Puppet

 

Open Enrollment Period

 Until December 7, Medicare and Supplemental Insurance has an open enrollment period for those who want to start a program or change their program.

There are all sorts of Supplements Insurance Companies that are trying to convince people to call and check out their possibilities.

CAUTION!!!!!!

There ain't no for-profit company that wants you to sign up for a program that will benefit you more than the insurance company.

Be careful...

Insurance companies are in the business of selling insurance and in so doing, they need to amass a TON OF MONEY as quickly as they can in order to PAY OUT benefits when they creep up.

The more they pay out, the less profit margins they have...  so, they use the enrollment period to sign people up with confusing or misleading information.

We got a cancer insurance policy several years ago for under $10 each month.  We paid for about 10 years before we were put in a situation to file a claim.  We get $10,000 each year as long as I continue to have monthly treatments.

We are one of the few insurers that is benefitting from the program but there are thousands of people that are paying monthly premiums who will never get cancer and never need to use the insurance.

The numbers show that this difference will always benefit the insurance company as long as they can get IDIOTS to buy something they don't need...  but they use the FEAR OF CANCER to get them to buy initially.

If it had been me, I would have never purchased this cancer policy but my wife thought it was a good idea since it did not cost that much.

WE WERE LUCKY...

Somewhat Political

 

Released Hostage Held by UNRWA Teacher

One of the hostages, recently released from Gaza, revealed on Wednesday that he was held for nearly 50 days in an attic by a teacher from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The story was publicized on X by Channel 13 journalist Almog Boker.

The hostage also said that the teacher who held him captive was a father of 10 children. He had barely been provided food or medical attention, and was locked away by the teacher, he said.  READ MORE...

On The Cover

 

I Like Bragging

I moved to East Tennessee (TN) in 1990 for work.  I moved from North Carolina (NC) where my skills were a dime a dozen to TN where my skills were exceptionally rare.  So, I have lived here for 33 years.  I don't miss North Carolina at all...

• What I discovered here was that the TN Valley has damn near perfect weather.  Protected by the Smoky Mtns on the right and the Cumberland Plateau on the left, adverse weather seldom enters the valley.
• I discovered that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built this incredible system of lakes that we now can use FREE OF CHARGE for recreational purposes.  There are two lakes on either side of where we live about 10 miles from the house.
• I also discovered that East TN has a cheaper cost of living (15-21%) than most other places in the USA.  7% of that is because we do not have a state income tax.

What I left behind in the North Carolina Piedmont...

1. a state income tax
2. higher property values
3. more traffic congestion
4. higher cost of living
5. more crime
6. better high schools
7. more restaurants
8. longer waiting lines
9. highly competitive job market
10. houses built close together

Because my wife and I have no debt, we can live comfortably on $3,000 a month in East TN which is about the same amount of our SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS...

1. We are 40 minutes from the University of TN Medical Center.
2. We are 50 minutes from McGhee-Tyson airport.
3. We are 60 minutes away from Oak Ridge National Laboratories
4. We are 60 minutes away from Asheville, NC
5. We are three hours from Nashville.
6. We are 90 minutes from Bristol Motor Speedway (NASCAR)
7. We are 45-60 minutes from the Great Smoky Mountains, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg.
8. We are 90 minutes away from Cherokee Gambling Casino
9. We are 4 hours away from Atlanta
10. The Cherokee Indian Nation is currently breaking ground for one of the biggest resorts in the area to be built beside Buc-ee's, just 30 minutes away.

PLEASE DON'T COME TO EAST TENNESSEE AND SPOIL ALL OF THIS FOR US....

What??? Me Worry???

