Einstein on Human Stupidity

 

Einstein on Human Stupidity

   In reading quotes in goodreads.com/quotes, I came across this quote of Albert Einstein, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe.”  I’m not sure that I see this as a compliment, but I am certain that Einstein said it satirically.  I know this as surely as Einstein did because if the statement were true no human would be smart enough to accurately assess the data available on the subject.

   That infinite stupidity is certainly applicable to certain large groups of humans.  Especially to those who place loyalty above reason.  Loyalty to flag, loyalty to religion, loyalty to science, loyalty to skin color, loyalty to family these are the main drivers away from individual logic and reason.  A good example of faith and loyalty in The Holy Land can be observed by watching the daily news.  The Holiday Season is a good time to keep this in mind. 

   I realize that few of you reading this are potential Trump voters.  No independent thinking woman would vote for an admitted and convicted rapist, but I did ask a Republican female friend if she intended to vote for him and she said, “Yes, I don’t respect him, but I do believe that he will be good for my 401K.”  Albert may have something.

   We on the American continent speak of the Greek belief of gods fathering offspring with human females as Greek Mythology.  Yet when we speak of this improbable mating we call it Religion.  Is this a valid example of loyalty to one’s religion?

  Now for the Holy Grail, Science.  Ask a friend in the scientific field if he or she believes in the Big Bang Theory (the theory of something from nothing).  I have found that most will say that they do.  Question them further and if honest, they will admit that they don’t fully understand it.  Their belief is based on faith in Science.  I then propose my Infinite “Big Plop Theory” and am laughed at.  Big Plop will be the next belief by the scientific community and they will probably be wrong again.  I admire scientific inquiry since it questions its own findings and admits when previous conclusions appear to be errors.  Science involves itself in a never ending search for truth.  Along the way it finds some answers.  As an agnostic, I understand that.

   At this point in time my greatest fantasy wish would be to join Albert Einstein during his lifetime for a cup of coffee and a conversation about his love of satire.

Cheers, Old Buz                         12/18/2023                                                                                             

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“The loyalists follow the under tail scent of the lemmings in front of them.”                       – Old Buz

Draconian Pharma

Draconian Pharma

   I live by the grace of a drug marketed by AbbVie Pharmaceuticals.  You and your children will die by their hands.  The vehicle that will be your demise is called greed.  It is the driving force behind many other drug companies as well.  Here is my and your story.  I told the story in a previous blog, Golden Goose Economics, but I employed satire to tell the tale.  Satire is a language not understood by some, so here is the threat without satire.

   In 2009 my annual blood tests showed that I had CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia) a deadly malignancy.  It remained in the “wait and see” stage until in 2019 the lymphocyte count went up to stage three.  At that time my oncologist recommended a drug called Imbruvica (the generic name is Ibrutinib) at a cost to Medicare of 195 thousand dollars/year/patient.  It required that I pay a three thousand dollar a month copay.  I don’t have three thousand dollars a month over and above my living costs.  So, I turned the offer to extend my life down.

   Soon after my turn down I received a call from a foundation ready to pay my required copay.  The young woman asked me what my annual income was, and then said that I had qualified for the assistance.  I have applied for many financial programs in my life and have never had one approved without income verification.  This fact prompted me to ask, “Who funds this foundation?”  She confirmed my suspicions by answering, “The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers.”  I understood that the Pharmaceutical (AbbVie) had priced the drug so high that the bulk of the potential patients could not afford the copay.  And, they would receive their donation back from the foundation when the copay was returned.  This draconian plan was probably engineered by Richard Gonzales, CEO of AbbVie.  The CLL organization estimates that there are presently, approximately two hundred thousand Medicare patients with CLL.  With this number of clients AbbVie would recover its investment of twenty one billion dollars for the patent rights of Ibrutinib in about a year and a half.  This is an excellent return on investment and spells out the end of Medicare.  There are other pharmaceuticals joining the program.  The financial success is no secret among them.

