Monthly Archives: January 2025

An Objective Opinion

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… By a dumb blogger. Sorry. Left the title open when I couldn’t think of one. Then I proof read the whole post forgetting to decide on a title. I’m just fine. It’s the rest of the world that’s messed up.

The local news is reporting on the potential for the state to assume control of the Shelby County school system.

As an observer for nearly half a century, I have a perspective to share. While those in may choose to disregard my input, I will provide a mostly objective opinion on the matter.

As the world bid farewell to Elvis, my wife and I made the decision to leave Memphis behind. We were fortunate to have the opportunity, which many others did not. If it were possible for people to glimpse into the future, I believe more would have followed a similar path to ours.

Since that time, the Memphis City schools did nothing but get worse. That is not an opinion. In light of the numbers, it cannot be denied. Moreover, it was recognized by many Memphians who sent their children south to DeSoto County, illegally. We here south of the state line helped to pay for the education of Memphis kids. It’s not right and it’s not legal. Worse, Memphis City schools still could not educate their remaining students adequately. You don’t believe me? Look at the numbers.

Even more important, look at the effective admission of the school district itself. They realized it wasn’t any good, so they dissolved it. That one is easy to verify. It was just a few years ago. However, it didn’t work, no surprise.

Effectively, what happened was that the county system became the city system, even to the point of including the city name in the new name. The county system was one of the best in the state. Now that the city has taken control, it is one of the worst, perhaps the worst.

That is why the state is attempting to take control of the county system.

Now, oddly, those in control of the county system are fighting the takeover tooth and nail. This only really makes sense if they do not want to lose their power or want to maintain poor education.

Well, there is another consideration. They might not want to have egg on their face when everyone finds out the problem is with those in charge and not the students.

Then too, when the state takes over, there is bound to be a big shakeup in personnel starting at the top. That might explain the hesitation in turning things over to the state.

In the long run, the state might even turn things over to private schools. If that happens, Desoto students might just start sneaking into Shelby County schools.

Now, wouldn’t that be a delightful PR disaster for the current school board and superintendent? And, by the way, it would really give the dems a lovely shiner as well, wouldn’t it?

Computers Fix Everything

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Many moons ago, more than I care to admit, I used to subscribe to PC Magazine. It had interesting and useful articles. Additionally, I enjoyed the letters to the editor. I was reading through them one day when the letter writer included a picture from an ad in the previous edition. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the witty body of the letter, but the picture was of a person removing their new computer from a box. The unusual part was that the monitor displayed the standard Windows screen.

It is the sort of thing most of us wouldn’t even notice. As I looked up a while ago, I noticed another unlikely picture. The proverbial computer expert pressed the keyboard twice. Instantly, the screen started showing all sorts of pertinent information.

I spent decades in the computer industry. I have personally known dozens of people who could do some truly amazing things with computers.

Sorry, folks. It does not work that way. Most experts these days use a mouse or touch screen for the most part. Keyboards are still used extensively, but the idea of doing everything by pressing two keys is still a long way in the future. I suspect we are closer to new computers working while still in the box.

I understand. Television shows often have time restrictions that lead to representations rather than reality. For example, when a character knocks on a door in a TV show, it takes only two seconds for the door to open. In reality, it takes me longer than that just to get out of my chair. I hope that if the police ever come knocking on my door, they will wait more than the two seconds typically depicted on television.

The point is, computers are still a far cry from the omniscient, all-powerful overlords we’ve been led to believe. Let’s not get too carried away and start bowing down to our silicon-based overlords just yet. Even the most tech-savvy among us are still limited to the constraints of their creations, try as they might to convince us otherwise.

Customer No-Service

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I heard one time that J.C. Penney once said something to the effect, “Please give me the privilege of your complaint.” I’m not sure if it was Penney or someone else who said it. I have spent many hours looking, trying to find the original source.

Nonetheless, it is logical. You take a critical diner. The waiter places the flatware before them, and it has a few water spots on it. The diner does not complain. Perhaps they will use their napkin to wipe the spots off. There are people who have such obsessions. I have personally witnessed them firsthand.

Then, naturally, the diner enjoys his meal and leaves without so much as one complaint. However, he never returns due to the water spots.

Perhaps some of you have seen people like this. On the other hand, some of you might be as this diner, maybe in some other way.

I’m not nearly that picky, though sometimes, I must admit to cleaning the spots. I guess the obsession might have come from my days of working in a restaurant. However, I would neither complain about such things nor would I cease visiting the dining facility.

There is a dual purpose to my writing. Always provide the party you are doing business with your genuine complaints, to the greatest extent possible. Secondly, always seek customer complaints, even more than the accolades. It always hurts more to hear the complaints, but the complaints just might help your business succeed.

