Normalizing Idiocy.

I'd like to meet the very first person who decided to applaud politely at Lia Thomas' winning performance in the pool that day.

The day that "she" outswam Riley Gaines, a 5' 2," 110 pound female.  By more than a pool length and a half.  

Thomas, a strapping 6' 4," 235 pound ex-male, who, before discovering this little McGiver, ranked 435th in the world.  The day before she "saw the light."  And decided that "she" should become a female.  Following which she swam to a record against Gaines.  And became the fastest "female" swimmer in the world.

I dunno' about you, but one of the things that put a burr under my saddle blanket is the normalization of men competing in womens' sports.  In spite of Title IX, a law that'd been in force for more than 50 years, the O'Biden Administration bowed to the wishes of their far far-Left and capitulated.  And forcing women to compete against men became the Law of the Land.

What fools.  California has told us, officially, that there are now 57 genders.  With a straight face.  Men are now competing against women in every sport they can find.  Even chess, fergodsake!"  Not just swimming, but volleyball, baseball, track, boxing, wrestling, even weightlifting!  And our Leftist shotcallers have rejoiced!  For some strange reason, they want it this way.  And I can't figure out why.

As with the story about "The Emperor Has No Clothes," all it takes to normalize a practice, make regular and unspecial, is to simply applaud.  Politely.  When an outrage starts to occur, just applaud.  And if you're in charge, all those subservient to you will mirror your actions.  To gain favor.  

It's Human Nature.

And then like a wildfire, pun intended, it will gain support among the followers.  Those who mimic any action in order to be accepted.  Such is what's happened with the blending of the genders.

The incoming Trump Administration has already fostered a new law on this subject that's already passed the new House.  It demands that men should be kept out of womens' sports.  Rat now!  Immediately!  Regardless of any state law.  And with a majority in the Senate, there's every reason to expect it will pass.  Quickly.  Which means we should see an end to this ungodly outrage macht schnell.  

I've lived in such a inside-out society for a decade now.  A decade in which we've no longer run America for the benefit of the majority.  It's been run for tiny minorities.  The gay, and lesbian (isn't that the same thing?), and "two spirit," whatever that is.  And the illegal immigrants.  And any religion except Jewish and Christian.  A man recently took up the sport of fencing, converted to female-ness, (wink-wink), and three months later beat the women's World Champion for a Gold Medal.

Is that fair?

I hope to live long enough to see this really dummass social experiment go down in flames.  If we can see how ridiculous this is, just imagine how ridiculous the things must be we can't see!  All the "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" stuff.  And the "CRT" nuttiness.  Let's return to the good old days of X and Y chromosomes.  Just men and women.  Only two. 

At the very least it should help to avoid a lot of unpleasant surprises at our bars and cocktail lounges.

There's only one downside to this action that I can see.  The tens of thousands of Californians involved in trying to Normalize this Idiocy, would have to find something else to do... 

Every Now and Again...

Every now and again we're reminded of just how puny we really are.

Just how small.  And insignificant.  How subservient to Mother Nature you and I really are.  For every now and again Mother Nature rises up and swats us across the kisser.  Delivers a death blow, in fact.  She'll rob us of our homes.  And our livelyhoods.  And our history.  From which we'll have to rebuild.

But in spite of all that, we'll choose to rebuild in the same exact areas which attract the kind of swatting from which we've had to rebuild.  Again and again.

Those who pine to live next to an ocean.  Or to a ski slope.  Or next to a raging river.  And then find a way to do so, only to have Mother Nature take it from us.  As has just happened, and is happening in Southern California as this is being written.

I come from a part of the Country where people have a goal to buy a spread nestling up against a river.  For we had a paucity of oceans and mountains and ski slopes.  And many were (fortunate?) enough to do so.  Yet, every now and again that river will flood.  As they all do from time to time.  And steal our homes and farms and vehicles and businesses from us, as they all do.  

Again and again.

Yet we choose to rebuild.  Apparently embracing the (false) belief that it won't happen again.  And yet it always does.

