Recently as I stood outside my pub having a cigarette. I picked up one of those "free" tabloids designed for the tourists to take and was thumbing through it. I caught a page titled "Internet Gem of the Fortnight" and it caught my eye. The paper had reproduced an 8th grade test given in Salina Kansas as the final exam of the year in 1895! I began to look at the questions and had to go back and read the header again. This thing was like a grad school exam! And I'm not kidding! For example, "Give the epochs into which U.S. history is divided.", or how about "What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and Syllabication?", and if you think these are a piece of cake, "Name all the Republics of of Europe and give the Capitals of each".
Ok boys and girls there are 45 questions like this and you have five hours to complete the test, remeber a passsing gfrade is required to graduate from the 8th grade! Ready begin, remember no calculators, no notes or crib sheets, and no talking during the test,...ready, begin!
So just how do you think one of today's 8th graders would do? Or for that matter a graduate of one of our prestigious "pillars of higher learning"?
Remember this is 8th grade stuff, no wonder our parents and thier parents were so damn smart and gave us what we have today, but it begs the question with our "dumbed down" system today what the hell will this country look like in another 100 years. God knows we can see some of the early results now, business men (ooops! sorry, first mistake, I meant "business people") who can not craft a regular intelligent writen communication without spelling mistakes, use of slang, or, God forbid, properly punctuated! Or people who can't do something as simple as count change back to you but rely on what the computer tells them to give back to you. Or how about asking anyone today to name three countries in Africa, let alone their Capitals!
How did we let our country backslide (oops! another slang term) to this point! In a lot of respects it's maddening, but moreover it's just plain bitterly sad.
The bigger question is can we "fix" it? I think not because we've come too far down the road of permissiveness, politcal correctness, and sheer "feel good" logic. Are we doing our future children and leaders any good with this direction today?
Sure hope the pharmacist filling my perscription knows the difference between millimeters and all that stuff, or the doctor who has to operate on me knowing exactly where my spleen is, or the accountant who can glean the proper percentage of taxes I need to pay.
Sure is scary!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
A day off!!
Today is payday for the month so I said "what the hell" and decided to take the day off and get some Christmas stuff done. My crew is more than able to run the joint without me.
Let's see, it's 6am, been up for an hour(as usual!) had two cups of coffee, scanned the world news and all, surfed a few of my favorite sites, and have about twenty minutes left til I go get showered shaved and dressed for my Rotary Club meeting. (I'm the President this year). Then it's a quick Board of Directors meeting with the Rotary to finalize our Christmas caroling and stockings distribution Sunday at the local hospital, then off to see my broker. (Setting up IRA's for my wife and I,...finally) and discussing why of the only stocks I bought last spring that grew was the one I picked (Apple Computer), not the brokers "recommendations".
Maybe a quick cup of coffee then off to finish the Christmas shopping for my wife. She's wanting a certain setting for her wedding ring. (After forty years of wearing it I guess I can spring for it!) Then I want to get her a mixer, you know the kind you see on all the cooking shows with the one big ass beater that works in an eliptical fashion, like the Kitchen Aid ones. (I went out and priced them last week even the re-conditioned ones start at $150, and some of the new ones are as high as $450! (I know it's a "guy thing", and I'll get over it, but it better not become a doorstop for those kind of bucks!)
I'll probably swing by the store just to check up on things and handle a crisis or two that occurs during my absence, then the post office thing to send my tax guy a check (this guys good for a number of reasons I can't go into here, but trust me he's really GOOOD!) A few more forays into the stores for last minute things and I should be done. Then off to "the Pub" for a couple of pints and home to relax before the final ten day push to Christmas at the store,(sigh).
I haven't even finished writting this and I'm tired already! Guess it's time for another cigarette, cup of coffee, and re-entry into the world from my little "blog capsule" here in the ether layers.
Have a great day and drop me a comment or two so I don't feel like the sole inhabitant of this "vast wastland".
The nice things about a blog are it is mind provoking, and fun to express yourself. I can't even imagine the "game nerds" who sit for hours on end just encouraging early arthritis by blowing up aliens and all that other game stuff. Besides reaching the 14,343rd level what else do you have to show for yourself? At least I have my thoughts and words and know there are thousands of others doing the same thing which I can tap into and read.
