This just in:  I was recently asked, “What personal characteristic do you have that is getting worse with age?”  My immediate response – I become more impatient every day. Combine this with the fact that people are starting to fly again and you get today’s blog.  (By the way “amateur” is a really hard word to spell.)  I am going to list those things associated with the flying public that bug me.

The Sound of Music Phenomena:  This is when a family of 4 or more walk through the airport side by side.  They remind me of the Von Trapp family holding hands as they simultaneously sing and flee the Nazis.  At an airport, this creates an impenetrable wall of humanity on the concourse that can only be bypassed by taking a great circle route through Tulsa.

The Bash Burger line:  This is when people line up at a food joint  form a tightly packed line that stretches straight across the concourse instead of bending parallel.  This is another impenetrable barrier This one can be overcome by standing near the line and shouting, “Hey, there is no line at the pretzel place.”

The phone walker:  For some reason, people on cell phones can’t walk in a straight line.  At the airport, they bury their heads in their phones and then just follow the cues of whatever youtube video they are watching.  If they see a kitten run off the screen to the right, they swerve to the right.  Plus, they are slow-walkers.  The trick is to time their movement and accelerate quickly past when the moment is right.

The back looker:  This is the person that looks where he is walking and then turns back to see where he was walking; the assumption being that is no one was in his path the last time he looked forward, that path will be clear for the next several minutes so no need to watch where you are going.  When I see one of these, I just stop and let them walk into me. We lock eyes and instantly both know what happened. 

The sudden stopper:  This is when a person or a group of people decide to suddenly stop and regroup.  This can be in the middle of a jetway during deboarding or in the exact middle of the concourse.  No one knows they are going to stop until they do.  The resulting pileup all around them goes unnoticed by the parkers.

The slow deboarder:  On a plane, when its time to get off, its time to get off.  Amateur fliers don’t seem to know this.  When they finally see its time for their row to get up and off the plane, they seem surprised.  Only then do they stand in the isle and put on their coats and repack their diddy bag and wrap their scarf just right.  The take their roller bag which is 20 inches wide and try to drag it down an isle that is 18 inches wide; refusing to acknowledge this fact; stopping at each row to straighten their bag with the apparent believe that the next row of seats will give a wider birth for his roller bag.

The rental car perfectionist:  I usually rent way in advance and don’t have to wait in line for a car, but when I do, the person ahead of me is making sure they are renting the exact car they want.  How much mileage does it get?  What color is it.  Can I get only some of the insurance?  This goes on and on.  I have literally seen a single person take over 30 minutes to rent a car while a line of 20 stands behind in line.

As you can tell, I am a frequent flyer ass.  I view everyone at the airport as my enemy.  They are all walking the wrong direction and at the wrong speed. 

I don’t want to be this way. Even worse, I am certain that someone like me sees me as the amateur.  If I ever meet him, I will tell him what a terrible person he is…just like me.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I have a very simple, 4-step process for upgrading your computer’s operating system from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

Step one: Go to Setting and click on upgrades and press OK when it asks if you want to upgrade to Windows 11. This will start a process of downloading the software and then installing the software. You can tell when this step has been completed when it gets to some random number (for me it was 61%) completion and then freezes.

Step two: Go to a reputable college and get a doctorate degree in computer science. This will be needed to read through all of the “easy online solutions” that explain why your computer didn’t completely install Windows 11. You will understand things like “Now go to your command prompt and disable quantum tunneling for all audio apps that don’t contain a prime number in their serial ID.”

Step three: Realizing that you will never be able to do this, go through the various stages of grief. I’m currently on stage 8 which, I believe, is hunger. Earlier, I ate a half gallon of Caramel Swirl ice cream. After a brief sugar coma, I awoke feeling much better.

Step four: Go online and buy a new computer that already has Windows 11 installed.

Easy – Peazy – Lemon – Squeezy

Glad to help.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I can’t post every day so I thought I would just fire off a few shots from the hip.