   Who is to blame for this egregious future ending of Medicare?  Let’s start at the bottom.  I am.  I am willing to participate in this scam so that I may live longer.  Next up, my oncologist.  They do not prescribe the drug without knowledge of the preceding events.  They could try to change it with their powerful AMA lobbyists.  But, in the short run, if they like being willfully blind, the drug offers effective patient care.  Next up, the pharmaceuticals and their lobbyists, they fully understand the game.  The CEOs like Gonzales are so infected with greed (the malignant form of self-preservation) that they are willing to sacrifice the lives of their children and their children’s children.  At the top of the corruption are your elected representatives.  They are the folks that create and enforce patent rights.  You elected them to serve the people, not the soulless wealth of the nation.

   What are patent rights?  They are designed to protect the rights of the creator of a desirable product and to reward the toil of a creator.  When Celera Pharmaceutical sold Ibrutinib to Pharmacyclics for three million dollars it was probably for a fair profit and to a company capable of logistics required to produce and distribute the product.  Then Johnson & Johnson paid Pharmacyclics for its patent rights $975 million.  Are you starting to smell a foul odor?  The next transaction has AbbVie paying $21 billion for these patent rights.  A billion is a thousand millions.  Twenty-one of them is going to result in a very high price for a lifesaving drug.  Are we dealing with greed now or protecting an inventor?  The purpose of any law is a shield for those in need of protection, not a sword for the greedy.  A well written patent law would protect the creator and perhaps a distributer with the purchase at perhaps 15% over the book value of the company, but no protection to a third purchaser.  This would be fair and effective.  With the large dollar influence on those who govern us, fair and effective is rare.

Cheers, Old Buz                   December 4^th, 2023

Remember:

“One cannot fool all of the people all of the time … and that is why we have two political parties.” - Anon                                                                                                                                             

A Black Santa !?

A Black Santa !?

   Today I watched an advertisement for a Disney film featuring a Black Santa and Black Elves.  After spending my entire life as a Honky (a Fade) I was shocked and offended by having a white mythological figure portrayed by a black mythological figure.  The Santa myth is ours, not theirs, just as the Jesus myth is ours.  Ask yourself, “What will it take to Make America Great Again?”   

   There is an assault taking place on white privilege.  It must be stopped at any cost.  Even the election of Herr Drump, Verminemeister to the office of President, is not too much of a mistake.  Those who run Disney are WINOs (White In Name Only) and must be eliminated.  The previous words are my view of MAGA (Morons Against Government, Association), of those still on the Trump Train.

   There is no valid reason for the mythological Santa to be a white man.  He represents the imaginary Christmas gift giver to small children.  But, small Black children actually get their gifts from a Black Santa.  My children got their gifts from Mrs. Clause, since my wife has always been the parent to shop for gifts in our family.

   So Santa can be black or white or of color or a man or a woman or a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim.  The Santa mythology can be owned by any of us, as can the Jesus mythology.  Jews and learned theologians will say He was a Jew, born of a married Jewish virgin and the Creator of a Universe, 47 Billion Light Years in diameter and growing at the exact same rate as the power of our telescopes.  Right Wing Christians may claim Him as theirs and people of color may do the same.  I don’t know where Mary and The Creator met, but their serendipity meeting sure changed the future of the Western World.  Realizing that this story is mythology should take place at about the same age that a child learns who Santa actually is, but somehow in some, the delusion persists throughout their lives.

   Why is this important?  Because belief in religion can lead to love and joy or it can lead to hate and murder as it presently does in The Holy Land.  As an agnostic, I can live without it.

Cheers, Old Buz        11/15/2023

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

Biblical Wisdom

 “Live by the foma* that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” – The Book of Bokonon I:5 – Translation by Kurt Vonnegut

*foma = harmless untruths 

"I don't care what people say ..."

