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.