1. Street hotdogs are delicious.
2. Anti-vaxxers are the reason we are still fighting COVID.
3. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is way better than I thought. I had to stick it out for most of the first episode before I finally got it.
4. On a plane yesterday, I watched Cosmic Sin starring Bruce Willis. Possibly the worst movie I have ever seen.
5. I trust the jury in the Rittenhouse trial. However, I think that a couple of people would still be alive today if this kid hadn’t decided to play Deputy Dog.
6. It’s really easy to know when I am talking with someone that gets their news from Fox.
7. I don’t spend enough time helping others. I am going to change that.
8. The Republican Party stands for nothing real.
9. Passing the Voting Rights Act must happen soon.
10. I really like videos of kittens attacking big dogs.
11. My golf swing is hampered by my tendency to swing “over the top.”
12. Good people tolerating bad people is one of the reasons we can’t have nice things.
13. Passive acceptance of racism is the same as being a racist.
14. Donald Trump represents the worst in humanity. Those that support him represent the second worst in humanity.
15. Try the Mac and Cheese sandwich at Panera.
16. Bitcoin is a house of cards.
17. Daily breathing exercises…works for me.
18. I’m 63 and considering going back to college for another degree.
19. Climate change is real. The biggest roadblock to solving it is the Republican Party and Joe Manchin.
20. We need to open the borders in an organized manner. We have to do this to support our economy which is currently starting to flounder due to lack of labor.
21. The writers of Calvin and Hobbs, The Far Side and Bloom county are geniuses.
22. I believe we have been visited by aliens. However, I don’t understand how they could have gotten here and I don’t believe they are conspiring with any government.
23. I think we should take notes any time Elizabeth Warren talks about money.
24. So long as we don’t have universal healthcare, we don’t have a non-corrupt government.
25. I don’t like that my eyesight gets worse as I age.
26. I love the holiday season.
27. Tomorrow I get my COVID booster.
28. I would chose to eat any of my wife’s homemade soups over any other food.
29. One rich person cheating on his taxes to the tune of $1,000,000 creates the same needless cost to the government as 347 people scamming food stamps. I am a big fan of food stamps. My point is that white collar crime is vastly underreported and under prosecuted.
30. I trust science and experts because it saves me time and takes advantage of expertise that I don’t have.
31. I have been off of Facebook for several months and I don’t miss it at all. I love not being a part of it.
32. Fox News has successfully argued in court that Tucker Carlson’s show is for entertainment and a reasonable person would know not to believe him.
33. If you ignore a congressional subpoena, you should go directly to jail without bail.
34. Republicans rewriting the Jan. 6th riot are the equivalent of the Lost Cause Writers who said that the Civil War was not about slavery.
35. A man claimed that someone voted as his dead wife and Republicans held this up as an example of rampant voter fraud. That man was just convicted of being the person that voted for his dead wife. Republicans are silent on this.

I liked this format. Got a lot off my chest without too much drama or effort.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: You don’t need to spend hours every day tracking down facts and watching a variety of news shows to find the truth. Maybe you do you want complete accuracy but for a “general feel” of whether or not something is factual, you have what you need in your head.

Let’s try of few examples…

Is global warming a hoax started by the Chinese?

The first thing to ask yourself is “Why would they do that? How do they benefit?”. The second thing is, “Is this so cleverly executed that no one can find any supporting evidence?” Clearly, China is one of the biggest polluters in the world. If they start a fake program to “clean this place up” then they will have a bigger burden that nearly every other country. It’s actually in their interest to deny global change. As far as a “clever coverup,” Benjamin Franklin said, “Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.” There is just no way this is a secret conspiracy. None.

Did Donald Trump win the last election?

There are several reasons to doubt this. First, it is a claim made by the loser; a person known to tell a lie when the truth would actually work better. Secondly, there is no evidence. No witnesses. No videos. No emails. Nothing other than claims.

Why do Republicans claim the last election was rigged?

Look at the motivators. Republicans are in the minority and cannot win an election if everyone votes. They know the election was not rigged but claiming it is allows them to put laws into place that will let them overturn state elections. Republicans act like they believe this claim because it will help them cheat on the next election.

Why did Joe Manchin not want to support the Build Back Better plan?

Look at his motivators. He gets money from climate damaging industries. The plan he opposed would significantly damage those industries.

Why did Republicans vote against a very popular infrastructure bill that they wanted to support under Trump?

Look at the motivators. Under Trump, the Republicans would have been able to take credit for this bill. However, under Biden, the Democrats would get credit. It is more important to Republicans to get credit than it is to pass a bill that benefits nearly everyone in the country.

Why did Democrat Sinema vote against efforts to lower drug prices?

Look at the motivators. In her case…dollar bills….lots of dollar bills given to her by big Pharma.