As I reach a lofty age, I've come to believe that we all live our lives with one goal in mind: hoping not to die.  The ancient Egyptians lived their entire lives as a warm-up act to dying.  Believing that the real good stuff occured after we were dead and gone.  That life was just a preparation for death.  And that their Pharoah would be resurrected to that star in the sky and protect them all.  That's why they so willingly helped to build the pyramids.  For their just reward in the afterlife.

We Americans don't think that way.  We want to live, and live well.  And we invest most of our wealth into our homes and farms and businesses.  Yet the 1993 Laguna Canyon fire I referenced in a previous posting should have served to educate us all about what dry vegetation, Santa Ana winds, Mother Nature and a spark can do to those same homes, farms and businesses.  

It didn't.

Now we're faced, as a society, with having to deal with another such disaster.  Only several times as big.  Perhaps the biggest and most expensive natural disaster to ever occur in our Country.  Perhaps as much as $150,000,000,000.  With a "B."  Will we learn this time how to prepare and deal with a future event like this one?  

I'm suggesting that no, we'll not learn from this.  Not so long as we have a smug, grinning, preening, smarmy Governor.  A man born on third base, yet thought he'd hit a triple.  Were it not for having J. Paul Getty as a Godfather, and San Fran Nan Pelosi as an aunt, I suggest this guy would be selling cars to Silicon Valley $Millionaires.  

A run-of-the-mill, socialist-leaning Democrat just won't do anymore for any job of consequence.  For they're the ones who made this mess.  And keep on making it.  We don't need a slick salesman as Governor any more.  We don't need a Lost Angeles Mayor who's only qualifications are being Black, and a woman, when being Black and a woman was the primary requirement.  We need those who know their jobs, and do their jobs, for the benefit of all their voters.  

Until the good citizens of California are willing to vote their own best interests, and "hire" those who know what to do, and will do it, natural disasters like these will continue to upend their lives.  

The truth hurts.  As those in the military say, "Embrace the suck."  And then do something about it... 

New Years Absurdities.

It's time once again for my Annual list of more...

        "New Years Absurdities."  

A courtesy of your friend and mine, your Scribe Without Portfolio, me.  Here it comes.  Saddle up and let's ride...

     -  Our own BoyGuv Newsom just rolled out his January 1st list of new, and ever more stringent laws.  Like we need more laws.  Presumably successful people run for our Senate and Assembly to go to Sacramento and what?  Make some new laws.  We don't need no more stinkin' laws!  Can't they get a job doing something constructive?  Like be a Greeter at Wal-Mart, maybe?

As I've reported before, Taxifornia has 366,443 laws, codes, rules, regulations, restrictions, and wet dreams.  That's almost exactly double New York's count.  They only have 177,258 laws on their books.  Illinois comes in third at 111,342 of them.  There's a couple of "Red" states with fewer than 25,000 laws by way of which to try and hem up their citizens.  Don't you sometimes feel like the walls are closing in?  Don't you sometimes wonder if living in this zoo is worth the price you continually have to pay?

A price which keeps going up, and up, and up...

     -  A yuuuge bunch of people will make a resolution to lose weight in the New Year.  Excess fat is weight, doncha' know.  We don't want to lose muscle or sinew, we want to lose weight!  Just spare calories for when you go for a stroll in the forest and get lost.  Got no food, but you got fat!  Us chubbies are carrying around a lunch bucket good for at least a couple of weeks.  

But I've always wondered where that weight goes once we lose it?  Does it magically go to some deserving soul in China or India or Bangladesh whose ribs are sticking out?  It can't just disappear, as fat is energy.  You have to burn energy in order for it to disappear.  Like on a treadmill.  I'm thinking this might be a subject for some brainiac to pursue.  I see a Peace Prize in their future.*

     -  Don't you find it funny that our newly-retired Richie Rich's are just dying to buy Muscle Cars from way back when?  The SS Chevys and the GTO's and the Corvettes?  The Hemis and the Dodge Magnums and the Cobras.  The cars I bought new when I was a tad younger.  And then I beat them to sh*t and swapped them for a new one.  Because they were cheap.  Built cheap, looked cheap, acted cheap.  Example:  My fully-loaded Honduras Maroon 1962 Chevrolet Super Sport 409, 4-speed, Posi-trac, bucket seats and all, went out the door at $3,812.10.  I wrote a check for it and drove it away.  The same car would now cross the auction block at more than $100,000.  