   The full sentence from this song of my youth was, “I don’t care what people say.  Rock and Roll is here to stay.”  This song introduced in 1957 by Danny & The Juniors was an instant hit and a gold record.  There was obvious wisdom in the lyrics.  There was also a small unimportant untruth.  Two things can be true at the same time.  The small lie was, “I don’t care what people say.”  Danny’s group cared very much about the size of their concerts and the sales of their records.  They were professional entertainers.  Their prediction that, “Rock and Roll is here to stay” has proven to be correct.

   “Rock and Roll is here to stay,” I don’t see as a compliment to the listener.  The melodies of the music are not particularly pleasing.  The lyrics are simple, repetitive, not poetic and generally offer little message.  The instruments are more pounded on than played.  On occasion, a guitar is destroyed at the end of a song being performed.  I would guess that it is all about the beat.  It is easily danced to.  And that is a good thing.  Perhaps, the only good thing about it.  If one were only to listen to it and not dance to it, I would venture that it is to music what cage fighting is to sports.  Both are here to stay.

   Why am I writing this?  And better yet, why are you reading it?  Perhaps the basis for this blog is that the simple majority here in America has no taste.  The proof of this was in the presidential election of 2016, when they elected Donald Trump.  To be fair to the voters, the majority did not vote for him, but we do accept a system where it doesn’t require a majority to be elected.

Rock & Roll is here to stay, Old Buz               11/06/2023

 

Remember:

“One cannot fool all of the people all of the time … and that is why we have two political parties.” - Anon          

In His Name

 

In His Name

   I have just been watching a couple of hours of the cable news coverage of the war in Gaza.  It is being fought “In His Name.”  The casualties are primarily civilian.  It involves burning small children alive, having parents killed before their children’s eyes and having children killed before their parents’ eyes.  Human intelligence cannot be underestimated in time of war. “In His name.”  The name, “God” is mythological, but the results of this biblical delusion are very real.  How long will humans march to the music of “Our god is the only true god and the others (nonbelievers) must die?”  History would tell us that these gullible folks will always be and have always been and that they are most often in the majority.  The Gaza War is biblical.  Future mythology will have it in God’s name and the victors will have God at their side, while the vanquished will be punished for their sinful existence.  Could there be truth in this evaluation of human slaughter?  Is God’s justice being carried out in the slaughter of women, children and yes innocent men?  It is after all the same justice as was carried out in the Passover story or the story of Noah and his ark.  In the Passover story the first born sons of a population were killed by God and His army of angels while they knew not of their sin.  God saved Noah and his family (along with two of each living critters) while drowning the rest of the innocents on the planet.  I suppose that the fish were also saved.  How could a fish be a sinner?

   The faithful believe that the first woman was born of the first man’s rib about six thousand years ago, when God created The Universe in six days and rested on the seventh.  Once again, “You cannot underestimate human intelligence.”  The recent Gaza event started when the Muslims of Gaza kicked the Jews of Israel in the groin.  This is an act very similar to kicking Superman in the groin.  Superman, in response, will predictably leave Clark Kent far behind.   Those heroes (butchers) of Hamas knew that they were killing their own families with that kick.  However their leaders saw it as a worthwhile endeavor.  Once again, you cannot underestimate human intelligence.  So, the innocents will continue to die in the name of a mythological figure.  I have heard some very well educated individuals say that the mythology has a good effect on society.  I would prefer truth.  Truth is a better pathway from the past to the future.  Will we see truth prevail in our next era of Artificial Intelligence?  One can only hope so.

   As a retired American, in his eighties, witnessing the human slaughter on his Cable TV, I am not able to put on a uniform and carry a weapon into the mayhem, killing strangers or being killed by them.  I can only scratch my head and say, “Why is this happening?”  I believe the answer lies with our US Senate, a group of one hundred (primarily attorneys) who cannot figure out how to overrule one member who is holding up the formality of military promotions of over three hundred officers in the time of war in the world.  “It’s the rule!”  Well, change it, God damn it.  Again, you cannot underestimate human intelligence.

Cheers, Old Buz                      November 4^th, 2023

 

“To the common folk, religion is truth.

To the wise, religion is false.

To the leaders, religion is useful.”