Why can’t either party fix immigration?

Look at the motivators. If Democrats are in charge, Republicans complain that Democrats are letting in non-white people that will gobble up all of our good paying jobs and cause crime. If Republicans are in charge Democrats complain about the inhumane treatment of immigrants. Both parties want this problem to exist so they can beat the other party over their head with it.

Why do Republicans focus so much on lowering taxes for rich people and companies?

Look at the motivators. Both of these entities represent nearly all of the money Republicans have. They take care of their donors instead of their constituents because…money.

It’ amazing to me how many people will stretch their belief system to accommodate the most ridiculous conspiracy theories. There are Flat-Earthers. There are those that believe we never landed on the moon. There are those that think a dead JFK jr. will come back to life to run as Trump’s running mate.

These people represent THE reason we can’t have nice things.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Traditionally, we blame inflation on the availability of money in the economy. The more dollar bills that are floating around, the less value each one has. This thought rightfully treats money as a commodity. Think about diamonds, they are valuable because they are scarce. Grains of sand have little value because they are plentiful.

Traditionally, the Federal Reserve has been in charge of controlling inflation. They do this by raising the interest rate for borrowing money. If borrowing money becomes more expensive, people and companies will borrow less which means there is less money in the economy which means the value of money goes up which means a dollar can now buy more. Inflation solved.

The problem is that Traditional Thinking is like being stuck in a wagon wheel rut on a dirt road. It can be tough to get out of the rut. Thus, it is difficult to look at inflation differently.

However, “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” – Wayne Dyer.

I’m going to do that – change the way I look at inflation.

Instead of saying, “There is too much money in the system and thus, the money has less value.”….instead…I say, “There are not enough goods in the system and thus, the goods cost more.

This is a Supply/Demand issue with regards to goods. When demand is greater than supply, the price will rise until equilibrium is achieved.

Look at used cars. People are keeping their cars longer, which lowers the supply of used cars. The pandemic lowered incomes so people were looking for cheaper, used cars instead of new one. Supply of used cars dropped while demand went up. The result is higher prices for used cars.

Now comes the important point…

The pandemic has significantly disrupted global supply chains. This spans a broad swath of products from cars to durable goods to food. The result is that we have fewer products on the shelves. Supply drops while demand does not. The result is higher prices for those products that do make it to the shelves.

What else can be contributing to inflation?

Gas prices are skyrocketing. This is a product with a very low price elasticity. This means that when the price goes up, demand is unaffected. Why? Because we need to get to work.

Wages are going up. This is a minor issue. Higher wages mean, at least in the short run, lower profits and thus, less money for shareholders. In other words, this is close to being a zero-sum issue. More cash in the hands of wage workers and less in the hands of the wealthy. This can cause inflation, not because of more money in the economy (zero sum) but because demand for goods will go up. Wage workers spend extra income where the wealthy save it. Spending it puts the cash into the economy. More cash and higher product demand…this can cause inflation.

Biden’s Build Back Better is a false flag. We are talking about $2 trillion over 10 years or $200 billion a year. This is a relatively small amount. More importantly, we have inflation now and the money from this bill won’t even start to enter the economy for months.

Interest rates are at record lows. Raising the cost of interest will reduce borrowing. People will buy fewer homes and home furnishings etc. Raising the rate will take cash out of the economy and lower consumer demand. As I said earlier, this is Traditional thinking. That doesn’t mean its wrong. I just think its not the correct Big Solution right now.

If I could choose one thing on the table to move in order to stop inflation, it would be the elephant in the room – The global supply chain.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Ji

This just in: Our democracy is more frail than we want to admit.

I have a few miscellaneous observations that lead me to believe that one of the following is true: (1) Our democracy is suddenly failing or (2) Our democracy has always been troubled but modern media holds this fact up to our faces.