That's okay.  My 409 was a hoot ("Giddyup, giddyup 409!")!  But I see Big Money being shed for cars we wouldn't have owned.  Plymouth Road Runners, AMC Pacers, Ford Mustang II's.  Dummmass cars.  And many of these cars are completely restored.  At $50.00 an hour and up in some rehab shop somewhere over a year-long period.  Figure at least $60,000 and maybe $100,000 to some restoration shop to fix up a car that might bring half that at auction.  Yet, New Money is chasing these and other worthless cars because they wanted one when they were a teenager, but couldn't afford.  And I'm pretty sure it has to stop.  Real soon.

     -  The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution clearly states, "...the Right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."  I'm guessing Democrats don't know the definition of the word, "infringed," because they've been infringing on it for decades.  BoyGuv has proudly issued 125 Executive Orders, so far, infringing on our Rights to keep and bear arms.  He gets away with it because Taxifornia is a fiefdom, owned and operated by Democrats.  And "Hairgod" is Sheriff John.  If he had his way he'd send the National Guard to our homes and confiscate our firearms.  That effort might be fun to watch.  If it's gonna' happen, I sure hope happens while I'm still around.  I'd like to participate...

     -  It seems that the Democrats finally realized there might be some profit in the businesses over which they hold sway.  They figured out that chain restaurants might actually make some money.  Money which they could attack, in their never-ending quest to find fuel to keep the engine of socialism huffing and puffing.  I mean, what's better, owning a franchise, or being able to tell it what to do and steal all its profit?

BTW, that's the very definition of socialism.

Our BoyGuv instituted $20.00 an hour wages for those of us who ask, "Would you like fries with that?"  The 500,000 min-wage folks who make the Mickey D's and BK's, and Wendy's, keep humming along.  

As an example, the average McDonald's produces about $250,000 a year in pre-tax profit.  After a franchisee's investment of up to $1,200,000.  The new MinWage bump, a 25% overnight increase for the 55 employees in the average Mickey D's, takes just about $250,000 from the pockets of the owners.  As in, all of their profits.  

Others of the chain franchises are similar in their operations.  Rendering their stores virtually worthless.  As businesses are only worth what they can produce in profits.  And rendering their franchisors, those on the Big Board, virtually worthless as well.  And since 97% of all Mickey's stores are owned by Moms and Pops, "Hairgod" may well have bankrupted an entire swath of California's semi-retired citizens.  Store closings are now rampant, but BoyGuv doesn't care.  He's too busy running for POTUS in 2028.  

And trying to extract his head from his a*s after having been found out.  He removed more than $100,000,000 from California's fire fighting budget.  Money that might have helped prevent the six fires now burning brightly throughout Southern California.

     -  And speaking of tipping (we were, weren't we?), I hereby suggest we stop all tipping, right now.  All of it. Tipping has gotten soooo out of control I think we need to stop it all until we get some sanity back into the whole deal.  

Tipping first started back in Olde England when those in the pubs granted the serving wench a tuppence "To insure promptness."  Now?  Everybody in the supply chain between your order and its delivery apparently deserves a tip.  Starting at 20%.  I call foul!  This has become a not-so-subtle shifting of the responsibility to pay our servers from their employers to their customers.  And it is not appreciated.  

I have personally ceased all activity that might demand a tip.  I've discovered how much you can save by resurrecting that long-lost pasttime of home cooking. 

If employers can't or won't adequately compensate their employees, I can't help them.  Just shut down your businesses and give BoyGuv the finger on the way out the door.  A nice lady in Seattle was shown crying after having to shut down her coffee shop last week due to their new 20% MinWage.  Apparently doing business in Taxifornia, and maybe all the Big Blue States, is no longer profitable.  Too bad, so sad.  Perhaps they will all gravitate to Bright Red States.  Then I'd say, will the last person out the door please turn off the lights?

     -  And lastly, the single most absurd thing I believe I've ever seen in my storied life is being warned of an impending disaster, as L. A. Mayor Karen Bass was, in plenty of time to prepare for it.  And being seen as Mayorly.  But then she chose to fly to Ghana, of all places, to preen in front of poor Black folks.  To prance in front of those who have no idea who she is.  Then quickly flying back to L. A. to explain to her constituents that the $17.1 Million Dollars she took from their fire fund, didn't really negatively affect Departmental staffing or response capabilities.  After being told by her Fire Chief that it would.  And Bass then ignoring it.  

