Say, here’s an interesting note on migraines related to our recent WuJo discussions which I wasn’t aware of:
“Regarding this: “No Pythagorean images for me but twice within the past 6 months a large golden mirrored-finish circle, with perfect saw tooth edges appeared in my vision.”
I had something similar happen to me three times. After each episode, I drew a picture of what I had seen. The saw tooth edges of the circle were present in each although instead of a “golden mirror-finish circle”, the inside of my circles was shaded. I have also had similar visual effects when running long distances.
I took my drawings in to the doctor and asked him about them. He got all excited and asked permission to publish my drawings in a medical journal.
He had read about “visual migraines” in med school but had never seen a drawing of what they actually looked like. I told him that there was no pain involved. He said visual migraines do not have to be associated with pain.
Well, now ain’t that one for the books?
Reader’s Writes
Pretty good reason for us to stay here in the Outback in this note:
Just watched Ban Ki Moon and Kofi Anan in a U.N. press conference.
The news of projected events about Syria is not good news. Syria will not contain a civil war within its borders as Libya did. Note that the Russia supports Syria and its leader. The U.S. wants the Syrian leader to step down. Underneath all this is an unknowledgeable youthful population, that if the text in forums such as NewsVine.com are an example, often propose a policy of ‘Nuke em’ to handle the middle east.
It has occurred to me that after my generation (Now in their mid 60′s) are the last group to really know, from personal experience, the astounding power of a nuclear weapon. Remember strontium 90 in our milk? When we’re gone or ignored things might become very radioactive through ignorance.
Having spent years in military nuclear security during my life I can say, with some confidence, that nuclear war, once begun, will be difficult to stop. Why? Because all the weapons on the planet can be in the air in under five minutes. That is one hell of a lot of airborne fast moving power. There is so much of it that the odds on having a flawless callback are not too good. If one gets through to its target there will be no turning back. But thankfully, the aliens will disarm all the weapons before any damage is done.
The subjectline with this rather sobering assessment? “Pretend there’s a ‘smiley’ at the end.” Uh….OK….err…….
Future of Dreams Past
Several notes on my odd dream I mentioned earlier this week which might be interpretted as pointing to Minnesota:
Been a while since I wrote you but I have a odd bit of news to pass on. One of my coworkers is in the National Guard. She is a cook and just got back a couple weeks ago from her 2 week stint. We were talking yesterday about when she would be heading out again. Her unit will be heading out in a few weeks for a non stop convoy to somewhere in MN. It seems that the PTB want to know just how long it would take disaster supplies to reach that area from where I live in upstate NY. Just thought that I would pass it on.
Wel that-there is sure interesting, but then so was this:
This is in response to your “Back to Vivid Dreaming” section today. On Tuesday night I had a dream that a massive earthquake struck the northwest corner of Minnesota. It seemed very odd as this is not an area normally associated with earthquakes. I don’t remember anything truly vivid about the dream, except location of the quake. Take this as you please.
Of interest, I would like to note that later on that night, I had a dream about the New Madrid popping and I vividly remember the chasm it created. It resembled the Grand Canyon but there was no specific location, ie: Tennessee, Missouri, etc for the chasm.
Such a strange outlier for a dream that I’m keeping an eye on Minnesota for another week or so before passing it off as brain-blender goo from the preconscious.
More Student Loan Feedback
Good email from a reader that deserve an answer on key points:
Hello George, What is the total debt of all student loans? A billion, maybe two?
$904 billion. A shade under one trillion.
Why not ask the colleges and universities with big fat endowment funds to kick loose some of that cash and help these kids out? Harvard has almost thirty seven billion in their endowment fund, Yale and the other Ivy Leagues are not far behind. I do not remember which Texas school purchased a billion dollars in gold bullion last year, but obviously there is a bit of spare change in your fair state too.
Agreed, however, endowment funds are generally looked at as sources of “rainy day money” and for expanding the physical plant, brining new programs on, and so forth. The folks I’ve met who actually manage endowments look at them as self-funded “institutional insurance” and now generally a source of ongoing operating funds.
However, there is something of interest here in the way of a tax angle. Since most many of the schools are non–profits, they look askance at the for profit sector which pays real estate taxes and so forth, while the NFP’s (especially church-tied schools) get to mostly skate on property taxes. Long discussion could follow, but the point is that endownments were not designed to offset operating costs, in most cases.
Why are they paying lobbyist to ply the halls of Congress to increase the amount kids can borrow when they have endowment funds?
The answer above applie again, but the reason they ply the halls of Congress trying to raise student loan funding levels is that in a very real sense, school personnel vote and the more money they can raise, the more their incomes will go up.
This harks back to an earlier period in American history, though. There actually was a time when having a civil service job, or being a teacher, paid less than manufacturing or trade jobs, but that was because the public back then was bright enough to understand that there was a trade-off between job security (extremely high for civil servants and teachers once tenured) and less secure jobs where were more performance based.
That’s why in countries like China (not sure about now, but in earlier times for sure) public service jobs were highly prized and I read in some history book about 5,000 people sitting for civil service jobs numbering a few dozen. The role of the civil servants was very respected and because job security was extreme, so they could take on long-term debt and so forth – they were (and still are) real foundational people in their communities.
The problem is higher ed is that – as I stated previously, there’s the problem that given every school uses about the same textbooks, the only thing they have to sell (at outlandish prices) is the personalities of their institutions.