My list of observations:

1. Political crimes are going unpunished. We form committees to investigate. They find horrendous things happened. It hits the news and then…nothingburger.
2. Proud boys show up at school board meetings to intimidate people charged with making sure our children are educated. My guess is that the average maximum educational level attained by your average Proud Boy is around 3rd grade.
3. A multi-millionaire and coal baron poses as a Democrat to make sure his industry is not adversely affected by Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.
4. A Republican posts a video (animation) of him killing a rival from the opposing party. The Republican Party leadership is predictably silent.
5. Republicans voted at a single unit to give tax breaks to billionaires in 2017 and added $7.8 trillion to the debt our children now have to pay for.
6. Republicans voted, almost unanimously, against spending tax dollars to invest in our country’s infrastructure which is rapidly falling into a third world status.
7. In the face of overwhelming evidence that our elections are safe, Republicans, with zero evidence, are campaigning to keep Democrats from “stealing” another election. This is like standing outside on a sunny day and campaigning on a platform that says the sun does not exist.
8. A Fox News personality has made a tv series that proposes the storming of the capital on 1/6 was actually an undercover operation by Democrats. His viewers eat it up.
9. A 17 year old takes an automatic rifle to a BLM rally and kills 2 people while wounding others…cries on the stand as if he’s the victim.
10. Three white men kill an unarmed black man…on video. Their defense boils down to (1) he’s black and thus must have been stealing something and (2) he’s black.
11. It turns our that we have been sending pallets of cash directly into the pockets of random Afghans. We were paying for 300,000 Afghan soldiers when there were actually less than half of that. Various Afghan government officials reported higher numbers and then kept the extra money. It took us 20 years to notice.
12. A congresswoman claims that spending tax payer dollars to better the lives of tax payers is communism.
13. Inflation is taking off. A Republican appointed Fed Chief has taken no action to curb this (i.e. raising the interest rate). Meanwhile, Republicans and Manchin blame the new spending bill. Notably, none of the money from the spending bill is anywhere close to entering the economy. Blaming a spending bill that has not yet be enacted for a spike in inflation ignores how prices are actually set. When demand exceeds supply…of anything…the cost of what is in demand will go up. Our global supply chain is in a shambles. The supply of everything we want is down as a result. This cannot help but cause inflation. We are trying to mow our lawns by combing our hair.
14. 13 Republicans voted to spend tax payer money on tax payers. The Republican party finds this outrageous and threatens to punish these 13 people.
15. Everyone in congress is working to “create jobs.” None of them have noticed that we don’t have enough workers to fill the current jobs. Meanwhile, millions of potential workers/tax payers are waiting on the other side of the border.

In the end, the people we elect are incompetent. So, what does this say about us…the people that elected them.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I’m about to get judgmental.

Let me give you an example. The Republican Party is basically the party of white supremacy. Not everyone in the party is a racist but most are enough so that they legislate to keep nonwhites from voting and immigrating. They also vote against nearly every equal rights bill that is put before them. Now, because they are primarily racist, to vote for them is to support a party that is primarily racist. It does not mean you are a racist…or does it?

Let’s begin.

If you vote for a Republican, you are voting for ignoring what the best scientists in the world are recommending with regards to handling the pandemic. One of Trump’s lead advisors has said that this cause more than 120,000 avoidable deaths in the United States. If you vote Republican, these deaths are caused by you.

If you vote for Democrats, you are voting to follow the advice of the best doctors in the world. You are voting for mandatory vaccinations, masking and all of the other things we can do to protect ourselves and our fellow countrymen.

And…

If you vote Republican you are voting for the “promise” of economic growth and the lowering of the national debt. You are voting for what they actually gave you which is marginal growth and the largest debt and deficit in American History…by a large margin.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for spending and taxation plans that pay for things all Americans need without putting they burden of financing it on the backs of the poor or future generations.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for the “promise” of massive infrastructure funding. The Republican Party promised this from the primaries in 2015 all the way through the end of Trump’s presidency. To be clear, you are not voting for infrastructure funding, you are voting for an perpetually unfulfilled “promise” of infrastructure funding.

If you vote for Democrats, you voted for the largest infrastructure funding bill in decades. You voted to have your taxes spent to make sure our country stays up with the rest of the world while making improvements that will benefit every person in the United States.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting against the democratic idea that one person equals one vote. You are voting against free and fair elections. You are voting against self government.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting to allow all Americans the equal right to vote and equal representation regardless of the color of your skin.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for the “promise” of better healthcare, no….great and highly affordable healthcare. This is a promise the Republican Party has been making for generations. To date, they have not put forth a single bill to make this happen.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for a party that supports universal healthcare. You are voting for a party that wants to make healthcare affordable to all Americans.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for a party that has voted down every single initiative to fight climate change.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for a party that is leading the world in solving the climate crisis. You are voting for a party that sees jobs and better lives for our children through innovation and progress in “green” technologies.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for the promise of a stronger and safer America. You are voting for the party the entire world sees as corrupt and self serving when it comes to national interests. You are voting for the party that caters to China, Russia and North Korea. You are voting for a party that actively seeks the dissolution of NATO.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for a party that sees strength in our international alliances. You are voting for a party that actively promotes democracy around the world while keeping a guarded eye on authoritarian governments.