And now she reaps the whirlwind.  

So if $Multi-Zillionaires with $Multi-Million Dollar homes can't get their bought-and-paid-for elected officials to see that the fire hydrants in their neighborhoods are ready to provide water, which they weren't; and making sure that the Palisades Reservoir actually had some water in it, which it didn't; how are we "Little People" to presume we'd get help in an emergency?

God, that was a long sentence.  But a nice one, I think you'll agree.    

These things are truly absurd, right?  If you know that, and I know that, why isn't anyone ever doing anything about it?

*    Brought to you by the guy who invented Dynamite.  You knew that, didn't you? 

A Complete Failure of Government.

 "The fear of loss is a far greater motivator than the anticipation of gain."

                                       -  Unknown

My wife Elaine and I were headed off to Laguna Beach for an early dinner that fateful August, 1993 evening.  We happened to notice a small fire burning in a trash pile on an empty lot as we drove by.  We thought nothing of it.

After dinner, while we were on our way home, we noted that the fire had increased in size ten-fold, and fire personnel were there to put it out.  Once again, we thought nothing of it.

The next  morning I stepped out on my balcony, cup of coffee in hand, and viewed with alarm the blood red morning skyline.  South County was on fire...

That was August 7th, and a good chunk of Laguna Beach burned to the ground.  High-zoot homes of the rich and famous.  Burned to the ground.  As a direct result of our annual "Devil" fires.  Our Santa Ana winds bear down upon us from the East every Summer.  We'll have "off shore" breezes for several days a year.  The normal airflow out of Alaska takes a turn for the East instead of our West, giving us "on shore" breezes.  But with Santa Anas, the wind is sent to the East, wrung of moisture by the deserts, then rammed through our mountain passes leading into Southern California.  Gaining speed as a result.  A lot of it.  

It could be as little as a 20 or 30 miles per hour breeze.  It could be a 40 or 50 mph blow.  And then again, it could be an 80 or 100 mph, hurricane-strength torrent of wind.  Unequalled in our recent history, as we're now suffering.  In fact, we were warned it was coming, by our meterologists.  But our leadership did not one goddamn thing about it.

L. A.'s Mayor trimmed $17.1 Million Dollars from L. A.'s Fire Department last summer, all while be warned that it would cripple their recruitment, training, operations and retention.  And Mayor Karen Bass spent at least $1.8 Million Dollars on "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" training during that same period.  

Priorities?

And then, 2025's Annual Santa Ana Winds arrived.  In a Very Big Way.  Our meterologists warned us all last weekend that conditions would be right for sustained Santa Anas starting on Tuesday.  They did.  They said those winds would last through Friday.  They are.  They said they'd be historic in strength.  They were.  And they said if a spark were to be struck, it could be a modern day Armageddon.  

And that has happened.

State Farm cancelled 1,600 insurance policies for Pacific Palisades homes last Summer.  And they cannot be blamed, as the State would not grant them sufficient operating profits to warrant the risk.  The State (read, "BoyGuv" Newsom) implemented rather its "FAIR" Act, which made the State the insuror of last resort.  Funded with $2.1 Billion Dollars of our money.  Yours and mine.  He'd rather put the responsibility on us, the Taxpayers, than a private company.  Just to deprive that private company, and other private companies, of a fair return on their investors' money.  For shame.

And those 1,600 homes burned to the ground last Tuesday and Wednesday.  And another 10,000 alongside them.  Not just the $Multi-Million Dollar mansions, the modest homes way up the hill, bought by grandparents in the 1960's for $100,000, and now passed on to family members and worth several $Million.  

The ground may be worth several $Million, but the house is only worth $200.000.  

With no insurance, will these middle-class folks be able to rebuild?  Or will this in effect render this vast, 15,000 acre swath of prime real estate go without redevelopment?  Like Detroit, only with an Ocean view.

