We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Life has become a complicated muddle, hasn't it? There are many big decisions. Should you become a newsreader because you have a lisp? Should you become an athlete because you're missing limbs? Should you join the military because you're a pacifist?
College calls. It needs deconstructivists like you. The NBA needs midgets, and the NFL needs gay men. International politics needs a low handicap, and international banking needs wizened ovaries, bad. There's a place for everybody, and you just have to follow the signs and portents to figure out where you fit in.
The only really big question is if you should have any hair below your eyebrows. The rest is easy.
The Adam Smith Institute examines currency reform in Ancient Rome Pertinax embraced deflation,reformed the denarius, and ordered that NOTEWORTHY GOOD SENSE be engraved on all the coins. His bodyguards stabbed him to death 86 days into his rule. And you wonder why Ben Bernanke had an easy money policy.
When watching the video of the B-24 Liberator on a previous Maggie's post, a related video came up about operation OXCART - the CIA project to build a replacement for the U-2 spy plane. There was no hierarchy, there were no managers, there were even few engineers. Everybody had almost direct access to Kelly Johnson - who was the head of the organization.
Out of that (in the '60s), came a plane, the SR-71, that still holds speed and altitude records to this day, that virtually everything on it had to be invented, that took less time to design and build than it now takes to plan a new military jeep, and the cost to design, test, and produce was probably less than one modern fighter today.
Maybe this hierarchy thing is overrated... On the other hand, maybe we need it now. The people who worked for Kelly Johnson were self motivated, entrepreneurial, and independent. Now a days, kids are taught in school to work in teams rather than on their own.
Nixon Orders National Guard to Begin Withdrawal. Don't know about that, but I ferried two Connie loads of 82d Airborne into Jackson, MS so Kennedy could integrate Ole Miss. C-130s ferried the 101st Airborne into Oxford. Whether you think it was right or wrong, they played for keeps in those days.
Ok, so now that our government has announced that it will only convey accurate information to the public under the threat of being exposed by the WAPO, now we might ask the question:
Just exactly how many Americans are currently being held hostage in Syria today?" That info did not seem to be something they were willing to come forward and declare.
re This Is Where Your Childhood Memories Went. Your brain needs to forget in order to grow.
I continually amaze people with things I can recall from age 2, 3, 4. I am still in contact with a middle school friend who can't believe everything I remember from then, 45 years ago. College friends marvel at what I remember.
No wonder I have a feeble mind. My brain has not grown.
Most of the things I "remember" from ages 2-4 are from parents telling me about that time. From before age 5, I have only one memory which I do not recall my parents later informing about.
But I have lots of memories about elementary through high school. Several years ago I had dinner with a childhood friend, who was amazed at all I had remembered.