And…

If you vote Republican you are voting to keep immigrants out of the country. Specifically, immigrants that are not white or are not Christian.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting to improve our immigration system so that we can let in all natures of people seeking to live in a free democratic society.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for government by soundbytes and government by obstruction.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for action; real action.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are supporting armed insurrection to overthrow our government when the majority of Americans didn’t vote the way you wanted them to.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for the rule of law.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for a massive transfer of wealth from the average person to the already extremely wealthy.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for ALL Americans to enjoy Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Just sayin…

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Virginia elected a new governor, a Republican. His position: We will not allow critical race theory to be taught to our children. Critical Race Theory rests on the premise that racial bias – intentional or not – is baked into U.S. laws and institutions. Black Americans, for example, are incarcerated at much higher rates than any other racial group. This is something that is sometimes taught in law schools.

Here’s the deal. A news reporter last week was doing a study on critical race theory and could not find a single school (high school and below) that was teaching it…ANYWHERE in the country. Nor could they find a school that had taught it in the past.

Yesterday, a reporter asked a voter in Virginia why he voted Republican. His answer, “Well, I don’t think we should be teaching Critical Race Theory to our kids.” Never mind that this is not happening anywhere…the reported then asked, “What about Critical Race Theory are you against?” The person responded, “Well, I don’t want to get into details but I’m against it. It quickly became apparent that he had no idea what it meant.

This person voted for a governor whose sole message was about something that didn’t exist and that the voter had zero understanding of.

On a completely unrelated note…a large crowd of Republicans gathered in Dallas to welcome JFK Jr as Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024. The only problem with this is that JFK Jr. died in a plane crash decades ago. These people, being Republican, think this is a conspiracy (big surprise) and the JFK Jr. has been hiding out until the time was ripe. So, no JFK Jr showed up from the dead but that doesn’t mean he won’t run in 2024.

On another completely unrelated note: Americans, across the board, support the various components of Biden’s Build Back Better plan. It’s not even a close race on this issue; Maybe 4:1 in favor. Until…they find out that it is Biden’s plan. When this is discovered, the same people that vote Republican based on made up stuff that they don’t understand, the same people that believe JFK Jr. is consulting with Trump…these same people are suddenly against the plan.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I was at my doctor’s office today and she asked, “Do you want a vaccine shot for Shingles?” My response was, “Hell yes!” I know people that had Shingles and it seems to be a particularly nasty infliction. After the injection, I asked if I would be sick tomorrow and the response was, “Well…you won’t feel great.” That was fine with me.

As I’m driving home, I started to wonder how the Ridiculous Right would paint a Shingles vaccine if President Biden recommended everyone get one. The more ridiculous the more Republicans, Fox viewers, QAnons and the Small Penis Militiamen would believe the story. So, I’m starting a story right now.

The Shingles vaccine was developed by WalMart to track online purchasing habits of Americans. Their goal is to position themselves to better compete with Amazon. It works by linking, automatically to any WiFi connection available. Since it’s in your body, it can track geographic locations as well as finger movements. This later ability will allow them to see what you are typing on your computer. WalMart commissioned a Chinese hacking group to create the nano-bot that is injected along with the vaccine. China, in return, will be given the contract for providing electric carts for lazy people to drive around in at every WalMart in the world. And…this was all Joe Biden’s idea.

There, that should do it.

If you think Donald Trump won the last election then you should have no problem believing my myth.

If you think the Republican Party is fighting the good fight to help the American people that put them in office, then you should have no problem believing my myth.

If you think January 6th was a false flag operation orchestrated by Democrats, then you should have no problem believing my myth.

But I digress…

There are literally dozens of things put out there by the Republican Party that are so ridiculous that its hard to believe that anyone would believe any of them. And yet, millions believe all of it.

As for me, I intend to spend the rest of my day googling “Left-Handed, Asian Foot Fetishes” just to mess with WalMart’s marketing plans.

Alas…

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim