06 March 2014

When All Else Fails...
I know the title is a bit ambiguous, but I swear I'm not becoming a politician...lol.
We'll be discussing that shortly, but first, let's look at the Hoosierland weather.
It's going to be more seasonal, and that manes a high around 32 degrees...!
(a cause for celebration?)
Got some morning clouds giving way to sunshine later on and a mild breeze that's adding to that wind-chill factor.
So maybe we won't have to have THAT hot of a morning beverage (warm is still good) as we take a look into what's been happening.
*** And as usual, we have the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence."
This was spoken by the Father of our nation, George Washington, and here is his WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington
Now, I won't go into any specifics...you read the WIKI and find out how incredible a man he was.
Suffice it to say that from humble beginnings, and through adversity in his personal and military life, he rose to such prominence that he was elected to the newly created office of PRESIDENT of the newly created United States of America (all 13 of them).
I found his story to be one that speaks to all of us.
Moving on...
*** It looks like the SATs are going through some "changes".
Here's the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140306/NEWS05/303069984
One might call such changes "sweeping"...I call them what they are...PATHETIC.
Essays will become optional.
There will NO penalties for WRONG answers.
Students will have the option of taking the tests on computers.
Okay...now THIS is a "WTF?" moment.
Isn't it BAD enough we're graduating students from colleges that know a sh*tload LESS than I do at MY age with only 1 year of business college?
Nah, let's make it EASIER to get them INTO these institutions, so the leftist professors can mold their minds further and fill them with educational pablum.
We'll wind up with a greater number of graduates who will have lost the ability to be as good as those who graduated several generations before them.
Everyone's a winner, right?
Give them a diploma for just SHOWING THE F$CK UP...why don'cha?
(that'll cut out the "middleman")
Now, I never took the SAT, as I was of the generation that still WANTED to enter "the workplace", and over the years, I think I did okay.
Granted, you rarely make AS MUCH as those with the sheepskin, but them's the breaks.
And, since we've transitioned over from a MANUFACTURING society to an INFORMATION-GATHERING one, many of my era have come to know what being SCREWED is all about.
In a time when we NEED to be at the top of the educational game, WHY in God's name would you attempt to "dumb down" the SAT?
Are we following the primary education example that has been in place for decades?
It would seem so.
They say they're changing the SAT because of the ACT test, which has been more CURRICULUM-based.
Vocabulary words are being changed to "fit the workplace environment", so I guess words like TARDY, LATE,. ABSENT, LAZY, DO-NOTHING will be featured?
Instead of testing a wide range on math concepts, the new SAT will focus on areas like ALGEBRA, which they say is most needed for college and life afterward...
Yeah, there's not a damn day goes by where I DON'T use that "algebra" I had taken (even in high school)...
ROFLMAO!
Cripes, if anything, I use more GEOMETRY than anything else, along with BASIC math.
(something our city's budgetary departments might want to look into)
I think it's a bad idea, and will only serve to place our country farther behind those who have already surpassed us in secondary education.
*** Next up,  when did the simplest of jobs become SO damn difficult?
I'm talking about delivering a f$cking NEWSPAPER.
Yo, DIPSHIT - use the damn SIDEWALK
Now, all of you KNOW I clear off OUR sidewalks and steps, and with regularity whenever we get hit with snowfall, but for SOME strange reason, the newspaper carrier thinks it's MUCH BETTER to use the side of our lawn (and hill) to TRUDGE through the snow to toss the paper at our step.
Personally, I hate cold, wet feet in the early morning hours, but THIS person must love it.
I have called the paper repeatedly over this, and for a brief time, it stops.
Then the short-term memory of this person turns off and they go RIGHT back to doing what they were told NOT to do.
The way people act today is utterly ridiculous.
They do the opposite of what is correct, and I remember a time when if you told someone ONCE...that was sufficient.
The ONLY footprints leading up our steps today belonged to a feline, so unless our carrier is a stray CAT (which I sincerely doubt), the HUMAN is using the side of our property.
Sure LOOKS like CAT paw prints!
Damn shame I can't use the BARBED WIRE I have, as THAT would send a definitive message to use the STEPS - NCE would call me on that one from some local who'd dime on me because we care about  our property (which is NOT communal, I might add).
Makes you wonder what these people are thinking, if they do that at all.
*** And while we're on a roll with the ranting today, WANE has a related story.
Here's the link (with video)
http://wane.com/news/local/city-council-to-discuss-snowy-sidewalks/
Yes, friends, City Council is getting an earful when it comes to sidewalks NOT being cleared of snow.
(naturally, that does NOT apply to our "Fortress")
Even during the worst of the snow, OUR  sidewalk's CLEAR.
And, like I stated here numerous times, there IS a city ORDINANCE stating that sidewalks are to be CLEARED by 0900 hrs.
Councilman Geoff Paddock doesn't quite "get it", though.
He thinks there should be some "leeway" as to how the FINE for not clearing the sidewalks go.
Really, Geoff?
People in MY part of town couldn't give a flying f$ck to clearing their sidewalks off, and NO ONE cites them for not doing it...EVER.
And people are NEVER cited for walking down the damn middle of the street any OTHER time of year when the sidewalks are CLEAR and totally usable.
Get OUT of the damn street, you DUMBASSES!
This guy is SO out-of-touch with what is REALLY going on...perhaps if we wanted to put some HIGH SPEED RAIL  down our frigging streets he'd be interested?
There is a public meeting today at 0900 hrs downtown.
Paddock wants to work on solutions rather than fines...tell 'ya what, Geoff...FINES ARE THE SOLUTION...period.
With HIGH-SPEED RAIL...sidewalks would be cleared of snow.
When you start hitting people where it HURTS, namely in the Hip-National-Bank...THEN they're gonna wise the hell up, but NOT before.
And if you're referring to those too old or infirm to shovel their sidewalks, there are people who either charge or do that for free, so there's NO reason why it's not being done. Hell, I can count the number of people I saw going door-to-door to shovel a sidewalk on ONE STINKING FINGER...!!!
That was all through this winter.
Either people DO give a rip and shovel, or (as is the overwhelming case) they DON'T...it's THAT simple, Mr Simpleton.
*** Last back to the barn  is the fact that people today don't know HOW to communicate,and even if they do, it's rarely in the best way possible.
Have a beef with someone? Shoot 'em.
Someone doesn't follow a city ordinance? Ignore 'em.
Maybe, if people would get their collective heads out of their asses for a change,and put down the f$cking social media bulls*t for a few minutes, they MIGHT figure out HOW to communicate again.
Then again, it all begins at school...and at home.
Kids are not being brought up in the ways to communicate both correctly and effectively.
And unfortunately, that spills over into adulthood...so we wind up with a generation (or more) of people who are unable and unwilling to talk things our, reason things out, and decide for themselves the best way to act, rather than the worst way.
You say what you mean and mean what you say...yes is yes, and no is no.
What type of society will we wind up with when people cannot communicate in the manner that they should?
We're already seeing the effects, and unless and until we change that way of thinking and acting, it will only get worse.
And the earlier we can start to effect such change, the easier it will become to interact as we were created to do so.
Therein lies the lesson for today.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.