- Seneca the Younger (4 BC – 68 AD)

Lessons in Effective Governance

 Lessons in Effective Governance

 

   What are the lessons learned in the recent House of Representatives shutdown, caused by the lack of an elected Majority Leader?  The lessons are many and this post deals with some of them in what I see, as their order of importance.

   First and foremost is “The Rule of The Rubber Stamp.”  This rule simply stated is: In a partisan organization, the majority party, when faced with a nearly equal distribution of the two party’s membership, must vote in a unanimous or nearly unanimous manner in order to reliably exert their power.  The event we recently witnessed was five or so MAGA (Morons Against Government Association) members ruling the entire body of a Republican majority House.  Less than ten MAGA faithful were able to force a unanimous vote of the Republican House members for one of their cult.  The Kamikaze few were willing to blow up the entire organization that they were elected to, in order to have their guy in control.  The Rubber Stamp is an effective method to apply power with, but a poor method of governing.

   How was this possible?  Well, in order to elect a Majority Leader of The House of Representatives a majority of the entire House must vote for a candidate.  This sounds logical but it most certainly isn’t.  It firmly places The Rule of the Rubber Stamp in power.  With all but a few of the majority party members voting for a leader and the opposing party voting unanimously, as a Rubber Stamp, for a minority candidate, no one will receive a majority.  The few dissenting Republicans will not vote for the Democratic candidate.   In the partisan world we exist in, only Republicans should vote for the Republican leader and only Democrats should vote for the Democratic leader.  Two separate elections.  This would return the power to the majority of each political party.  Is that not how a leader should be chosen?  The majority party would choose the majority leader and the minority party would choose the minority leader.  Kevin McCarthy, with some ideological opponents, would have been chosen on the Republican first ballot and Hakeem Jeffries would also have quickly prevailed, but also with some ideological opponents.  

   When did reason desert our government?  Long ago, when the two parties took over the power from your elected representatives, as opposed to those elected ruling their party.  The party is the major force in the supply of giant campaign funds.  They also control committee assignments.  In other words, the party determines who gets elected to office and what power they will have once there.  This is why a man of wisdom and morality, Mitt Romney, speaks his mind, but most often votes with his party.  While the party controls those who govern, large dollar interests control both parties.  So the chain of command is Large Dollar Interests, States’ Rights (The Senate) and last but certainly least The People.  The President does not determine the laws that govern us and our Supreme Court, who determines the meaning of the law, is not elected but is given members with lifetime appointments.   I’m not sure that this power structure is sustainable. 

Cheers, Old Buz                   10/26/2023

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

Israel vs. Palestine

 Israel vs. Palestine

   Yes, they are at it again.  Muslims vs. Jews, the killing of the innocents.  As in any other war the wrong people die.  Bombing or rockets are the main killing device and they represent the best collateral damage device yet to be developed.  Somehow as in any war the leaders and the munition manufacturers go unharmed.  The duped, civilians and soldiers, take the damage.  Will this ever change (even after this blog post) unlikely.

   Hamas clearly started this hot war.  This will be forgotten by anti-Semites in the very near future.  Here is the stated position of Hamas: “We were born in Palestine, as were our fathers and were their fathers before them.  The Jews inhabiting our homeland and calling themselves Israel were dumped on our nation by England and given the right to form a nation on our land.  They have made us, the true believers in Allah (God) second class citizens and moved us to a reservation called The Gaza Strip.  We are fenced off of our own land.  Israel must be destroyed and the Jews living there must die.”

