Thoughts For Thursday...

We're into the 2nd and final day of this warm-up in the Heartland, but don't be alarmed, we'll be back into the WINTER weather soon enough (and tomorrow's commute looks to be a bit on the "interesting" (read white-knuckle) side.
The good news is that we're not expected to geet anything close to a foot of snow (all the forecasts have us in the 1-3 inch range, which is pretty doable).
Our Hoosierland weather for today bring us cloudy skies, temps reaching up to (a potential record) high of 58 degrees, and some gusty winds and scattered showers coming along for the ride. There goes all the snow for a day.

So, let's go and get ourselves a refreshing drink to whet our whistle, as we see what else has been going on...
*** First out of the hangar is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards."
This is attributed to Aldous Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) wh was an English writer, novelist, philosopher, and prominent member of the Huxley family.
And here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley
((The author of nearly fifty books, he was best known for his novels including Brave New World, set in a dystopian future; for non-fiction works, such as The Doors of Perception, which recalls experiences when taking a psychedelic drug; and a wide-ranging output of essays.))

Seems like many of his quotes are coming to pass, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on whether you're of the "glass half-full" or "glass half-empty" persuasion.
He dabbled in mystic religion as well as psychotropic drugs, so perhaps in some way, his writings were "inspired".
It's a pretty good read and lends insight into the person behind the literature, and especially into the mind of someone who saw the future a bit more clearly than most do today.
*** Next up, time for our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
JANUARY 11 -
---It's National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

(slavery still has many faces, but it's the same animal)
---It's National Milk Day

(and it still does a body good)
---It's National Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day

(damn good way to LOSE your friends, if you ask me)
*** Next, the FWPD came REAL close to catching one of the two Belmont Beverage robbers.

Here's the story:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local-news/2018/01/11/fort-wayne-police-find-man-slashed-but-no-one-talking/
Yeah, the officers surrounded a house on Brackenridge St (near Parkviow Field), mande entry...and found the place EMPTY. The perp must have JUST left (oops).

"So...who's turn to make the donut run?"

Maybe next time...and why not check out some of the usual places on the SE side...you might get lucky.
((UPDATE - 1100 HRS - Came across this from WOWO:
https://www.wowo.com/police-nab-one-two-armed-robbery-suspects/
One down...one to go.))
((UPDATE - 1500 HRS - Got the second piece of crap. Here's the link:
https://www.wowo.com/police-capture-second-armed-robbery-suspect-in-belmont-beverage-robbery-connected-to-other-recent-robberies/
For a mugshot, check back to my post of 10 January - Gregory Garland...BUSTED!))
Geez, if THIS keeps up, we might actually see crime go DOWN this year...lol.
*** Next up, and along those lines, the whole Sunday sales of alcohol deal  makes it a little farther down the road. Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/20180111/senate-panel-oks-sunday-sales-bill

Again, this is a waste of time and money pushing this through the state legislature.
People can buy booze the OTHER SIX DAYS...so just give it a "rest".
Even GOD took a day off, remember?
If you're THAT messed up where you can't PLAN AHEAD to have your hooch on SUNDAY (by purchasing it the other 6 days), then you need some serious remediation when it comes to basic management skills in your LIFE!

A lot of this is over COLD beer, too. Like you can't buy room temperature beer and CHILL it either in a fridge or outside? (last week would taken a mere 10 minutes or less...lol)
And folks wonder why society is as effed up as it has become.

Maybe guys like THIS will drop by SUNDAYS, too.

I don't wonder any longer. I KNOW why.
*** Next, Leo Morris has a good column in today's paper that I think is worth a read.
Here's the link:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/2018/01/11/leo-morris-its-time-to-rise-up-for-offended-sports-and-arts-patrons/
Leo seems to say a lot of what many of us think, and it never gets old (to me, anyway).
He calls out the people of classical art and yet praises the art itself, and I get that.
I can often like certain music, or literature, or art, without really liking the person behind it.
Conversely, I may find myself liking the person, while not being that fond of their choice of performances.
And in that, I believe that the arts allows us to cross such lines without being punished.
Leo ties all this together quite well:

((However, patronizing still-living artists who have nothing but contempt for us does more than encourage their wickedness. It makes us volunteers in our own marginalization from the culture that should belong to us all.))
Amen to that.
*** Next up, school grades get a "reinvention"? Here's the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/schools/20180111/school-grades-might-expand

Now excuse me for being from a time when ALL subjects mattered in order to get promoted to the next grade, or to graduate from elementary or high school, but SCIENCE and SOCIAL STUDIES used to COUNT in my day.
This was naturally in addition to MATH and ENGLISH (which is what all these standardized tests seem to focus solely on).
Since my stint in the educational system (which formally ended in 1970), the "system" has become WAY too convoluted and overwhelmingly weighed down with bullshit. Perhaps that's why we see graduation rates plummet like a lead balloon?
And to place the onus of graduation upon the SCHOOLS rather than the STUDENTS THEMSELVES, and grade those instead of the kids is serving what PURPOSE exactly?
If the schools are all teaching the SAME material, then the LEARNING aspect is on the students' shoulders, is it not?
Yet, the school are being held more accountable than the students OR their parents.
That's inherently wrong (imho).
I keep saying...you get BACK TO BASICS, lose all this "touchy-feely" crap, and all this participation rewards - everyone wins BS, and maybe you'll produce better students and graduates...like we USED to do.
*** Next, time to stop on by "Kitten Corner"...

The kids were a tad on the antsy side yesterday...must have been the mild weather.
I know watching snow melt makes me want to go nuts...LOL.

Honestly, they did okay, for the most part, and spent the usual amount of time napping (all that excess energy does have it's limits). They also enjoy all the affection they get. Funny, I do too.
*** Next up, let's take the time to check in with "Midnight and Company"...

But, I'm HERE when it counts, right?

Okay, so it's been two days in a row that Whiskers is not around for her midday snack, but Midnight doesn't mind getting a bit of her bounty,
God love him. He's wonderfully reliable.

More for me, then.

Morning and afternoon meals find them both at the patio door, and they have to really love "Wet Food Wednesdays"., when they split a can of Friskies in addition to dry food (as a topping).
Yeah, they're both spoiled as all get out. That's what we do.
*** Last back to the runway...Huxley got a lot of things "right" when it came to the future.
So, we're not the Jetsons...I don't want to be.
I don't want a world where everything is done FOR me...we've enough stuff going on that's being done TO me.
Personal growth demands we take upon us the ability to ACHIEVE, and hat starts before we even get our little asses into school, or at least it SHOULD.
But I see people today willing to compromise when it comes to damn near anything and everything.

People will rather let someone else do what they could do for themselves (the welfare system is replete with such examples like food and housing).
People want more security than liberty, and, as Franklin noted, will wind up with neither (if things keep going in the same direction).
People claim tolerance, as long as other's opinions don't conflict with their own.
People tout diversity and yet seek forms of segregation.
The human condition is not in as good a shape as it should be - not for the time we've spent on this planet.
We can always do better, and that does not mean having someone or something else taking our place when it comes to personal achievement...or personal responsibility.
There';s something to think about.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.