I did mention in here somewhere that the Ivy League schools got into the whole collegiate sports thing in the late 1800′s in order to pump up enrollments? People are incredibly blinded to reality sometimes. You can buy a book for $100 and get the knowledge, or you can buy the book, read some of it, hear lectures on the good stuff, see basketball and football, get drunk with fratties or sorority sisters, make social connections, and get stuck with a $50-thousand dollar tab. It’s an irrational system designed for people who can’t think for themselves and serves ‘em right to get fleeced if they’re dumb enough to fall for it.
Ask a college kid what they’re buying with all that money and they’ll tell you an education. Few will cite the parties, the social, or the sports aspects, yet that’s the main distinction from buying a book and just sitting down and reading the damn thing. Which is the point, right?
They also lobbied to make student loans non-dischargeable along with their banker buddies. You would almost believe there was some conspiracy to create generations of debt slaves.
NSS! Now you’re onto it.
If some kids do manage to discharge their student loan debt, who pays for it? The taxpayers of course. I am thinking we have enough debt to repay. What do you think?
Frequently and brilliantly, I hope. But remember we live in an incredibly complex system and without a number of these “games” going on (the military, schools, and financial come right to mind) there wouldn’t be enough real work for people to do and then what?
See? This is the problem. We could have a country where the unemployment rate would be 85% – which is to say just 25% – 50% of the workforce could provide everything we need to live nice, abundant lives.
But we are sooo locked-in to this odd way of thinking about money, remuneration for services and such, that we fail to notice that we are screwing ourselves. So instead of figuring out equitable ways to share “money” and do away with the existing parasitic financial system and come up with something better, we instead will do anything to perpetuate “the game” which is why all of us are busting butt for 50+ years and then, once we’re old enough that we can’t enjoy life like we could in our twenties, we get turned out to pasture to await Death’s arrival.
Are we really that stupid? Well, evidence says unequivocably that we are. Locked into participatory roles in order to feed and clothe ourselves, it’s inconceivable to most peopler that the whole organizational chart of the modern world is a scam designed to employ people and (by the ownership classes) to exploit them and collect as much of the skim as possible.
Sorry, that’s just the way it works. So everyone works the same angle (skimming what they can, even if it’s taking a few paperclips home from the office or a box of pens) and thus everyone gets on the great moral slide and is co-opted into the mix.
Values and Priciples are not parttime properties. You are either ethical and honest at all times, or you’re just a crook waiting for a better opportunity. But if you live by Principles and Values, then the deterioration of society and the deviation from the right path becomes incredibly clear.
But that you already know, and that’s what I’m hiding from here in the Outback. World is a runaway mob right now, and I’m perfectly content to get my knowledge from books and pull back a bit from the mass hysteria. Because whether you’re in higher ed, killing people for money, or taking money to make money, most folks are taws (gamepieces) to those who play the game one level up from ours. And as such, we are disposable chattel.
Which brings us to the end of another fine week of playing our Shakespearian roles on the stage of this thing. And once again, the I-Ching Inbox brings forth an email which captures the mood du jour ever so much more gracefully than I:
Hi George There really is no industry growth, other then Healthcare and Government (of all levels). (Which can employ the number of people required.)
As you know, when we were young, If you didn’t have a job, It was because you didn’t want one. There was that much industry.
With all the industry, pushed out of the country, there is no other growth industries. So, really, what can be expected?
Our big Hope is that “SOMETHING” goes wrong and the “Just In Time” system and falls apart, the country needs to rebuild industry here in America. Hopefully on a cottage industry style.
—
On another topic, my missing wrench finally decided to return, it only took 5 months to decide to come back to me. I wrote to you earlier about my tools taking a vacation. (Woo ju topic)
Honestly, with the recent eclipses and stuff like that, I feel something GOOD is on its way. We will be o.k. I can say “I see things finally changing for the better”
P.s. When I have positive feelings Mega S#$%^ happens! Time to duck and cover!!!!!!!!!!
But tell you what: If stuff is going to hit the fan, could we please plan that for Monday so as not to ruin the weekend?
Pretend there’s a “smiley” there, too…
Write when you break even: george@ure.net
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Part 2: The End of ALL Jobs
In Wednesday’s report, we made an astounding forecast, which unless I live to be well into triple digits, I would be around to see, but my son – and if he ever gets hitched up and has kids – following generations of the Ure clan will. But that’s where we run into issues: Big Ones: Because once an economy runs out of jobs, the “economy” as we know it implodes. With no jobs, no one has income, so unless machines are going to provide us with Nanny State comforts (in which case what’s the point of “living”?) we’ll crash and burn in a major way long before our forecast date. So this morning, besides laying out our retirement saving plan in the ChartPack, we pick up the scent and see what are some of the “best case” ways for the End of All Jobs to arrive. After we march through some of the morning headlines…
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Safer Computing: Swearing Off Cookies
It has been a while since I roared the praises of the Maxa Cookie Manager which you can download and install for a free test drive by clicking here.
To upgrade from the demo to full working is still less than $30 (During their Spring Sale) and one heck of a bargain at that, if I do say so.
A new version of Maxa is due shortly (V. 6.0) and we’ll advise in due court when it is due for release, upgrade paths, and all that-there kinda like stuff.
“Live on $10,000″ A Year
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