   Here is the position of Israel: “We are a nation of Jews who have been kicked out of our various homelands or murdered there for over two thousand years.  In 1948, after the end of World War II England used its mandate over Palestine, many of who's people were allied with Hitler in a desire to kill Jews.  The Holocausts' survivors were dumped into Palestine.  These new survivors from the cities of Europe had to quickly learn to farm the land and fight for their survival amongst overwhelming odds.   The bulk of these refugees had already been denied entry into The United States and England.  Many of these Jewish refugees considered the Sahara their biblical (mythological) home.  God said it was theirs.  Palestinian terrorists began a program of bombing city busses and attacks on Jewish elementary schools.  As a result, Israel took away Palestinians' access and moved them to Gaza and The West Bank.  The Jews of Germany, before Hitler, thought that they were Germans.  But, they learned once again that somewhere in the world there must be a Jewish nation, where they could live as citizens and survive.  They call themselves Zionists.  Israel is a small spot on the globe surrounded by Muslim nations.  The Hasidic Jews (ultra conservative) will not join the Army of Israel.  For them, survival is not an adequate reason to disregard God's biblical commandment. "Thou shalt not kill."  That might just be a good guiding philosophy for all people, but it doesn't function well if your enemies don't believe it.

  I am an agnostic living in America.  My parents were Jews so I am a Jew to an anti-Semite.  I have experienced very little anti-Semitism in my lifetime.  When I was young a country club would not accept Jews.  There are still very active anti-Semitic movements in the Deep South.  I don’t believe that Chris Christie would have been elected Governor of New Jersey if his name were Jew Jewie.  He might have made it to US Attorney of New Jersey .  Morons and some folks who place loyalty above logic still prejudge the “others.”     

"Take your place on the great mandala as it moves through your brief moment in time." – Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary                  

 

“To the common folk, religion is truth.

To the wise, religion is false.

To the leaders, religion is useful.”

- Seneca the Younger (4 BC – 68 AD)

iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com                                                       10/10/2023

Loyalty

 Loyalty

   In our society today we see loyalty as a great guiding force.  We see it as a dominant force in our government, in our religions, in family, in our morality, in our dress codes, in our conspicuous consumption.  As a society it guides our basic values.  It shades our point of view.  Most would contend that this is a good thing.  I would say that it is a fatal flaw.

   As I listen to the news each morning I get to witness government malfunction.  We are presently awaiting a government shutdown brought about by the government itself.  Why would a government choose to do itself and those it is trusted to govern harm?  The answer is ignorance in the name of Party Loyalty.  Your chosen representatives don’t vote their individual mind or morality, they loyally vote with their party.  Those who see themselves as independent are seen as a problem.  They often choose not to fall in line. 

   When there are rules in our government which cause it not to function … change and improve the rules.  Don’t go into our “That’s the way it is” mode.  Five to fifteen MAGA House members are presently pulling the strings of their majority leader to shut down the government.  They would not have this irrational power if not for the fact that the entire body votes for the leader of the Majority and the Minority Leader.  Why should a Democrat vote to select the Republican Leader and why should a Republican vote in the selection of the Democratic Leader?  It is the direct cause of requiring 15 votes called for of the House to elect a Republican leader and the direct cause of his giving up the direction of his leadership.  It is a leader agreeing not to lead.  If you are going to have a Minority and Majority leader (which itself is not a good idea) then Democrats should be the only ones voting for the Democratic Leader and Republicans the only ones voting for the Republican Leader.  The result would have been that Kevin McCarthy would have been elected on the first ballot and our government would not be closed for business on this Monday.  This is America today, Loyalty over Logic.  Other examples of the problem would be: one senator holding up over three hundred military promotions, a nation calling for effective gun legislation and a government not responding, Freedom of Choice vs. Right to Life being converted from a moral issue to a political issue, climate change problems taken from science to politics and giving a majority leader the sole power to determine what legislation will be discussed and voted on.  None of these problems being politicized leads to their cure.  A government that doesn’t reliably function needs to take a look at its rules of operation.

   We bring loyalty into our churches and our homes.  I have heard “marry and socialize with your own kind” both from a priest and a rabbi.  I have heard “marry your own kind” from my parents.  Loyalty (in the form of prejudice) is applied to our moral rudder.  We will put on a uniform and shoot a stranger with a different uniform in the name of loyalty.  Wars are often entered for the benefit of capital, not conscience.  “I’m a Democrat.”  “I’m a Republican.”  “I’m a Christian.”  “I’m a Jew.”  “I’m an Atheist.”  “I’m White.”  “I’m Black.”  “I’m American.”  “I’m Canadian.”  “I’m a man.”  “I’m a woman.”  “I’m a human.”  “They are only plants or animals.”  “I’m a Smith.”  “I’m a Thomasson.”  How much does each of these loyalties shape your world view?  Might it be a good thing to see yourself as a part of the All?

