Endless Stream

Shiver me timbers,

Rattle me bones,

Ye'll soon be abidin',

With Davey Jones.

Scalawags! It'll be talk like a pirate day! Avast!

After you read the pirate tale, Siren's Speak, grab a copy of Treasure Island and relax a bit, matey!

It's wonderful to be in nature, away from people.

To compare tragedies is to do a disservice to all.

beaver damages apple tree...

wood attracts beavers...beavers like wood...

...you wouldn't think that based on the dating scene around here.

'Essentially' is the word she was seeking. Why the heck do people say 'pretty much'? It makes them sound like mouth-breathers.

Americans should buy American cars from the long-standing American car makers. The government should not have allowed the foreign car makers to dump products here after WW2 and undermine the companies that went out of their way to produce vehicles and goods needed for our troops. What's it going to take to restore this country?

"...the fool on the hill sees the sun going down and the eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round..."

The best-laid plans of mice and men never really got laid, either.

Remember to watch Captain Blood tonight since it's Talk like a Pirate day.

In the reality check department, someone made some comments in one of the Mensa forums about engineers and underappreciation and power.

My response:

As a Professional Engineer, I appreciate the sentiment.

However, the reality is that we are not unified, which means the power we could wield remains unrealized.

In reality, we seem to be unappreciated, undercompensated workhorses. Personally, I'm exhausted and tired of workhorse jobs that aren't getting me ahead in this world while seeing superficial types have big money and better jobs handed to them for nothing essential.

People are mesmerized by media-made idols who often do harm, not good, and throw their dollars to them. Only rarely does a true engineer become recognized in their capacity as an engineer.

I'd like to see that change. If we all walked off the job at once, maybe then the people would begin to understand what it takes to make their world possible. The same goes for my rural family, the agriculturalists. They are the people who produce the food necessary for society.

If the food producers and the engineers take a year off, true power will be revealed."

The third piece of true power is our skilled craftspersons. Without them, nothing I design gets built. In addition to that, nothing we've built continues to operate without their diligent efforts to do maintenance.

Teamwork, appreciation.

"Pants on the ground, pants on the ground..."

Live Long and Prosper

Ah, another election year, this one accentuated by assassination attempts. The second amendment nuts must be...Wait! It's not the right misusing arms to go after a candidate. Why aren't the masses ready to walk away from the 2-party cabal now? What's it going to take to convince them that we need to move forward instead of stay in this death spiral orchestrated by the 2 parties in lockstep?

Also, Epstein still didn't kill himself.

Along with 'pretty much', they need to stop misusing and abusing the words so, such, like, on, off, in, out, up, and down. Take a language class, people. Effort! English teachers must be pulling their hair out as they scroll the internet.

Journalism is dead. Anyone can post unedited nonsense. Sadly, people don't care about verbal skills.

"You take the midnight subway train, you're calling all the shots,

You're struck by lightning, you're in love..."

walk away

I wonder, when is the next volleyball match? They are 7-1 now. A great start to the season. I think we have a booster club meeting next month, too.

Have the grandkids practiced that dance I taught them? Left, right, left, wiggle, wiggle.

Science and engineering, you know, engineering is the practical application of science. I have to know science to be a professional engineer. I wish people understood and appreciated engineering. Then, they'd listen and stop arguing about things to which I can professionally attest.

We need to dust off the Constitution and start over in this country. Escort Congress, POTUS, VP, and Supreme Court out of the DC area and start over. Revolution. Of, By, and FOR the People. Has no one recently read US history? Quotes from the Founding Fathers? Abe Lincoln?

Clean the Sewer!

"Rock the casbah, rock the casbah..."

Why did my ancestors die in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WW2, and other conflicts for this mess? They deserve better.

We deserve better. We inherited a trashed environment and a corrupt society with a bankrupt government.

It's time for Gen X to rise and make the changes needed to make a sustainable society on a healing planet. Major changes are necessary. We don't have to have a WW3, right?

"We can't go on together, with suspicious minds..."

If you're not living in a tepee, log house, sod house, cave (or similar dwelling), you are not living sustainably. I wish people understood the truth of it. None of these things are green or clean or sustainable. Not electric cars. Not windmills. Not solar cells. All material items have a significant carbon footprint. The manufacturing process and extraction processes result in environmental harm. The pollution released has affected every part of the globe. There is trash at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and at the top of Mount Everest. There is a notable amount of space junk orbiting Earth.

Clean the messes!

Gen X rise!