("Get down off the soapbox and go shower", my alterego or conscience is yelling,....Bye!)
Let's see, it's 6am, been up for an hour(as usual!) had two cups of coffee, scanned the world news and all, surfed a few of my favorite sites, and have about twenty minutes left til I go get showered shaved and dressed for my Rotary Club meeting. (I'm the President this year). Then it's a quick Board of Directors meeting with the Rotary to finalize our Christmas caroling and stockings distribution Sunday at the local hospital, then off to see my broker. (Setting up IRA's for my wife and I,...finally) and discussing why of the only stocks I bought last spring that grew was the one I picked (Apple Computer), not the brokers "recommendations".
Maybe a quick cup of coffee then off to finish the Christmas shopping for my wife. She's wanting a certain setting for her wedding ring. (After forty years of wearing it I guess I can spring for it!) Then I want to get her a mixer, you know the kind you see on all the cooking shows with the one big ass beater that works in an eliptical fashion, like the Kitchen Aid ones. (I went out and priced them last week even the re-conditioned ones start at $150, and some of the new ones are as high as $450! (I know it's a "guy thing", and I'll get over it, but it better not become a doorstop for those kind of bucks!)
I'll probably swing by the store just to check up on things and handle a crisis or two that occurs during my absence, then the post office thing to send my tax guy a check (this guys good for a number of reasons I can't go into here, but trust me he's really GOOOD!) A few more forays into the stores for last minute things and I should be done. Then off to "the Pub" for a couple of pints and home to relax before the final ten day push to Christmas at the store,(sigh).
I haven't even finished writting this and I'm tired already! Guess it's time for another cigarette, cup of coffee, and re-entry into the world from my little "blog capsule" here in the ether layers.
Have a great day and drop me a comment or two so I don't feel like the sole inhabitant of this "vast wastland".
The nice things about a blog are it is mind provoking, and fun to express yourself. I can't even imagine the "game nerds" who sit for hours on end just encouraging early arthritis by blowing up aliens and all that other game stuff. Besides reaching the 14,343rd level what else do you have to show for yourself? At least I have my thoughts and words and know there are thousands of others doing the same thing which I can tap into and read.
("Get down off the soapbox and go shower", my alterego or conscience is yelling,....Bye!)
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Twas the week before Christmas
I guess this is the start of the 12 days of Christmas, or at least the 12 days before. This is that time of year when everyone goes into "panic mode", ya know? I mean you REALLY start thinking about the gift thing heavily. Instead of the neat organized list, which most folks already completed, it's time to buy for your "special someone", be it a wife, husband, significant other or whatever. And this is when the whole "plan" starts to go awry.
First you have the old, "don't worry about me, I really don't want anything,...really." But is that true? Or could you be being set up for a big fall? Does it really mean "I'm not going to tell you, that's the easy way out, use you're own brain and figure out what I really want, and for your sake I hope you get it right!"
Or the old, "Whatever you want to get,..a scarf or a dress would be nice, or some perfume." Now this one is the one that strikes real fear in my heart. It's like being on a TV quiz show and the emcee is saying "Ok, choose a door, remember one of them is for the new Porche and three million dollars and the other two are either a years supply of Purina Cat Chow or fifteen hundred Twinkies. Which door do you want?" Particularly with women. Do you have any concept of how many scarves, dresses, and perfumes there are to choose from? Not that I can't be decisive, but for a guy this is like picking the 20,000 to 1 shot in the Kentucky Derby! The odds are that you'll pick wrong and the result is a nice, polite, but disappointlingly subdued, "It's lovely, but what ever possessed you to buy this color?" (That means it's going to cost you at least three times as much bucks for her to "exchange it", or it will be placed somewhere prominently to be seen and remind you for the next year that you didn't come anywhere close to the mark. In rare cases it's the catalyst for a trip to the mall for a whole new wardrobe because "I don't have anything to go with it, but I love it, I'm sure I can find something at the mall that will work with it."
Are you feeling the pressure? Is it beginning to become difficult to eat, drink or sleep? Or perhaps you're sleeping like a baby, in which case beware, you are far too overconfident, you missed something!
Guys are easy, big boy toys do the trick every time. The less we need it, the more stupid the purpose of it, the more lights, bells, whistles and manuals the better. In fact some women already figured it out. If they get the real "guy toys" he'll be happy as a pig in you know what, and even if he doesn't need it or want it he'll act like he does or next year it's back to sweaters and ties, and women know that he'll never ask for directions or help making it work, so the next twelve hours will bring peace and quiet to the house because he'll be buried in a manual, sucking on a beer, and oblivious to food, maybe that's the best gift she can get!
First you have the old, "don't worry about me, I really don't want anything,...really." But is that true? Or could you be being set up for a big fall? Does it really mean "I'm not going to tell you, that's the easy way out, use you're own brain and figure out what I really want, and for your sake I hope you get it right!"
Or the old, "Whatever you want to get,..a scarf or a dress would be nice, or some perfume." Now this one is the one that strikes real fear in my heart. It's like being on a TV quiz show and the emcee is saying "Ok, choose a door, remember one of them is for the new Porche and three million dollars and the other two are either a years supply of Purina Cat Chow or fifteen hundred Twinkies. Which door do you want?" Particularly with women. Do you have any concept of how many scarves, dresses, and perfumes there are to choose from? Not that I can't be decisive, but for a guy this is like picking the 20,000 to 1 shot in the Kentucky Derby! The odds are that you'll pick wrong and the result is a nice, polite, but disappointlingly subdued, "It's lovely, but what ever possessed you to buy this color?" (That means it's going to cost you at least three times as much bucks for her to "exchange it", or it will be placed somewhere prominently to be seen and remind you for the next year that you didn't come anywhere close to the mark. In rare cases it's the catalyst for a trip to the mall for a whole new wardrobe because "I don't have anything to go with it, but I love it, I'm sure I can find something at the mall that will work with it."
Are you feeling the pressure? Is it beginning to become difficult to eat, drink or sleep? Or perhaps you're sleeping like a baby, in which case beware, you are far too overconfident, you missed something!
Guys are easy, big boy toys do the trick every time. The less we need it, the more stupid the purpose of it, the more lights, bells, whistles and manuals the better. In fact some women already figured it out. If they get the real "guy toys" he'll be happy as a pig in you know what, and even if he doesn't need it or want it he'll act like he does or next year it's back to sweaters and ties, and women know that he'll never ask for directions or help making it work, so the next twelve hours will bring peace and quiet to the house because he'll be buried in a manual, sucking on a beer, and oblivious to food, maybe that's the best gift she can get!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Coming soon to a computer near you....
Yup, I'm going to be doing two blogs, this one and my old one, at least until the subscription expires in June on my old one. This new sight lets me do pictures with two clicks of the mouse as well as looks a bit better than the sterile format I've been using.
So stay tuned for "Pub Times & Life" at this sight within the next few weeks. Now all I have to do is figure out if I can transfer any of my other sites rantings to this!
That's the only thing I shudder at is the possibility of losing everything I've already written. Granted it might not be Hemingway quality, but it has value to me.
-30-
So stay tuned for "Pub Times & Life" at this sight within the next few weeks. Now all I have to do is figure out if I can transfer any of my other sites rantings to this!
That's the only thing I shudder at is the possibility of losing everything I've already written. Granted it might not be Hemingway quality, but it has value to me.
-30-
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Me old Pub- "The Emerald Rose"
T'was a fine pub if I do say so myself. I was just tinkering with loading pictures and as long a s we're talking pubs here I thought I'd try one of "me Pub".
By Jove, I think I'm getting it!!!
After playing around with this blog format I thought I would just rip off an article before I head for the pub.
I noticed recently that good old indecisive France had a spot of "troubles"( I guess that's what they think a few weeks of rioting and burning every car in sight is defined as). Well what impressed me is after the situations all quieted down and the government "reviewed" things they made a few decisions of their own. One in particular struck me as one of those "who da' thunk it!" things. In particular the fact that all immigrants MUST learn and speak and read the French Language. I'm impressed, why didn't our government come up with that one?
While my grandparentts all came from Ireland and aside from a rather quaint "accent" they spoke English, I had friends of Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Latvian back grounds and they found out that if you didn't read, write and speak English you couldn't get work. What a motivator hey?
So where do we get off groveling to everyone who comes here and apologizing becasue we don't know their language, but we'll make all the signs, forms and everything else in their languages to keep them happy!
Rumor has it that the State of Massachusetts has welfare forms printed in sixteen different languages! Hello? What's wrong with this picture. Now don't misunderstand me, I 'm not saying so immigrants need our welfare to survive and get on thier feet, but let's face it, aren't we making things just too damn accomodating and encouraging folks to "get comfortable" and the State will take care of you!
Then again when I look at things there was essentially no welfare back then and look at the number of immigrants who came to this country years ago and have now risen to the millionaire ranks of our society. You think they developed thier money while they sat home waiting for the welfare check to arrive?
Would I hire immigrants to work in my business, legal or illegal? You bet your sweet bippy! I hire people to work and if they do they become valued employees, I don't care if they are green blue red or purple. What I do care about is if they want to work, that's the more important factor. I'll give anyone a chance, but the problem today is that you can't get rid of the slaggards and losers because of "the law". Sure Florida is a right to work state, but just try and fire someone! You'll find your butt in a chair across from an attorney wanting half your retirement funds to defend you because the little lazy, shiftless worker you canned went crying to one of the "equal rights" clowns. (Oops! Sorry shouldn't call attorneys clowns. Maybe scum sucking bottom dwellers is a more pat expression)
Well, Ithink I'll stop here and post it and then figure out how to get some pictures posted and add a little "jazz" to the sight.
In the words of my favorite bartender,..."you outta here?"
"Yup, see you tomorrow."
I noticed recently that good old indecisive France had a spot of "troubles"( I guess that's what they think a few weeks of rioting and burning every car in sight is defined as). Well what impressed me is after the situations all quieted down and the government "reviewed" things they made a few decisions of their own. One in particular struck me as one of those "who da' thunk it!" things. In particular the fact that all immigrants MUST learn and speak and read the French Language. I'm impressed, why didn't our government come up with that one?
While my grandparentts all came from Ireland and aside from a rather quaint "accent" they spoke English, I had friends of Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Latvian back grounds and they found out that if you didn't read, write and speak English you couldn't get work. What a motivator hey?
So where do we get off groveling to everyone who comes here and apologizing becasue we don't know their language, but we'll make all the signs, forms and everything else in their languages to keep them happy!
Rumor has it that the State of Massachusetts has welfare forms printed in sixteen different languages! Hello? What's wrong with this picture. Now don't misunderstand me, I 'm not saying so immigrants need our welfare to survive and get on thier feet, but let's face it, aren't we making things just too damn accomodating and encouraging folks to "get comfortable" and the State will take care of you!
Then again when I look at things there was essentially no welfare back then and look at the number of immigrants who came to this country years ago and have now risen to the millionaire ranks of our society. You think they developed thier money while they sat home waiting for the welfare check to arrive?
Would I hire immigrants to work in my business, legal or illegal? You bet your sweet bippy! I hire people to work and if they do they become valued employees, I don't care if they are green blue red or purple. What I do care about is if they want to work, that's the more important factor. I'll give anyone a chance, but the problem today is that you can't get rid of the slaggards and losers because of "the law". Sure Florida is a right to work state, but just try and fire someone! You'll find your butt in a chair across from an attorney wanting half your retirement funds to defend you because the little lazy, shiftless worker you canned went crying to one of the "equal rights" clowns. (Oops! Sorry shouldn't call attorneys clowns. Maybe scum sucking bottom dwellers is a more pat expression)
Well, Ithink I'll stop here and post it and then figure out how to get some pictures posted and add a little "jazz" to the sight.
In the words of my favorite bartender,..."you outta here?"
"Yup, see you tomorrow."
Slowly but surely, step by step,..
Started setting this blog up this morning, slow on the learning curve, but I should be up and running by the end of the week. Look forward to the views, comments, and "animated discussions" that our wonderful right to free speech brings!
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