Cheers, Old Buz          9/30/2023

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“The loyalists follow the under tail scent of the lemmings in front of them.”                     – Old Buz

Stellantis

Driving a Stellantis?

   “Good morning neighbor.  What do you think of my new Stellantis?”  You children out there will soon be asking that question.  As a person having The Wisdom of The Aged, you will never hear that question pass my lips.  My first car was a 1940 Mercury.  Most of you reading this think of mercury as the red stuff in a thermometer.  Some have never heard of a thermometer.  Times change, but in this lifetime I will not own a Stellantis (unless someone purchases it for me when I am in assisted living).  “Never say never.”

   So, what the hell is Stellantis?  It sounds like a civilization from the past, or a name for a new lizard like monster starring in a Japanese block buster film (an AI creation).  But no, it is the name of a new conglomeration of automotive corporate enterprises.  What great automobiles have joined it, becoming icons of the past?  Abarth (no one ever heard of them anyway), Alfa Romeo (story to follow), Chrysler (I have a 2006 PT Cruiser now), Citroen (ugliest car in history), Dodge, DS Automobiles (never heard of them either), FIAT (fix it again Tony), Jeep (!), Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram (Dodge), Vauxhall.  Many of these iconic names will not be missed, but many are an important part of our shared heritage.  Are you ready to attend a NASCAR race and root for Stellantis?  My friend, I am not.

   My story of Alpha Romero was that my first love went to Berkley and dated (later married) a guy that drove an Alpha.  Cars were not expensive then so I went out and bought a used Alpha Spider, thinking “it was the car.”  Cars were important to me at the time so I wrongly assumed that they were equally important to her.  I obviously still have this illusion and that explains this blog post.

   Corporate mergers always mean less competition, more profit and higher costs to the public.  They are an integral part of The Free Market System that we all love and respect.  Medicare presently pays one hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars a year for my meds to AbbVie, thanks to our Free Market Economy (see Golden Goose Economics elsewhere in this blog).

   The public relations justification for Stellantis is concentration of transportation development based in renewable energy (sun power) versus fossil (dinosaur) fuel.   That sounds like a good idea, but read the fine print.  All corporate action is motivated by profit, not public good.

  Don’t let Stellantis take away your identity.

Cheers, Old Buz, a Ram (Dodge Truck) lover

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“Beware of corporations bearing gifts.” – Tros, the Founder of Troy, 3,000 BC

You Tomorrow

 Forty years ago I was waiting at a crosswalk for an elderly man to struggle across the  street.  There were a couple of young men, in their thirties, laughing it up in the car next to me and wanting me to join in the gayety at the elderly man's expense.  I simply said to them, "That's you tomorrow."  It stopped their laughter.  I suspect that most of you are under sixty years of age and might not fully understand the humor in these quotes, but keep them around for tomorrow.

Wisdom of The Aged:

"To get back to my youth I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early, or be respectable."

Oscar Wilde

 

"The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for."

 Will Rogers

 

"We must recognize that, as we grow older, we become like old cars –more and more repairs and replacements are necessary."

 C.S. Lewis

 

"Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard there is nothing you can do about it."

Golda Meir

 

"I’m so old that my blood type is discontinued." 

Bill Dane

 

"The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened.

Mark Twain

 

"Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes, age just shows up all by itself."

Tom Wilson

 

 "Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your retirement home."

Phyllis Diller

 

"I don’t plan to grow old gracefully. I plan to have face-lifts until my ears meet."

Rita Rudner

 

"I’m at that age where my back goes out more than I do."

 Phyllis Diller

 

"Nice to be here? At my age, it’s nice to be anywhere." 

