The Problem With Knowing It All

Aside from the obvious levity in the title, and the preposterous notion that any individual has the answers to all truth, the biggest problem with knowing it all is that then the conclusions must be accepted and evidence must not contradict the conclusions. After all, if we accept evidence contrary to that which we know, then we cannot have known it all. That creates a shorted circuit in the brains of some people. Seriously. They cannot get past the point of looping confirmation bias once a preconceived notion, long held and somewhat sacred, is challenged for truth.

I suspect there will be people who think I am talking about them in particular, and there will be others who think I am talking about other people and not them. However, I am talking about everyone in general and no one in particular. We all are susceptible to thinking we have the answers even though we don't fully understand the questions. Besides, even if we don't have the answers, we can have opinions that we don't fully understand.

And the loop begins anew.

If You Are Tired of Politics, Lose Your Opinion, Too

Every four years we see the people poke their heads out to state again how tired they are of politics. Some of it is actually okay. There are people who simply are not into politics, who don't want to discuss politics, and who don't want to be dragged into political discussions. There is consistency when the person whose head pokes out to tell someone that they don't discuss politics when everyone is talking about politics.

However, there are those people who feel the need to follow the declaration by offering their opinions on politics. Then, they claim their opinions on politics are valid. 

What do they mean when they aren't interested in politics, but they think their opinions on political matters are valid? That is like saying they aren't interested in cooking, but they have opinions on how we can improve our recipes. How would they know if they don't know our recipes? They can't know. They can't support the reasons for the improvements if they don't know what already goes into it. 

The same goes with politics. If someone doesn't want to know what went into the political discussions, how can they possibly offer anything of value to improve it? They can't. They shouldn't. If it's you who does it, don't.

I'm Sorry Limbaugh is Sick; I Wish He Were Dead

I was saddened to read recently that Rush Limbaugh has lung cancer. I was hoping to read his obituary.

I caught some flack from friends for posting things like that on social media as the articles were shared. Some of my friends were concerned that me wishing death upon someone would bring me bad karma. First of all, if karma had any effect with regard to Rush Limbaugh, he would have drown in locust puke by now. We all are going to die. Some deaths are just more beneficial to humanity than others, and I believe that Rush Limbaugh's death and consequential silence will be a good thing for humanity.

Remembering Dad: His Magic Garage

Dad was both an introvert and creative. He loved the time he spent downstairs reading, in his darkroom developing black and white family photos, and out in his yard making park-like scenes for family relaxation.

Despite his thousands of books, hundreds of cameras, and dozens of silent movies, his grandchildren loved his magic garage most! He had various sets up in the rafters that depicted different holidays or scenes of Americana. It was all controlled by a box with about two dozen plugs and switches wired into a framework that was about 12 inches by 18 inches and built from 2X4s. It worked, and also probably frightened any electrician who ever saw it!

If Schools Taught Life Skills in 1980

Many people have suggested that schools should teach children life skills rather than wild math and humanities concepts they will rarely use in life. I wonder how differently my life might have been had the schools emphasized teaching us how to deal with the problems our parents were facing, rather than teaching us how to convert problems stated in sentence form into mathematical equations.

I was personally cast into adulthood in the mid-'70s. I have never had an occasion to try to figure out how far apart two trains traveling in opposite directions would be after a certain amount of time. Instead, I had to deal with the same adult matters that my parents had been dealing with all along.

Beating Coley in Whiffle Ball

My first friend in Tacoma was Chris Coley. He and his family lived next door to the house my family moved into when I was four years old. He and I were never best friends. It was more like he was the big guy next door who let me hang out, and I was probably a bit like the little brother who he permitted to hang out when older kids were not around.

I was really small as a child. Chris was not only a year older than me, he was also a three-sport varsity athlete. My second friend in town, Todd Grimm, was two years older than me. The three of us created imaginary baseball and basketball leagues that we played with cards and table games. I could compete with them when the game was won by pulling the lever in Basket, or flipping a home run card that came in a pack of baseball cards. 

We also really played sports. Though I could never beat Chris or Todd in those games, they still let me play. Todd was a year older than Chris, but Chris was the best athlete of the three of us. He was also the most ferocious of the three of us. We all wanted to win, but Chris hated to lose. 

Ms. Woodstock: An Apathon Legend

Her name was Tauni Stone, but we all knew her as Ms. Woodstock on the Seattle Apathons bulletin board. She took the name because she lived in upper-New York, not too far from Max Yasgur's farm where the famous concert took place. It was an appropriate name for her. She related well to the hippie movement, even if she really was a bit too young to have participated. That was the case for most of us Apathons.