When the fire appeared, fueled by 100 mph winds, the homes burned in minutes inside a 2,000 degree inferno.  300,000 residents were told to evacuate.  Cars literally melted.  The fire hydrants, unfortunately, were empty.  And because of faulty planning, the evacuation was flawed.  Fire engines couldn't get to homes.  Abandoned cars clogged the one street in and out.  It was chaos.  It was a Hellscape.  It was a complete and total failure of Government.

However, the one bright spot is that O'Biden told us he's a great-grandfather.  Oh,. and Lost Angeles' famously lesbian Fire Chief Kristin Crawford was able to boast that her "DEI" implementation was going well, although they were down several hundred fire fighters in staffing.  They hadn't found enough LGBTQ++ candidates, I assume.  Forcing them to call in help from surrounding states.  Which obliged, thankfully.  When our own highly-paid civil servants cannot serve, it's nice to get help from others that do.

Our elected and appointed leaders have learned nothing from that Laguna Beach Fire.  Even though it was a carbon copy in all but size of the six being fought right now.  This one is Laguna Beach x 20.

Ten people have died in this calamity, so far.  An estimated $150 Billion Dollars in damages may ultimately be attributed to these six fires.  So far.  A couple of major insurance companies could go bankrupt.  That makes it the single most expensive natural disaster in U. S. history.  

Times five.  

At least our outgoing Prez was kind enough to offer to pay for all costs of fighting this fire for the next 180 days.  With our Tax money.  Tying Trump's hands to that promise.  He's such a nice guy!  

And at least Karen Bass got to see the new Prez of Ghana inaugurated.  She was warned about the chances of a major fire while she was gone, but chose to travel anyway.  She flew 26,000 miles in 36 hours, and earned the hate of millions!

And famously gay Chief Crawford got to celebrate her gayness.  And her DEI program.  But this event just might cause all the famously Left-wing Democrat Hollywood set to rethink their politics.  Maybe living in the local hotels while they fight through the permitting process, trying to rebuild their homes out-of-pocket, will be enough for them to come to their senses.  Let them feel what the "little people" feel for a change.  Maybe it will motivate them.

We'll see...

I'm sick to my stomach about all of this, as any thinking citizen would be.  I've seen fires where a few houses burn and a few are spared.  But we're talking more than 20,000 acres completely decimated.  It looks like Dresden after we firebombed it during the Big War.  It's complete and total devistation.  And a complete and total failure of Government.

I started this rant with a nod to an unknown author.  It surmizes that the fear of losing should motivate one more than any hoped-for gain.  I wonder when these residents of high dollar zip codes will band together and work to prevent a recurrance.  First, throw out the poseurs and hire some real managers.  Then watch them like a hawk to make sure they follow through on their promises.  Proper management of forrest, water and human resources could have mitigated this disaster.  

We have to ask questions why it didn't happen.  We'll see if they do...

So Why Don't WE Start a Union?

You may not have heard about the shameful, finger-in-the-eye given the ski vacationers at Park City, Utah this past weekend.  The rich people who pay their rent.  Who put food in their mouths.  Who buy their babies Pablum.  They were perfectly and completely screwed.  And here's how they did it.

It seems that this past weekend in uber-pricey Park City is the beginning of the ski season for the tony set.  The folks who can afford to drop $20,000 for a weekend of skiing.  Reservations made long ago for $4,000 a night accomodations were met with 3 hour waits to sign in and get their keys.  And of 3 glorious and well manicured ski runs on the mountain, only one was open for business.  And the one lift featured a 30 minute wait.

Why?  It seems the "Park City Ski Patrol Association" had chosen this of all weekends to strike.  For better pay and benefits.  All 300 of the Union's members were on strike.  Park City had to fly in folks from other ski resorts to open any run at all.  The Union thus proved that it can hobble their business.  And rob them of both their reputation and their income for their own selfish interests.

We're told Park City, including all its pizza parlors and pubs and uber-expensive restaurants, stood to garner as much as 40% of their entire year's income off this past weekend.

I read several revues condeming Park City and promising to never return.  Pissed of $Billionaires hopping on their G-550's and flying off to more welcoming climes.  Just think how badly this affected the Town.  And does the Union care?  Not a whit...