 George Burns

 

"Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get backup" 

John Wagner

 

"First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down."

 Leo Rosenberg

 

“Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life.” 

 Kitty O’Neill Collins

 

“Old people shouldn’t eat health foods. They need all the preservatives they can get.” 

 Robert Orben

 

"It’s important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle." 

Unknown

 

"At my age, flowers scare me." 

George Burns

 

“I have successfully completed the thirty-year transition from wanting to stay up late to just wanting to go to bed."

 Unknown

 

"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us… at age 40, we don’t care what they think of us… at age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all."

Ann Landers

 

"When I was young, I was called a rugged individualist. 

When I was in my fifties, I was considered eccentric. 

Here I am doing and saying the same things I did then, and I’m labeled senile."

George Burns

 

"I complain that the years fly past, but then I look in a mirror and see that very few of them actually got past."

 Robert Brault

 

"The important thing to remember is that I’m probably going to forget."

 Unknown

 

"As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two."

Sir Norman Wisdom

 

“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”

Andy Rooney

 

“Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.”

 Larry Lorenzon

 

“The older I get, the better I used to be.” 

Lee Trevino

 

"You know you’re getting old when you can pinch an inch on your forehead."

John Mendoza

 

"I was thinking about how people seem to read the bible a lot more as they get older, and then it dawned on me—they’re cramming for their final exam."

 George Carlin

 

"I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything until noon. Then it’s time for my nap."

Bob Hope

 

"I’m 59 and people call me middle-aged. How many 118-year-old men do you know?"

Barry Cryer

 

"I don't do alcohol anymore—I get the same effect just standing up fast."

 Anonymous

 

“By the time you’re 80 years old you’ve learned everything.  Then, you only have to remember it.”

George Burns

 

“Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.” 

 Maurice Chevalier

 

"Getting older. I used to be able to run a 4-minute mile, bench press 380pounds, and tell the truth."

Conan O’Brien

 

"I have reached an age when, if someone tells me to wear socks, I don’t have to."

 Albert Einstein

 

"Grand children don’t make a man feel old, it’s the knowledge that he’s married to a grandmother that does."

J. Norman Collie

 

"You know you are getting old when everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work."

 Hy Gardner

 

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old."

 Mark Twain

 

"You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks."

Joel Plaskett

 

"There’s one advantage to being 102, there’s no peer pressure."

Dennis Wolfberg

 

"I've never known a person who lives to be 110 who is remarkable for anything else."

Josh Billings

 

"At my age ‘getting lucky’ means walking into a room and remembering what I came in for."

Unknown

 

"Old age is when you resent the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated because there are fewer articles to read."

 George Burns

 

"The idea is to die young as late as possible." 

 Ashley Montagu

 

“You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you’re down there.”

George Burns

 

"People ask me what I’d most appreciate getting for my eighty-seventh birthday. I tell them, a paternity suit."

George Burns  

 

"Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician." 

Anonymous

Cheers, Old Buz (qualified @ age 82)         08/21/2023

"If you find little humor in life, you are missing most of it." - Old Buz

UPS, AI & U

 UPS, AI & U

   “United Parcel Service, Artificial Intelligence and You”  Yesterday I was treated to a glimpse of this future reality.  A package was delivered intended for me at 717 on my street, rather than my address of 617 (a driver human error).  The address on the package was 617 (correct).  The package was clearly marked, “SIGNATURE REQUIRED”.  This is probably the case, since Medicare is being charged fifteen Thousand dollars for each monthly delivery of the drugs.  As is standard UPS delivery procedure, the driver did not ring the bell, received no signature. used his or her own signature, laid the package on the porch and was on their way.  My neighbor later picked up the package ($15,000 in drugs), thought it was a newspaper and was about to discard it, when she noticed it was not addressed to her, but was addressed to me, a hundred numbers down the street.  She was nice enough to call me and I went down the street to pick up the package.