Do Better! We have the knowledge. People are fatally flawed. They lack the willpower and resolve to take positive steps for their own sake. They look in the mirror and don't care enough. They look at their kids and they don't care enough to make changes. Sad. Pathetic.

Humans are selfish, instinctive, tribal, territorial, violent, destructive, and greedy. Sadly, those are primary traits. Creativity and compassion are secondary.

Speaking of tribal and territorial traits, they need to stop calling everyone racist and take a deeper, more realistic look at how those traits manifest in society. You have to be sick of the left and their hate, racism, and sexism. They exhibit every trait they pretend to despise.

You have to be sick of the right, too. They care more about the almighty dollar than they care about health and the environment.

Both parties must go if we ever want to create a successful, peaceful, healthy society.

Walk away.

Hey, Captain Blood is half over, and I still haven't finished supper.

I hope the weather is good in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I've delayed this trip a few times already, staying stuck on 45 of 50 states. The Autumn colors in the northeast are said to be amazing. I hope my timing is good. I'll see beautiful leaves and other scenery. The Maine shore is said to be beautiful, too. The food will be great.

Man, I should have gone to Vet Med school instead of engineering. I should have become a pilot in the Air Force or Navy. I should have gone to NASA after that. Woulda...Coulda...Shoulda...

The whole student loan discussion is stupid. They are our kids, and we should find a way to provide education for them without loans. Society needs nurses, doctors, engineers, teachers, etc. Why do we saddle some of our youth with loans and freely train others on the job and pay them to be apprentices as done in the skilled trades?

Stupid society. Start your kids in debt, enslaved by worship of the almighty dollar from the beginning.

We need a national health care plan, too. Too many people are not covered and it's easy to be caught between jobs without coverage. The health care industry is driven by profiteers, not by those striving to provide positive health outcomes.

Swordfight! Captain Blood must win! Arrrrgggghhh!

"There can be only one."

Dang, another workday tomorrow. Which job should I take of the two recently offered? Can I quit and join the circus? Really. This 'stay plugged into the workforce in the name of the economy' nonsense is no way to live.

I need freedom. I need nature. I need quiet time. I need peace.

You can't get that in this society, especially in towns and cities. They are reporting that rates of emotional issues and mental health problems are greater (and rising) in cities. Dense urban living is not natural. Humans didn't evolve in a materialistic, urban, concrete-jungle, money-grubbing environment. How do we get back to basics? I feel sorry for city people in some ways. Sadly, though, overpopulation and materialism are root causes of the problems we are facing.

A little over two more years to the 100th anniversary of the declaration creating Route 66. It's a great drive! I hope someone reads my Route 66 travel articles.

I wonder where to share my works to get more things published. It's great that Flapper Press published my new poem, Timeless.

What next?

"Take it Easy, Take it Easy, don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy..."

Can I still go back to school and earn a Ph.D.? I should have done that by now, too. Maybe I still can. What topic? Energy and true sustainability? Remember, the things being called sustainable, clean, and green are actually Differently Destructive (TM).

I hope those pretty flowering thistles in my field are the native variety and not an invasive species. Invasive species are another big problem we need to address.

Speaking of invasive species, I need to buy more Endangered Species chocolate at the store. I want some ice cream, too. It's a good thing I bought some on the way home.

"Now and Then, I want you to be there for me..."

Music. "Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast..."

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

Music. I'm glad I found this new set of Blues harmonicas. The violin lessons sound interesting, too. I need some good tunes for these sets of lyrics I've written. I'd love to release one of these original songs.

Butterfly, flutter by. Sharing beauty in the sky.

Okay, get some ice cream and call it a night. The movie is almost over. One more good sword fight...oh, yeah, I should book another Sword Experience class.

I need to practice sword and bullwhip more often. Those are fun classes.

Didn't you say get some ice cream and call it a night?

Sure, but you know these tracks in the mind are never stopping, so get on with it. The voices have much to say. They'll repeat it all again another day. Maybe, one day, we'll be heard and heeded rather than used when needed.

They worked Boxer to death. Sad.

I wonder who understood that reference.

These younger generations, they sure don't get the good references. I feel sorry for them. Maybe we were raised during the last of the fun times. These kids were born into a collapsing society in a country where housing and land prices are out of reach due to outsiders being allowed to come here and outbid us in our own communities, for our own family farms and for the houses next door.

Tragedy.

"Brought to you courtesy, of the red, white, and blue..."

Ice cream. It's getting late.

Ice cream, you scream. We all scream for ice cream.