Alfred E. Neuman is the fictitious mascot and cover boy of the American humor magazine Mad. The character's distinct smiling face, parted red hair, gap-tooth smile, freckles, protruding ears, and scrawny body first emerged in U.S. iconography decades prior to his association with the magazine, appearing in late 19th-century advertisements for painless dentistry – the origin of his "What, me worry?" motto. The magazine's editor, Harvey Kurtzman, claimed the character in 1954, and he was named "Alfred E. Neuman" by Mad's second editor, Al Feldstein, in 1956. Since his debut in Mad, Neuman's likeness has appeared on the cover of all but a handful of the magazine's over 550 issues. Rarely seen in profile, Neuman has almost always been recognizable in front view, silhouette, or directly from behind.  SOURCE:  Wikipedia

UNLIKE...

most of you, I grew up buying MAD Magazine and reading it from cover to cover.  Not sure when I stopped doing this, but it probably had the same fate at Puff, the Magic Dragon.  (of course, that is before your time as well).

Thirty miles or less away from me, is a place called Buc-ee's... it is a convenience store that was just built - originating in Texas.  The store has 120 gasoline pumps...

NOW...

Do you seriously think this company would have invested money in 120 gasoline pumps if they thought gasoline powered vehicles were going to disappear???

NO...

Therefore, my next vehicle purchase and probably my last will NOT BE AN EV...  it will be a gasoline vehicle and I might, just might consider a HYBRID that does not need charging if the price of the battery replacement comes down.

If they change the law and require EV, those people owning gasoline vehicles MUST RECEIVE GRANDFATHER CLAUSES...  so, people like me will be good to go.

INFLATION does not bother me either because I have been debt free for almost 20 years...  Plus, I have saved money and planned for inflation, so I still have the resources to live just like I always have.

Part of my lifestyle is that I have a simple lifestyle and don't need to spend a lot of money to be happy.  We just downsized our home and yard to minimize our work.  We threw a ton of shit away that we did not need or were not using.  Our yard is small but almost more than we really need.

I have plenty of clothes to last for the rest of my life so nothing new there to buy.  I don't have to eat at a restaurant and I don't buy the most expensive.  

I have stopped eating red meat (stopped age 40) and when I purchased a bowl of Wendy's chili which I used to LOVE...  it tasted horrible because of all the turkey and vege burgers I have been eating.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT...  Alfred E. Newman is perfect for me once again...  What, me worry?

The 2024 Election

 Currently, it would appear that Joe Biden will be the Democratic Party nominee and Donald Trump will be the Republican Party nominee...  although, there are others on both sides who are still hanging in hoping to gain ground.

Here's the situation:

1. Biden has been a terrible President, from my perspective because of illegal immigration, inflation, foreign policy, and war on fossil fuels.
2. Biden is under investigation for being corrupt when he was VP.
3. Biden's age will open the for Kamala Harris

ON THE OTHER SIDE...

1. Trump is fighting 91 felony indictments
2. Trump will seek revenge if he became President
3. Foreign countries fear Trump
4. Trump built a healthy economy

SO...   and this is my opinion...  neither party has presented a suitable candidate for President, including those that are still hoping the party will select them.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE USA?

• China will become stronger as the USA becomes weaker
• The USA will continue to be seriously divided
• Our war on fossil fuel will hurt us in the short run
• Congress will be too late in their regulation of humanoid robots with AI
• Our national debt will increase
• Our personal credit card debt will increase
• Our military will weaken
• The wealthy will continue to escape paying their fair share of taxes
• Our American dream will fade
• Illegal immigration will change our culture/country

HOWEVER...

The USA has been and continues to be controlled by those from the BABY BOOMER Generation...  or post WWII births...   which means people like me who are in their 70s and born between 1945-1955...

It is our generation that created the mess that we are in and continued to be mired in...

Is the YOUNGER GENERATION correct or better?

Who the hell knows.

But, it is time for them to take over and make of this country that which they want it to be...  whether it is better or worse.

It is now their opportunity to do something.

Once the 1945-1950 birth generation TURNS 80 years of age, there is no turning back...  the transformation MUST TAKE PLACE...

Pit Stop

 

I Now Know This Man Differently

 There is commercial out there about a pill that will help you sleep.  The couple that is providing a testimony are senior citizens and extremely OBESE and the female says as she is about the break down in tears that because of her husband getting a good night's sleep, she now knows this man differently...

What the hell does that mean?

• Is she talking from a sexual perspective?
• Is she talking from a less anxiety perspective?
• Or, is she talking about something else?

I am sure that there are many people who are impressed by this commercial but the more I see and hear it, the more turned off I become...  consequently, I will never buy this product.

So, what am I talking about here?

ADVERTISING  and MARKETING

One of the concepts I learned in graduate business school is that Marketing Executives use Advertising to sell goods and services that the CONSUMERS do not realize that they want, nor do they realize if they need it or not.

THEREFORE -  advertising is designed to get the consumer to BUY whether they need it or not.

They do this with LEGAL but misleading advertising claims and through live testimonies of REAL PEOPLE...  however, these real people are, for the most part, just ACTORS.

The general public is being MANIPULATED...  and, if you continued to remain unaware, then you will continue to be manipulated and will continue to WASTE your money...

LET THE BUYER BEWARE...

Somewhat Political

 

Hydrogen Powered Jet

The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) is working on a new aircraft called FlyZero.  The FlyZero is powered by liquid hydrogen, which is why the range is so massive.

The hydrogen-powered jet is fitted with tanks designed to store liquid hydrogen at minutes 250° Celsius (418° Fahrenheit).It has four tanks in total, two at the back – the biggest ones – and two smaller ones at the front.

In car terms, this is a bit like having a rear-biased all-wheel drive car.     READ MORE...

IMAGINE

 

My Bucket List

 There was a movie not too long ago, entitled Bucket List or something like that, staring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nickolson, as two terminally ill cancer patients.  Nickolson was a billionaire.  The two made a list of the things they would like to do before they died.  Of course, for Freeman, it was pure fantasy but for Nickolson, he had the money to make it happened and invited Freeman to experience their bucket list.  He was reluctant but there would have been no movie if he had not agreed.

Well...  that is all fine and good...  and the concept made for an entertaining movie and the contrast between black and white...  since death and dying does not discriminate.

In 2015, my wife and I retired.  I was 67 and she was 62.  For the first few years before COVID, we traveled somewhere all the time, both inside the USA and overseas into Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, Alaska, and Hawaii.

COVID hit and we did not go anywhere to speak of for two years if my memory serves me well other than Myrtle Beach, SC, bring disinfectant, masks, and gloves with us.  A baggy to put the TV remote into.  We did not wear gloves and masks on the beach or inside our condo once we cleaned it and refused daily maid service.

NOW... back to the bucket list...

Well...  I don't have a bucket list...

Hard to believe, I know...

But, there is nothing else I really want or need to do...

• I don't have a desire to try and become wealthy
• I don't have a desire to skydive
• I don't want to see China or Australia
• I don't want to stay in a $1,500/day hotel room
• I don't want to fly first class overseas in an aircraft
• I don't want to experience zero gravity in space
• I don't want to visit all 50 states
• I don't want to cruise around the world
• I don't want to fly in a blimp
• I don't want to see Artica or Antarctica
• We are already debt free
• There is no possible way for me to be cancer free
• I don't want to wax the hair off my body
• I don't want to see the ocean floor
• I already experience regular bowel movements
• I have already written several novels
• I don't need anymore friends
• We've already downsized to the perfect house
• I don't need to win at chess or checkers
• I don't want to learn backgammon
• I don't want to have sex with a humanoid sex robot

The Aging Process

At 76 years of age, I understand all too well the aging process on those who are not financially well off.

If you are wealthy, nothing really bothers you because you will always have the best of everything even though it might have taken you a while to get there.

As for the rest of us, we by default are not so lucky.  The wealthy say it is our fault that we are not wealthy.  Anyone in the USA can become wealthy if they want it.  However, these wealthy people fail to see flaw in that logic because it takes a SPECIFIC PERSONALITY to become wealthy and less than ten percent have that personality.