She was open about her battle with multiple sclerosis. She and fellow Apathon, Alizarinred, taught many of us about the struggles posed by the disease through their regular chats about the topic. They talked about the side effects of some of the medications and the pain they suffered on the bad days. They talked of trying to lead normal lives, but we all saw them as extraordinary people.

Three Songs About Smugglers

One of the biggest challenges for organized crime is finding people who will smuggle drugs or other contraband through customs so it can be sold on the black market. It takes a special kind of criminal to handle the deliveries of the supplies that are in demand!

The three songs I've chosen for this topic are about the people who do the smuggling. We will end with two songs about smugglers who do the smuggling differently: one by land, the other by sea. Before we get to those songs, let's listen to a song about the dangers inherent in the smuggling racket.

My Daughter's Wife

As wrong as my daughter got it the first time, she got it that right the second time!

Her wife doesn't need to be the center of attention, and she doesn't need to use some really tough experiences in her life to explain abnormal behavior. Rather, she uses her experiences to imagine how others must feel in their circumstances. She has a healthy ego, but she also has a lot of empathy. She has a keen awareness about herself. She listens to learn rather than to know what memorized response is appropriate.

Topping Her Dad at Something

I was greeted at the door by my youngest granddaughter.

"Hi Papa. Merry Christmas and welcome," she said. 

It was not her normal greeting. She was excited because Christmas Eve is when her father's family gathers at her home to exchange Christmas gifts. I was there for the food and the cookies, and to see the grandkids before they got started.

The cousins had not yet arrived. Her mom and dad were getting things ready for the evening. She was all mine to talk to and play with for a while.

Three Songs About Theft

Like music, thievery also comes in many methods and styles. If we allow for the figurative idea of theft, the array is simply too vast. Even by limiting the topic to songs that are literally about theft, there were many songs to choose from.

I will end the post with a song about identity theft. Before that, there will be a song about shoplifting. I'll begin by one of the most common types of theft, and one that costs businesses money every day: employee theft.

Three Songs About Ex-Boyfriends

Heartbreak comes in many flavors, and so do the songs about the people who cause broken hearts. The three songs I've selected for this post are different in the ways the singers reflect on their ex-boyfriends.

One of the songs is deeply reflective, and just a bit bitter, about love that was not taken as seriously as it was given. One is a lady straight up telling her ex-boyfriend that he messed up and is going to be missing out.

We're going to start out with a song in which the lady is going to make it known that she knows what he is doing, she is done with him, and she is really pissed off, too!

Three Songs About Ex-Girlfriends

Music expresses moods. Whether we are happy or glad, or angry or sad, there are songs for every mood.

Love is one of the most common themes in music, and many sub-themes can be derived from within that. From first kisses to mourning soulmates, the spectrum of love is covered. Of course, part of the spectrum of love are lost loves. 

Even within this sliver of the slice of music that are love songs, we can find different moods. That is the case with these three songs about ex-girlfriends. One of the songs is about reflecting on what might have gone differently, but didn't. One of the songs is about an ex-girlfriend for whom some bitterness seems to be mixed with a bit of lingering desire. 

Before we get to those, here is a song to an ex-girlfriend that is about being bitter and spiteful, and holding a grudge.

Firing My Shrink

Who knows if I really was accessing the thoughts of Socrates and Einstein, or if I was simply going deep into my own mind to search archives that I had blocked for whatever reasons I may have had? Perhaps, I had merely happened upon a stream of collective knowledge to which we all have access. Whatever it was that I was doing concerned my friends and family. They would sometimes catch me in deep, self-induced trances, but mostly they would see me doing research to challenge or verify thoughts I had while in the trances.

I can't disagree with them that it seems like a type of insanity; however, if it is insanity, I have been insane for as long as I can remember. For example, I was fairly adept at dividing large numbers by the time we learned long division in school. There was no way for me to calculate earned run averages for the pitchers on our make-believe teams without that. When Mr. Reed was showing us the proper way to divide big numbers in eighth grade, I told him about the method I figured out years earlier that also worked. He challenged me on that. I proved it to him.

Three Songs About Adultery

Nothing feels quite like finding someone to fall in love with and marry. However, not everyone has the same experiences in marriage. Some people just deal with commitment better than other people do. Each of these three songs is about love with someone who isn't committed to commitment.

Two of the songs are about people who are contentedly having affairs. One of the songs is about a married man, and the other is about a married woman. The final song is about getting caught having an affair.