFF we no longer really needed; although, I have been looking for a large plastic spoon so that I can properly scramble up eggs in a large frying pan. It's a two-prong large plastic spoon that I once had.
Anyway, while we were at this yard sale, I heard the proprietor of the yard sale make the comment: "Everyone that has bought something today as tried to JEW ME DOWN on the price."
I did not think much about it then but a few days later it popped back up into my mind when FOX News was reporting a story on antisemitic views here in America.
My first thoughts went back to the yard sale and what that person had said. I doubt that she was anti-Jewish even though her phrase was not flattering for the Jewish community. I performed a google search trying to discover the origins of that phrase but got nowhere.
It appears that the Jewish community hundreds of years ago acquired a reputation of trying haggle on the price of everything they wanted to purchase... hence: JEW ME DOWN.
I remember hearing my parents and their friends use the phrase although I cannot remember under what circumstances it was being used. Nevertheless, JEW ME DOWN has come to be used as a commonplace phrase by most Americans and I don't think they are consciously aware that they are disparaging the Jews every time they use it.
More importantly, this awareness of mine showed me how easily it is from someone to convey hate. without realizing it
Women's Athletics
My concern obviously is WOMEN'S ATHLETICS (Title)... but first there are some disclaimers.
First - I have no problem with males who want to cut their male parts off, take hormones, get breast implants and pretend to be females. Nor do I have any problems with females who want to be males. This is their RIGHT whether they are living in the USA or not.
Second - I also realize that there are some females who are just as strong and as athletic as males and that there are males that appear to be just as feminine as females and those are the statistical outliers that when collecting data are taken out of the statistics.
Third - homosexuality and lesbianism has been around since the beginning of when mankind first walked upon this earth. It is nothing new. Whatever or whomever is responsible for our creation knew beyond a shadow of a doubt (simple logic) that this variation between male and female was going to take place and did nothing to stop it.
MY OPINION: I do not believe that biological males should play in female sports whether in high school, college, or professionally... nor do I believe that biological females should play in male sport at those same three levels.
WHY?
On average, there are too many biological differences between the two genders to prevent them both from being considered EQUAL, regardless of what the US Constitution says about equality.
For the most part and until science is able to change this FACT, males cannot give birth to babies no matter how feminine they look. Females will never pee through penises not matter how hard they try. The bone structure of males is different than the bone structure of females.
I remember ready a study years ago, that Black Americans made better football players because their skulls were thicker than White Americans.
There will always be these kinds of differences and medical science will not be able to change this unless they restructure or EDIT our DNA. And I doubt our government will allow that to happen.
Males and Females ARE NOT created equal in some ways.
If this continues to happen, one and/or two things will happen.
One - a transgendered category will be created in sports
Two - female athletes will simply stop competing