This made me think that if these folks can do this, WE, you and me, ought to be able to do the same.  All of us.  Every single American everywhere!  I think WE should unionize!  I think we should be able to strike when our elected representatives act like fools.  I think a strike would be in order if the State in which we live tries to tell us what kind of car we can drive.  Or packs nearly a $Dollar a gallon in taxes on our gasoline, as Taxifornia now does.  Why aren't we motorists in this bedeviled State protesting?  And Unionizing?  And striking?  

Just see how quickly they'll come to their senses if we deprived them of their expected tax revenue!

"The Union of the Citizens of the United States of America," I think should call it.  The "UCUSA."  And we're all members already by virtue of our citizenship.  And we should start finally start acting together to get what we want.  And what we deserve!

You know the 1st Amendment guarantees our Right to not only Assemble, but to Protest.  And then to speak our minds.  Well, I'm protesting.  Are you?  Are there things you think are unconstitutional or greedy or unlawful?  That "up with which we should no longer put?"  (With an appreciative nod to Yoda?)  Let's get together and let them know how we feel.  Why should we be forced to stand in the corner and quietly put up with one outrage after another?

If a bunch of guys who play in the snow can cripple an entire town, a SUPER RICH town, LEGALLY, then we, you and me, ought to be able to cripple a Gubmint agency that's acting beyond its authority.  Remember when all those truckers combined to protest Canada's dimbulb Prime Minister?  Their "EX-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?  

Oh yeah, Pretty Boy has bitten the dirt.  Because Canada's citizenry got tired of being jerked around.  High taxes, high crime, high prices.  Gone!  We already proved we could shake America's foundations with our votes.  Why stop now?  Let's take control of our Country and our future!    

What do you think?

Airplanes!

Did you know that an Airbus A-380 has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,200,000 pounds?  

A friggin' Million Pounds?

Did you know that it features more than 4,000 square feet of usable space?  Three levels?  

Even though I flew for a living back in the 1970's, as in more than 1,000,000 miles in the air, with certificate, I still can't quite comprehend how they do it.  An aluminum tube made by pissed of union members, flitting across the sky at 550 miles per hour.  At 42,000,000 feet.  On their way to a Riyahd.  Filled with people.  With two dozen more crew members and 5 pilots.  Really?

Did you know that same A-380's wings can bend more than 6 feet up or down before they come unglued?  I do.  

I should insert about here than I am terribly acrophobic.  That means I'm afraid of heights.  I actually wish I wasn't so tall.  5' 4" would have been just fine with me.  I need somebody to climb a stepladder to change light bulbs.  I once crawled on my hands and knees to the edge of the Grand Canyon for a peak over the side.  Just to say I'd done so.  Even though I didn't want to do so.

I actually studied the subject so intently at one time I could tell you how many rivets there were in a 707.  And a 727, and 737 and 747.  and L-1011 and DC-10.  Doing my own due diligence to make sure they're airworthy, doncha' know.

So flying is antithetical.  It goes against reason.  And common sense.  Why would anyone step into an airplane and hand their lives over to somebody they've never met?  I mean, did that guy or gal (or other) get laid last night?  Did he just get handed his divorce papers?  Was his Corvette just stolen?  We all know about 3% of the population is batshit crazy, is the pilot among that 3%?  How do I know for sure that he's in shape to fly my butt around the globe?

Remember that pilot who intentionally flew into a mountain in Switzerland a few years back?  Yeah, I remember that.  Here's the statistics:  There are about 1,200,000 commercial flights each year.  With a major accident, meaning loss of life, occurring about a dozen times.  Those odds against it being you is about 0.0015%  Or, you're three times more likely to be struck by lighting.

But you see, I don't care!  They wiggle, they wobble, they jump up and down, unannounced!  They shake, they roll, they sway back and forth!  And the pilot will come on the comm and say, "Slight clear-air turbulence there, folks!  Nothing to worry about."  

Easy for him to say!  He likes this stuff!  

Nope, flying used to be great.  No longer.  Now you have to sit for hours next to some hippie with a comfort chicken on his lap.  Or some sweaty 300 pounder who hogs the armrest.  Or one of those nervous nellies who wants to talk for the whole flight.

BTW, I discovered a way to choke off all conversation.  When your seatmate asked you what you do for a living, simply say:  "I'm a retired shepperd."  Or perhaps, "I majored in animal husbandry until they caught me at it."  Trust me, no more questions.  