10 comments:

Disgusted said...

Long time no post. How are things in Lower Detroit/Upper Haiti? Get to visit "your" new McMillion Community Center yet? Just found out that The Park Board is buying food for it. Wish they would grind out the stumps that have been in my neighborhood for a couple of years. What the "center" needs is a funeral home and a cemetery. Good use for some of Glynn Hines's Legacy money. Maybe put some Legacy Banks in the 6th District so they have something to rob.

John DuMond said...

I'm with you on the educational boondoggle. The whole M.O. is to lower standards and increase the number of credentials we're handing out. It's a mindset straight out of Fantasyland.

Bob G. said...

"D":
Hey, how's it goin'?
Nah...I don't venture farther into the interior of "Little Nigeria" any more than I have to (which is not-at-all)...LOL!

The PARK BOARD footing the bill for "food"?
WTH for?
Has the new McMillan Center turned into a soup kitchen ALREADY?
(people too damn stupid to know how to cook, obviously - must be a "cultural thang")

I LOVE your idea for the center...LOL.
Makes SO much more sense and would be a BETTER use of funding.

Most of these mooks don't have that much (that the gov't hasn't given them already on OUR dime) and they STILL rob one another.
(when they're too lazy to rob others all over the city)

It's just (un)human nature at work.

Thanks for dropping by to comment.
Always a pleasure to hear from you.
Stay locked & loaded.
Roll safe out there.

Bob G. said...

John D.:
As I stated in my post near the end...we are rapidly losing our ability to COMMUNICATE, and when I used to go to school, that was THE most important aspect TO education.

Schools do away with cursive WRITING, then they cater to the "esteem" of the kids, rather than endow them with a better sense of self through PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT, and never want to teach kids how to fail (and then get up and TRY again) by just handing out award to everyone for breathing...not a good way to go.

And God forbid we even TRY to hold them responsible and accountable.

We spend the MOST per student and are nowhere near the top when it comes to achievement.
WTH?

A boondoggle indeed, my friend.
And it ALL begins with being able to effectively communicate.

Thanks for stopping by today to comment.
Stay safe out there.

CWMartin said...

"...the update – the first since 2005 – is needed to make the exam better represent what students study in high school and the skills they need to succeed in college and afterward..."

Well put. Sad to say, my daughter is a prime example of the educational system the new SAT is meant for. Flunk her enough times to look legit, then just let her out without a diploma.

Bob G. said...

Chris:
What I took that to mean was "what they study" is TRIPE, (a LOT more than when we went to school) so secondary education is therefore a CONTINUANCE of such tripe...and you get a diploma for knowing it as it's taught to you be a tenured leftist who prefers socailism to American values...how "novel".

Still, we're both pretty close.

I won't even get into the cashola aspect to colleges...or how MUCH of them (all) are owned by foreign interests.
(that alone is scary stuff)

Hey, thanks for stoping on by today and commenting.

Stay safe (and enjoy the warmth) up there.

Disgusted said...

I'm talking about thousands of dollars be spent on prepared food. Parks Dept. received an extra $2.6 million this year from Henry's tax increase. They had to give FWFD Chief Amy Biggs $400 thousand because she isn't very good in math.
Legacy money is being spent to staff the community center. Guess Henry is Hines bitch.

Bob G. said...

"D":
Wonder if that prepared food is to feed all the kids of the lazy-ass government-sponsored "parents" down here. Sure sounds like it.
3 squares a day on the SE side..."fo free"

Yeah, that "miscalculation" by the budget jerkwads of the FWFD was a WHOPPER.

And, sooner or later these city hall yahoos will figure out that Peter is gonna get pissed at being robbed by Paul.

Henry and Hines?
Well, someone is definitely up somebody's a$$, that's for sure.

Stay safe.

gadfly said...

Bob G:

I think that you are onto something, relating High Speed Rail and snow removal. We can use the Legacy funds and other taxpayer money being frittered away on HS rail for electric heat under the sidewalks in order to keep us elderly folks from killing ourselves in complying with the snow removal ordinance.

This solution is like the Obama make work solution where day crews dig holes and the night crews fill the holes in. So the First Rule of Holes will apply because I & M gives the City the funds and the city spends it back to I & M!

The Bob G. brain needs to be preserved for mankind! May I suggest formaldehyde?

Bob G. said...

Gadfly:
LOL...that's priceless!

Actually, I worked for a place in Philly where they NEVER had to shovel the sidewalks in front of the building.
They had STEAM LINES running under the sidewalks of the place...that was amazing.

As for preserving my brain?

I'm working on using BOURBON and SCOTCH, my friend.

Hey, thanks much for stopping by to comment.
Stay safe out there.