"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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America has run out of ideas
Here we are wrapping up another election cycle with two rather lackluster Democratic candidates and a Republican war horse that should have been put to pasture long ago. And no-one has any real ideas. I watched a video of a talk by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. You may not recognize the name, he hosts (or use to host) Nova Science Now on PBS. A very inspired speaker. In his talk
Those who have the talent to tackle alternative energy and environmental change and real health issues (as opposed to pink and purple pills) are now designing DTV units or washing machines for Sears. It's why Star Trek and Star Wars will remain movie fiction while NASA tries to explore Mars with the equivalent of a Model A. If you are lucky, you may get a grant to study the mathematical relationship between a black hole and the big bang at some institute. If not, it's software for IP-phones. It's not that there is no-one out there coming up with good ideas for energy or what not. It's that nobody really cares. The ideas get mentioned in some science publication and then disappear along with the discoverer. Why?? Because whoever he/she is, they still need to put a roof over their heads and food in their mouths and reality sets in and no-one is willing to back them. I know. I have a friend who is a died-in-the-wool corporate capitalist. A sort of Manchurian businessman. Brainwashed from the beginning that corporatism walks on water (and probably led Jesus). You cannot convince him otherwise even though he has a hard time with most basic life tasks. Never had to learn them, as his parents did all the work. And he is not alone. There of literally hundreds of thousands like him. The MBAs and yes Engineers that were force fed "knowledge" at some University without having to think. Now the system is falling into disrepair, crumbling from neglect as there is not one left who knows how to fix it, let alone make improvements. So we have more and more people like those mentioned in the WAPO article above. Who have seen that the system will simple come apart and they better learn how to take care of themselves or get sucked into the abyss with the rest of the flotsam and jetsam. Leaving us now with a choice between hollow promises and ad copy. Or old tired out ideas that are crumbling into the dirt. They had to construct their cabins, raise and grow their food. The whole nine yards. What struck me most was the difference in the approach and attitudes between the three families. The newlyweds put the most effort into the project followed closely by the middle class family. Though the husband of the middle class family was the most into the project, his wife was not nearly as enthusiastic about it. And at the end this became a rift between them, sad to say. The upper class family was arrogant, lazy, self-righteous, self-centered and cheated every chance they could get. Essentially middle-aged spoiled brats. And at the end when informed that there was no way they could have survived a winter, they were indignant beyond belief. The only ones who were told they had a chance of surviving the winter were the newlywed couple, and only if they nearly doubled the stock of firewood. It makes you wonder. I talked to my mother recently and we talked about when we lived up in North Eastern Ohio. I had forgotten that she used to put up (can and/or freeze) vegetables every year. My parents would also go to the local meat packers and buy a side of beef for the year. We had fresh fruit grown locally (when in season) or frozen or canned when not. We had a garden and what we did not grow ourselves, we got from local farmers. This was normal. People knew how to do things and if push came to shove could make it on very little because of this. Except for at Amish and a few small farmers, I doubt there are many now that can.
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