   I called UPS customer service at 1-800-742-5877 to report the incident and was greeted by a robot (AI) that asked several questions, not allowing me to describe the transaction, but unwilling to transfer me to a human.  I was told to go to a web site, also with no human contact or comprehension.  On the fourth attempt to get past the robot recording I was able to travel the maze and be transferred to a human.  She was in the Orient and English was her second language, so we were able to communicate, but not efficiently.  This is another customer assistance program, designed to save money, not serve the public.  The young woman informed me that I had signed for the package at 12:30.  So, had my neighbor tossed the $15,000 package in her trash, according to UPS records, I had signed for receiving it and was responsible for the loss.  When UPS was founded the “S” stood for service.  That was a long time ago.  As recently as the 1970’s I dealt with UPS as a customer and was treated as one.  Today the “customer” is a single digit profit source and is dealt with by a machine and treated as less than a machine.

   Was I given the opportunity yesterday to get a glimpse into the future, or was I merely made aware of the present.  UPS is aware that the drivers are forging delivery signatures.  They are willfully blind to it.  Morality and customer care is not an issue.  It saves the corporation time and money and time is money.  Artificial Intelligence is replacing human interaction.  This may not be good for humanity, but it is certainly good in the short term for CEO’s.

Cheers, Old Buz          08/18/2023

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

CEOs: “Camel riders in route to attempt passage through the eye of a needle.”       – Old Buz

It's about balance

 

Balance

   The bodies of The Universe move through time and space relying on balance.  Our planet travels about our sun with an orbit guided by a balance of gravity and inertia.  Without that balance our planet Earth would either be pulled into the sun or be flung out into space.  Humans have little or nothing to do with maintaining that balance and it is a good thing.  We live in an atmosphere that supplies us with a balance of carbon and oxygen and most would agree that we can and do affect that balance.  Animals take in oxygen and exhaust carbon, while green plants take in carbon and exhaust oxygen.  This might be an oversimplification, but the basic theory is correct.    

   So balance is a basic of long term survival.  Most would agree that what the atmosphere is composed of is the major factor in climate change.  We see that an abundance of tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, droughts and forest fires are tied to climate change due to an overbalance of carbon in our atmosphere.  We humans are on the carbon team.  We take in oxygen and exhaust carbon.  We heat our homes, fuel our cars, cool our homes and run our industries primarily by burning fossil fuel.  Burning fossil fuel uses oxygen and produces carbon.  Our prime energy source needs to shift to renewables and it can’t happen too soon.  We humans reproduce with little or no concern for overpopulation.

   The oil and coal industries concern themselves primarily with quarterly profits, not long term survival.  This is pretty much true of any corporation.  So you cannot reliably place your faith solely in the free market.  It needs some intelligent guidance.  Our gas and oil companies are actually a utility and should be owned and operated in that design.  More and more in our nation, the few benefit from the many (our increasing wealth gap). When government is controlled by the wealthy, as ours presently is, the nation suffers.  Healthcare costs become prohibitive.  Higher education becomes affordable only to the wealthy.  Housing costs go out of reach for the general public. 

   A good example of pure income driven action is the cutting down of the rain forest of South America.  Timber is a profitable industry as is corporate farming and those are powerful market driven excuses used to cut down the forest.  The problem is that forest is a major balancing force for our planet keeping the atmosphere’s oxygen/carbon ratio in line.  What is a solution to the problem?  You take our eight hundred billion dollar annual military budget (larger than the next ten nations combined) and cut it back to five hundred billion (still larger than the next five nations combined).  Take that three hundred billion annually you just saved and proceed to buy back the rain forest.  Replant the forest.  Let the world pay annual fees (for maintenance plus a profit) to the nations that house the forest for the oxygen produced.  When you have restored the rain forest start building desalinization plants to cure the drought in the Southwest and plant forests there on land owned by the government (in the case of Arizona it is 80% of the land).  Go after the cost of higher education next.  Start using a nation of the people, by the people … for the people.

Cheers, Old Buz          08/09/2023

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

 

“With deeper understanding comes simplicity.” – Old Buz