But what about aging?

Some of us understand this at 60 while other understand this a little older but not much.  

Why do I say it this way?

YES...  it is true that age is just a number.  And that it is possible to fool your mind into thinking you are not old.

How is this done?

• Healthy diet
• Exercise
• Pills
• No pre-existing conditions

I don't understand this, give me an example, you ask...

Ok...  here's the example.

Aside from normal childhood illnesses, I was never sick in my entire life and never went to the doctor for anything except my teeth, until I was 60...

• I had stopped eating red meat at age 40
• I had stopped drinking alcohol at age 40
• I had stopped eating fried food at age 40
• I had stopped smoking cigarettes at age 40
• I fast walked 3-5 miles a day - 7 days a week

What happened?

1. I was diagnosed with cancer
2. I experienced at triple bypass level heart attack
3. My cancer treatments gave me another cancer
4. I was left with low immunity, with anemia, and constantly fatigued

I can still tell myself that age is just a number and believe what I say but my physical body now sees my age and it is more than just a number.

My brother, on the other hand, is 68 and still has never been sick in his entire life, except for having COVID which left no side effects.  At 68, he physically feels like he is 50 years old.  So, for him, age is just a number.  He cannot understand why I feel the way that I do...  He might feel 68 years old when he is 88 years old...  and for him, age will still be a number.

BTW - he also has lost no hair...

Freedom

Illegal Immigrants want to come to the USA because we are the land of opportunities and freedoms...

REALLY???

First of all - illegal immigrants get into the USA by BREAKING THE LAW...

If they were willing to break the law to get here, how many of our laws do you think they will follow?

Second of all - those liberal sanctuary cities that claimed to want the illegal immigrants are now saying there is TOO DAMN MANY of them and to please stay away...

This means that the freedoms that you thought you were going to have by coming here are rapidly disappearing.

Third of all - freedom is something with which you are born or with which you EARN...

Being illegal might get you a work permit but it will get you very little else.

Most of the freedoms that you came here to receive will not be given to you...  at least not for a while...  so, my advice is to stay down south where it is warm because you are likely going to be sleeping in tents on the ground.

There will not be an endless of supply of housing for you...

There will not be an endless supply of food for you...

There will not be an endless supply of healthcare for you...

There will not be an endless supply of jobs waiting for you...

There will not be an endless supply of police protection for you...

A MAJORITY OF REAL AMERICANS THOSE WHO WERE BORN HERE AND IMMIGRATED LEGALLY DON'T WANT YOU HERE!!!

These are the only freedoms that you will be receiving from us.

Of course, this is only my personal opinion, and my opinion means very little.  The liberals say you have the freedom to do anything you want...  but what the liberals say is only going to last until November of 2024...

 

Russia BANS LGBTQ+ Movement

Russia's Supreme Court yesterday declared the international LGBTQ+ rights movement an extremist organization in the latest and most severe legal move against LGBTQ+ activism in the country.

Detroit's Electric Road

The city of Detroit opened the country's first road capable of wirelessly charging electric vehicles as they drive this week, a key step toward wider adoption of the technology. The quarter-mile demonstration project is meant to show the feasibility of wireless charging as a supplement to an eventual nationwide charging network for electric vehicles.

EXPELLED!!!

George Santos’ exit sets up a competitive special election© Provided by MSNBC

GOP Rep. George Santos’ expulsion from the House is set to kick off a competitive New York special election in territory where Democrats won comfortably in 2020 but Republicans have made a series of recent gains.

And the battle to replace Santos could shape up as a test of both parties’ strategies ahead of 2024.