And then, of course, you have businesses that provide no way for customers to complain. Can these businesses really expect to succeed for long? There was a talk show host who had a name for a department in such businesses. He called it the “customer no-service” department.

My best guess is likely also your best guess as to why. Obviously, he was tired of getting the runaround from some company that did not value customer complaints. Somehow, I suspect most of those reading this know exactly what I mean. Certainly, if you are half the age I am, you have likely had experience with a customer no-service department.

If so, I would welcome your short, polite comments. In fact, I’d love to see a few hundred of your comments. But please keep them G-rated.

Patterns, Maybe

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Just heard on the news, 24 hours prior, there was a go around because of a helicopter.

I don’t have a foggy idea. How-some-ever, if I were on that investigation team there are two things I would want to know. 1. Who was the helicopter pilot the day before? 2. Was or is this an indication of a developing patter? That is, how many times has this happened before?

A DEI Event?

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I don’t know. We might not know for months. We may never know.

Then too, you know me. I am the one who normally refuses to say anything until we know everything. I really hate it when people jump to conclusions, as the gun control advocates do. The way they come charging out of the starting gates the instant someone is shot should be criminal.

Nonetheless, we do already have some facts to work with in the most recent midair collision. We have a definite number of deaths. We know the two vehicles did collide.

However, we do not know if we had the best possible pilots. We do not know if we had the best air traffic controllers. Thanks to Old Joe, even now all over this country, we have people in very critical positions because of their color, disability, or other factors, just to be “fair.”

It would be a horrible thing, don’t you know, to find out this event was the result of a DEI decision.

You’ll Be Happy to Know…

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I just drove my Nissan EV about a mile down the road to purchase a new tire for about $150. The old tire had a nail in it, and with the bead not sealed, I had no way to air it up.

Therefore, I drove the car on a completely flat tire. I had no choice. The car did not even come with a spare tire, not even a small one. Even if I had a spare, I had no jack. After this experience, I will get a jack. Naturally, I could have called a tow truck, for about $40 or $45. The tire was ruined anyway, so I simply drove it to the garage.

I am sure Nissan would have rather been the one to make the sale, but that would have meant driving over ten times as far. That would have been ten times as bad. It would have made me twenty times as nervous.

The one thing that irks me the most is that the old tire had only 3,000 miles on it. That’s just not right to throw away a practically new tire because of one small hole in it. In the old days, I would have patched it and kept going. Before that, I could have just put a tube in it and it would have been good to go.

I know they make all these so-called improvements to tires just to sell more tires and then charge four times as much for them. It’s what they call a conspiracy. We all know it. Most are just afraid to admit it. There are nails on the road just for those who try to expose the plot.

Nonetheless, let us hope and pray that if you have a car without a spare, you do not have a flat tire on a Saturday night a hundred miles away from an open garage. It just might happen, you know.

May I Share an Airport Safety Idea?

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I’ve been thinking again. I apologize. But actually, it’s a thought that I’ve been continually turning over in my mind. The thought keeps coming back to my forethoughts every time a large airplane runs off the end of a runway while landing. This is especially true when a lot of people die, as in the recent case of a plane running into a wall, killing all but two.

I saw the video many times, which was far too many times. I apologize. I keep thinking there must be an easy, inexpensive way to allow disabled planes to crash land relatively safely.

Unfortunately, I am not an engineer. I am limited to simple thoughts of common sense.

The miracle on the Hudson resulted in a safe water landing with few injuries, the greatest danger being the plane sinking before everyone exited.

The water was very cold but the rescue boats arrived quickly. Most passengers stepped from the plane to the wing and then onto the boats.

So, I looked at the video of the plane running into a wall and considered, wouldn’t it have been nice if there had been a pond nearby? Nothing very deep, perhaps four or five feet, possibly as much as ten. As I say, I’m not an engineer, so it would take some engineering and maybe some tests. They might even ask a test pilot to land a plane or two in the pond to gather some data to work with.

Ideally, the pond should be emptied or at least lowered after the plane stops. This would make it easier to rescue the passengers. If everything worked properly, there would be no need to hurry. The plane is not going to sink in one or two feet of water. A side benefit is that the risk of fire is greatly reduced. If there is a fire, water could be instantly sprayed from the sides of the pond.

I don’t think the plane would ever be reusable, but I believe that every passenger would be able to leisurely walk off the plane.

As for the expense, not all airports would need a pond. Besides, just how expensive is a pond that is about a thousand feet long and five hundred feet wide?

Who knows? It might actually add some looks to the airport.

Actually, it need not be right at the airport. Maybe as much as a mile away. It would be safer for regular air traffic. And, here’s the side benefit: It would draw the water birds away from the runways.

I suppose it could also be stocked with fish or even used as a fish farm. If it was never used in an emergency, it might still pay for itself.

it is just a thought. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if anyone stole it. Especially if it saved a few lives. I mean, even if it is designed for big planes, it could be used for small planes as well. It’s better to ditch that little Cessna in that pond than in that apartment building.

