Opus 2022-187: New Laws: Truth in Plagiarism

We need a new law.  We need it to be required that when someone uses Babylon Bee material that it be clearly labeled.  After spending time looking at the news and raising my eyebrows at some of the click-bait, I go to The Bee and find the same “articles”.  

I enjoy the Babylon Bee.  They are closer to the truth than the so called “real” media.  At the same time it is good to know that their satire is written with the spirit of poking fun at the world.  It is getting to the point where you can’t believe anything you read except the Bee and they are not claiming to be true, just accurate.

I may need to change my morning routine and read the Babylon Bee first and then the news sites.  It will save me some time.  I might even learn more.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-186: More Than Baby Formula

We are watching the Proregressives* destroy our country.  I was going to say “slowly” but that does not seem to apply.  They are working quickly.  The destruction is in any area they can reach and push their agenda.  We recently saw the Republicans in the Senate jump on board to deny us the rights “guaranteed” by the second amendment, but that is not my theme in this post.  I have recently discovered that supply chain issues are real.

We are all aware of bare spots on the shelves at grocery stores.  So far I have been able to get want I want either by coming back the next day or making a substitution, but we are seeing the selection and surplus become a thing of the past.

It is not just groceries.  Recently I ordered some Pro Club T-shirts from a store in Las Vegas that I have used before.  My son had a yearly computer conference and I would tag along.  It gave me a chance to stop by and stock up on what I wanted or needed.  I have never ordered on line but decided I would not be back in person so I took the plunge.  My order ended up being cancelled.  They called me and said they were not able to get the merchandise I wanted and did not know when new stock would come in.  

For me it was an inconvenience.  I am not close to going naked or freezing to death.  If things get desperate I can start wearing the shirts my local physical therapy clinic gives out.  There are all kinds of cheap substitutes.  I will live.

For the retailer it is a problem.  The people I ordered from have a small store in a strip mall.  They have a good customer base but every time they fail to meet a request they risk losing a customer.  Every time you cancel an order it effects your bottom line.  Frustrated customers do not pay the rent.  I hope they can find a way to survive.

For the manufacturer it is a disaster.  They build a brand and a loyalty over time.  When customers find alternatives they may not be back.  It is hard to recover.  It is similar to the way in which I switched the soft drink choices I make because the big names had gone woke.  I found out that the local store brand was just as good so even if they have an epiphany of values I will not be going back.

It isn’t just a jostling for control and power of the elites.  Lives are being destroyed because the means of supporting your family are being sacrificed on the altar of socialism.  There is little I can do about a store front in Las Vegas.  What I can do is try to support the local businesses that are trying to stay alive.  

November is coming.  Elections are important.  Paraphrasing something a guy named Hugh Hewitt once said, “If we win big enough, they can’t cheat.”  Actually they can but if enough of us show up and get angry enough they won’t be able to cheat enough to steal another election.

And don’t waste my time telling me that they honestly won the last one.  You are better than that, I hope.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-185: Headlines: Deferred

Will we ever be told the real cause of death?  I had never heard of Tyler Sanders by name.  I recognized one of the photos from his credits but the name itself meant nothing to me.  What got my attention was that he was 18 and no one was talking about why he died.  As I now write it is five days later and there is still nothing except some nonsense “fact checkers” braying out the party line.  What party line?  

I have a question.  Was it covid or vaccine related?  The issue was not even brought up in the articles I read.  I have a feeling we will never see any follow up.  After a quick search I see that the autopsy has been completed but nothing is being released.  Hmm.  So I would say that the party line is “don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.”  

Buried deep in the article is the mention of another death with the same circumstance.  He also has no cause of death released even though he died a week before our actor.  In both cases it says the cause of death is being investigated.  I imagine it will be investigated until no one is paying attention.

Tyler Sanders and his family deserve their privacy.  I can support that.  The public needs to know the truth about all of these people dying of a condition that we have never heard of before, Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.  My guess is you will never get the truth from the media or the government so read and think on your own.  Make your own decisions based on facts that you can rely on.

And let me do the same.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-184: The Science of Hate Speech

While we are worried about hate crimes and all the bigotry out there we might want to consider something published by a site called PhysicsWorld.  I came across this as I got side-tracked on the question of how many believed the earth was flat.

“Alarming polling data by the firm Datafolha, for example, indicate that 7% of the Brazilian population – some 11 million people – believe that the Earth is flat. This shocking number has been attributed to a resurgent evangelical Christian church, but there are also signs that religious fundamentalism is spreading these ideas in Islamic countries too.”

I am not into hate speech accusations so understand this is a bit tongue in cheek, but this sounds like a classic case of haters writing hate.  This is religious bigotry.  Since they threw in Muslims I can write that.  I have been a part of that “religious fundamentalism” demographic all my life.  I attended what was a Christian college at the time.  I have done a bit of traveling, reading and listening.  I don’t think I have ever met an evangelical Christian who believed the world was flat.

Can these so called scientists really be this brainwashed?  I guess so.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-183: Johnny Can’t Fly Fish Either

Have you ever wondered why Johnny can’t read?  There are two extremes in ability to read.  At one end you have children that almost teach themselves and then they soar.  We have friends who claim their three year old granddaughter can read.  Our four year old is learning to recognize numbers.  At the other end are some who cannot learn to read for some physical or mental reason.  In between you have the ones who could and do, along with the ones who could but don’t.

Johnny can’t read for the same reason I can’t tie a fly fishing lure.  He has no reason to do so.  An example of this is the summer reading program at our city library.  There was a big send off with free snow cones, bounce houses, and lots of crafts both inside and out.  You were encouraged to sign up for the summer fun.  This program will not help Johnny much because you can get every prize and award without ever getting in touching distance of a book.

The opening lines sound good.

SUMMER READING 2022

Each time you complete an activity from the list below, color in an item. (Repeats are okay!) After completing five activities, come to the library for your first prize.  After completing 10 activities, pick up a second prize! Prize pickup starts June 21.  When you've completed the gameboard (24 activities) you will receive an entry for our grand prize drawing.

Then you come to what they call the Activity Bank

Read 30 minutes | Attend a library program | Visit a park | Download an eBook or eAudiobook | Read a new genre | Read by the water | Visit a RIO stop| Sing a sea shanty | Try a new cuisine | Make a craft or art project | Watch a movie based on a book | Relax with a "beach" read | Read a book on a reading list

I counted thirteen activities.  At best five of them have anything to do with reading.  I don’t think going out for sushi is exactly something that benefits literacy.

On the way out I saw some signs advertising some kind of program offering free meals.  If they use the same criteria for that then it will involves listening to songs about food, visiting city hall, drawing pictures of food and playing in a new park.  Hungry?  Too bad, that isn’t on the program.

The only way to improve reading is to read.  Someone needs to tell our library that.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-182: Headlines: Utopia Rides Again

There is a reason why I don’t have certain sites bookmarked.  I sometimes end up there because of click bait.  This time the temptation was on Instapundit with a headline that read,

“Why stocks, crypto, and home values are all plunging at once.”

It took me to Hot Air and I began to read.  I did not need to respond to the offer to read more by the author because it was obvious that she lived in a universe alien to me.  This is how she finished the article,

“An extended period of low interest rates has translated into surging asset values. That has made the small share of Americans capable of investing in homes, farmland, stocks, bonds, commodities, art, patents, water rights, start-ups, private equity, hedge funds, and other assets breathtakingly rich, fostering astonishing levels of wealth inequality. Given low labor-force participation and sluggish wage growth,...”

She talks about “the small share” and seems to think that such things as home ownership have been out of the reach of workers in America.  Maybe in the Manhattan ghetto she lives in.  Real estate prices in that enclave are absurd.  Out in the rest of America it is not that way, or it wasn’t until recently.  My understanding is that home ownership is higher than ever.  I heard about someone living in Minnesota who figured they could only get around $175,000 for their home.  Granted you won’t find that price in trendy locations but they do exist.  That is well in the reach of anyone willing to make the commitment.

So I would ask that such writers save their dreams of socialist utopia for their fantasy novels.  Get out and rub elbows with the working class a little.  Maybe they will invite you to their home for a cook out.  Maybe not.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-181: Headlines: Doom and Gloom

You may have forgotten The Population Bomb, a book from 1968 by Paul Ehrlich.  He predicted that the world would be starving to death by 1980 and at war over food resources.  I don’t know if you have noticed, it didn’t happen.  Or maybe the Fake News just failed to report it.  What is even more astounding is that he is still a respected scholar at Stanford.  Evidently the UN is still on board with that theory.

Current scholarship is drawing a different picture:  Population collapse.  The story has been around for a few months but was recently covered in the Epoch Times.

One of the trends that has long been noted is that as income increases the number of children decreases.  This is true in every culture around the world.  The replacement rate to keep a steady population is 2.1 children per female.  All advanced countries are below that now and even the poor countries are getting closer.  Evidently the UN hasn’t got the word yet,

“The United Nations has predicted that humanity will continue its rapid expansion into the next century, growing to more than 11 billion by 2100 from just under 8 billion today.”

but it is obvious to the rest of the world.  

What I found amusing was that the article expresses the idea that once population starts to decline we are doomed to extinction.  

“Once a country’s fertility rate falls below 2.1, it never comes back.”

It is as if people would never decide to start having children again.  Maybe they would if they were forced back to the farms to feed themselves.  The show gets better.

One scholar, Charles I. Jones, gets really dramatic.

“Economic growth stagnates as the stock of knowledge and living standards settle down to constant values,” Jones writes. “Meanwhile, the population itself falls at a constant rate, gradually emptying the planet of people.”

Before you take him too seriously notice that he teaches at the same university as Ehrlich who says we are doomed because of overpopulation.

If they were not so tedious I would suggest that scholars put together an act and try out for Dry Bar Comedy.

So which is it?  Are we going to starve to death from too many people or are we going to die in nursing homes because there is no one to take care of us?  I think the main thing they want us to do is buy all of their books so they can retire while there are still illegal aliens to hire as nannies.

homo unius libri