Dueling Banjos

 

Global Happenings

Israel, Hamas swap 16 hostages and 30 Palestinian prisoners in sixth and final day of temporary cease-fire deal amid talks over another possible extension (More) | See updates on the war (More)

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger passes away at age 100 (More) | 

US life expectancy rose in 2022 to 77.5 years from 76.4 years in 2021, according to latest government data; rise is still below prepandemic levels and mainly due to waning COVID-19 pandemic (More) | Record high of 49,449 people died by suicide in the US in 2022, up 3% from 2021 (More)

Wild Animals Fight

 

My Hat's Off to December

Today starts the beginning of a new month...  in case you have not been paying attention, it is the month of December...  LOL

This month also marks the end of 2023 and we have until the last day of the month to make deductions to charities or to IRAs to get a tax deduction.  December also marks the end of the fourth quarter and when most businesses must count and report the value of their inventories.

I remember working at a company on December 31 until almost midnight helping them count their inventory and missed the New Year's Eve Party I had been invited to.  This was good because I had stopped drinking years before and would have been ridiculed for not drinking.  I remember someone telling me that you could not trust a man unless he was willing to have a drink or two or three or four.

December does not mean much to me, unless it is Christmas and I am not into institutionalized religion, nor am I into the Bible because there are so many discrepancies within that textbook it leads me to not to believe what else is in there.

The biggest discrepancy is the timeline and the Bible saying the world is only 6,000 year old.  Elementary School Science classes prove that statement wrong.  I have mentioned this to you before that if you tell me God and Jesus are extraterrestrials, then I might pay more attention to you.

Most of the people at Christmas time think more about buying and receiving presents than they do about the religious implications of Christmas.  However, at my age of 76, there is just not much I want or need at Christmas, unless it is a Starbuck's Gift Card.  Whenever I go to Starbuck's I get a Venti Vanilla Cappuccino.  It was $3.50 and nowadays, it is $6.50...  I will not spend my own money on Starbuck's coffee as it is a bad investment, but I will use a gift card.

For me, December is a month where not much happens especially outside.  I usually have mowed/mulched up the leaves by now.  The gutters have all been cleaned and there is no reason to go down into my small work and spend time categorizing and labeling.  I will do that again when it warms up.

If I walk at all now, it will not be outside but at the community center for a dollar each day.  Sixteen times around the upstairs track and you have completed a mile.  It has heat as well and the cold from the downstairs entrance door does not filter up to the second floor.  It is usually not crowded.

We have recycle and garbage pick up so I will go outside to put those cans on the side of the road and bring them back.

Other than that, December is usually the month that is spent inside, trying to find a decent movie or series to watch on Hulu, Netflix, or Prime.  Most of the stuff is garage from my perspective and everything I try to watch, I done with trying in 10 minutes.

Galloping Horse

 

Observing Something Rare

Astronomers have observed a rare instance of a solar system inside the Milky Way whose planets orbit in sync around their host star, according to a study published yesterday. Researchers believe the motion of the planets has remained virtually unchanged since the system's formation roughly 4 billion years ago.

The four closest planets display what is known as 3:2 resonance—for every three orbits a planet makes around the host star, the next farthest planet completes two orbits. The next two planets display a similar 4:3 resonance. Typically, newborn systems are knocked out of balance by some disruptive event (for example, collisions with asteroids). Because the planets in question have maintained their original orbits, their study is expected to shed light on the early stages of star system formation.

The host star is also the brightest discovered to date to have more than four planets orbiting around it. Visualize the motion of the six planets here.

Honky Tonk Woman

 

Gender Identification

Do you remember the song entitled, LOLA?  It was written and recorded by The Kinks and released in 1970.  "Man, I'm a man and so was Lola..." 

That was over 50 years ago and well before the LGBTQ+ movement.

So, could The Kinks see into the future?

NO...

Gender identification has been going on well before the birth of JESUS...  in case you are wondering...

• Boys wanting to be girls
• Girls wanting to be boys

I think, deep down inside, there are thousands of males both married and single, who have fantasized more than once about being with individuals who have both male and female equipment.