(Or Beach Craft, or Piper or whatever.)

The Plans

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When the dems lost the first election to Trump, they started making plans.

Plan A. Try to reverse the election, something they accused Trump of four years later.

Plan B. Impeach Trump. They used a number of false accusations and false documents as well as a ton of lies. Remember Russia, Russia, Russia, which is now a proven hoax started by Ms. Clinton and her friends in the FBI and intelligence agencies. This had one huge hole in it. Even if it succeeded, Pence would have done well, though I suspect he would not have done nearly as well with the border.

Plan C. Same as Plan B with a slight variation. This plan really fell apart after the last election. It resulted in a huge black mark against Old Joe, the FBI and all the dems. Everyone now knows now that it was another contrived plot, likely instigated in the planning rooms of the dems. Some of those in the crowd we now know to be FBI resources, likely the real instigators.

Plan D. Initiate one prosecution case after the next. Oh, and by the way, this absolutely included the high priority search of Mrs. Trumps underwear drawer. One by one, all of these cases fell apart as they were never on solid ground to begin with. I am sure the one conviction will be overturned when it reaches the Supreme Court… Or perhaps before. Of all the cases, it had the least real foundation.

Plan E. Well, I think they are still working on this one. Meanwhile, the party is in a shambles as well as their publicly department, also known as the main media. Meanwhile, the world has suffered a major pandemic originated by Fauci and enhanced by the dems and social media. Old Joe engineered a disaster while retreating from Afghanistan. As if that is not enough, two new major conflicts as a result of Old Joe’s foreign policies, specifically his funding of Russia and Iran. Oh yes, let’s not forget the embolding of China. After all that…. Well, not many will be able to come up with something that’s workable. However, I have confidence in them. Someone will come along and suggest just the right deceit, an outlandish enough lie with just the right idealism and half the voters in the country will fall for it. Of course there will be an element of truth in it, just enough to sell it. After all, it is the way Satan has worked since the Garden of Eden.

Dialog

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Lately, from time to time, I leave the TV on with the volume down. I know that makes less sense than a nickel. Still, it has caused me to think a little. There I go again, that thinking thing that irritates my wife.

It caused me to consider the old silent films. In them, the actors over acted to convey something to the audience. Just now I looked up at the muted television and noticed the actors moving around. I knew they were talking as I saw the captions at the bottom of the screen.

I paused and watched. It was only then that I realized something. Maybe others have seen it too. If you watch objectively, I think you will have to admit that the dialogue is almost constant.

Well, on second thought, maybe while they are showing divers, all you’ll hear are bubbles, which are always louder than real bubbles. In chase scenes, you hear loud engines and squealing tires. On the other hand, we might hear the loud footsteps and heavy breathing of someone running.

The thing is, since they found a way to include sound, it would seem they do not like silence. It would seem they really go out of their way to include constant dialogue and/or sound effects.

It is an illusion. In general, in all those action shows, all that dialogue and sounds are added after the video. They found out a long time ago that recording sound and video at the same time is very difficult. In some cases, it’s impossible. If you doubt me, just consider the problems when you make your own videos.

Not a Fan of War

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You notice how quickly the shooting in the Middle East stopped after Trump took his second oath. Do you suppose the one thing had something to do with the other? Me thinks it does. I also think it has something to do with Trump’s dislike for war. It does give me the suspicion that the Democrats love war. More accurately, they like the money they make during wars. I am sure Old Joe and his friends were able to pocket a million or two from each of the recent conflicts.

I noticed the other day that Trump sent a couple of bunker buster bombs to Israel. Oddly, it was a public story. No effort was made to conceal it. I even have a suspicion or two that he wanted the whole world to know about it. When I heard about it, I immediately realized the genius of it. It was his way of making it known to Iran that it might be a good time to cease their efforts on building a bomb. You see, he does not need to convince Iran that he is willing to use the bombs. He has sent them the signal the decision is made. In effect, when he gave the bombs to Israel, he has already given them permission to use them…and he has no need to tell them where.

By using the above method, he may have prevented a nuclear confrontation. As I said, I suspect Trump does not like war either. Moreover, he has no need for a war to make money. He already has more than Old Joe could hope for. In addition, he did not use subterfuge and dishonesty to get it. He got it the old-fashioned way. He earned it.

On the other hand, Old Joe always received his paycheck from the government. Not that there is anything wrong with working for Uncle Sam, as long as it’s honest. When it causes death and war, it’s much worse.

I’m not exactly a peacenik, but Old Joe and his crew don’t exactly strike me as the diplomatic types either. Looks like they’ve got a bit of a warmonger streak in them, huh? At least they’re keeping the military-industrial complex well-fed, I guess.