When I was flying on a daily basis the plane was half full.  And the half who filled it were all wearing suits and carrying briefcases.  Now the planes are elevated versions of Greyhound Buses.  Packed from stem to stern with angry souls in seats half the size of those we enjoyed way back when.

Yes, it was expensive before the Gubmint stuck its nose into the mix.  Back when we faced fixed, non-competitive fares.  But the stewardesses (what they called themselves) were all 25 and lovely, the planes were all new and clean, and we felt like we were part of a club.  Now?  

Cattle. 

So I swore off.  No more flying commercial.  You have to go through screening, get felt-up by some 400 pound TSA agent, take off your shoes and put them on again, then fight for a seat slightly smaller than your seat.  

And then pray you arrive.  And if so, with your luggage.  I decided if I can't get there by train or by car, I don't need to go.  Just think:  a nice, leisurely drive to Mama's house.  No matter if it's 500 miles away.  You'll enjoy both the scenery and the freedom from being mistreated.  From being nudged, and bumped, and having your personal space violated.  You'll be in charge.  You can stop and stretch your legs, get a burger and take a pee.  Whether the seat belt sign's on or not.  And trust me, you'll see that pothole coming, so the bump won't be a surprise.  

I've been everywhere anyway, so it really won't matter.  

BTW, have you noticed there's been about a dozen airplane accidents in the past week or so?  Yeah, me too... 

"Life"

I think I've got this whole "Life" thing figured out.

You're born either by a Grand Plan or by a complete accident.  Depending upon with whom you speak.  

To either a poor or a rich family, living in 95% of the world not named "America," or even in America itself.

And then you're free to grow up or not, get educated or not, work 'til you drop or laize away, abide by the rules or treat them with disdain.  And then grow old and die, whether rich or not.  Whether you're young or old.  You're going to die.  

Period.

Don't you find it interesting that the uber-rich among us spend a lifetime accumulating "stuff," only to see it taken away with their last breath.  Gigondo yachts.  And private jets.  And multi-million dollar palatial mansions.  Several of them.  And watches made by people whose name you can't pronounce.  

And then the time comes when those pricey baubles will be owned by someone else.  Because the previous owners had learned they only got to use those things until they died.  At which point they'll be getting a box in the ground.  And a fast trip to their just reward.  Whatever their reward might be.

And then it will be somebody elses turn to use those mansions and watches and yachts and expensive items.   

And on that topic, in fact, I believe "Life" is a long-form Final Exam.  And we won't know whether we passed until we die.

If you're religious, you expect an afterlife.  And if you aren't, you don't.  As for me, I plan on passing that Exam, and then having an eternity worth of laughs hanging out with dead Jewish comedians.  Who still believe that we're in Year 5750, or something.  Maybe they're right.  Maybe they're wrong.  But we're all going to die.  And then find out what's on the other side of that veil.

I'm also going to try and find out why a flock of hunter/gatherers and subsistence survivalists all chose, simulfriggentaneously, to stop hunting and gathering and start building gigondo megalithic stone edifices.  On every continent.  At approximately the same time.  From about 12,000 bce to 6,000 bce they started building pyramids.  And stone temples.  Lots of them.  Egypt has 103 discovered, so far.  Sudan has 300.  And Peru.  One was just discovered in Indonesia that's 3 x bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza.  There are more pyramids in Central America than in Egypt. 

There are  2,600,000 stone blocks, each weighing 5 tons, in the Great Pyramid.  Stacked up to 481 feet high.  I want to know how they did that.  SINCE WE CAN'T DO IT TODAY!

Do you think those, ummm, UFO aliens built those pyramids?  Or at least taught the ancient folks how to build them?  Well, I'm gonna' find out.  I'll get back to you if I can.  I've been watching Ghost Adventures on the Discovery channel so I know it's possible.

In the meantime, it's like being in the Celestial DMV.  You've checked in, shown them your information, and been told to take a seat.  "Just watch the TV screen for your name, sir," we've been told.  And so we are.  

It used to be that "those who die with the most toys, wins."  I think I've disabused us all of that notion.  Now it's "he who dies with the least pain" is the goal...