And, it certainly is a TABOO subject because the general public does not want to talk about their desires in public.

Scientifically, it makes sense that the more babies that a society gives birth to, the higher the risks of having DNA variations and misassignments...  which also includes babies being born with both genitalia.

I also believe that males should be able to marry males and females should be able to marry females.  I also believe that boy can become girls and girls can become boys once they are old enough to be aware of the consequences of those decisions.

Therein lies the problem...

What age does that kind of awareness take place?

What I am opposed to is biological males playing females sports and biological females playing male sports.

Society has gone too far.

However,

what about TRANS SPORTS?

Paradigms

 What is a paradigm?
A paradigm is a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is a way of looking at something. The word paradigm comes up a lot in the academic, scientific, and business worlds. A new paradigm in business could mean a new way of reaching customers and making money.

This is exactly what is happening in the USA...  we are in disharmony because we have different paradigms.

We simply see things differently.

When two people see things differently, it is difficult to reach a compromise.

If it is difficult to make a compromise, then very little gets accomplished and there is NO PROGRESS MADE.

Progress only takes place by those who:

• ARE IN POWER
• ARE EXTREMELY WEALTHY

In these two situations you don't need a compromise and you are betting that you were right all along...

But, what if you are wrong?

Examples of Paradigms

• Permitting Illegal Immigration 
• Defunding the police
• Ending reliance on fossil fuels
• Raising taxes
• Believing China is not a threat
• Anti-Jewish movement
• Believing Trump is a Fascist

Ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with Paradigms as long as you are willing to step outside of what you perceive and allow yourself to see things a little differently...

This used to happen but no longer...

Paradigms is why we have a 50% divorce rate in the the USA.

And, why this rate has remained at 50% for over 3 decades.

Paradigms is what prevents people from solving problems and designing or creating new inventions.

They just cannot see what is right in front of them.

BUT HOW DO YOU STOP PEOPLE FROM HAVING PARADIGMS?

Unpacking Politics

Liberals believe in:

• Large government
• High Taxes
• Few states rights
• Government handouts
• Management is the enemy

 

Conservatives believe in:

• Small government
• Low taxes
• Lots of states rights
• Few government handouts
• Labor is the enemy

However, it is not that CUT & DRY, but this is basically their differences.

The liberals believe that government knows what is best for the people while the conservatives believe the people know what's best for themselves as long as you give them a little help.

CAPITALISM - is an economic theory that revolves around the free-market enterprise system and the invisible hand concept.  This theory has the supply and demand model as the main component of the system around which decisions are made. 

How much to produced based upon what the consumer wants to buy or is demanding. 

Sometimes, decisions are wrong and the companies lose money, but for the most part, the system allows for the businesses to THRIVE and the workers to MAKE DO - or keep their heads above water.

It is at this point in time that the liberal's step in to balance the scales so that more and more of the wealth is shared with the worker either through the willing company or through taxes or through government programs for the workers.

The invisible hand theory says businesses will self-regulate and will not do something that harms them or causes their destruction.

The liberals do not believe that this will happen or is happening.

HOWEVER, since congress does not move very fast, the wealthy are able to HIDE most of their money away from taxes...  so, whenever the liberals want to raise taxes, it does not bother them that much.  And, the government NEVER gets what it really needs through that form of taxation.

ANSWER:  borrow money or print money- neither solution is good for the economy.

BUT - politics does not care because one of the reasons that congress moves slowly is because they care more about re-election than they do about helping the American General Public.

CURRENTLY - the liberals are in a bind because they need capitalism to fund their liberal agendas of offering more programs so those people will vote for them.

At some point in time POLITICS is going to have to pay off the NATIONAL DEBT...  otherwise, the USA will go bankrupt which is hard to believe that will ever happen.

One of the quickest ways to solve this problem is to stop the WEALTHY FROM HIDING THEIR MONEY FROM TAXES...

New USA Aircraft Carrier