ON THE ONE HAND…

NOTEFIX Production Quiz #4: See if you can make any sense of this photo – after reading the post below.

• HISTORY CHEATERS:  There is much discussion going on in our country about when we should teach our children – if ever – about the “Bad things” of our past, such as: Slavery, Indian genocides, Ku Klux Klan lynchings, those sorts of things.  Six years of age?  Twelve?  Never?  There is a movement in the land which claims such knowledge results in a false view of our great country.  It has been said “History is written by the Winners”;  On the other hand, it seems to me if  the ‘Denying’  of accurate HISTORY prevails – it will be written by people who should not be writing it. My thought is (sort of ‘Orwellian’): “He who controls the Past, can control the Present”. We have enough trouble choosing the right people to run things in the Present as it is, without having to deal with the HISTORY CHEATERS and their telling us what they like to think what was what.
• Forty years ago when a person retired from a company, they would give him a Gold Watch (there were no ‘women’ in the office to retire at that time in our HISTORY). Then, In the past few years, when a person would retire, the ‘Office’ would buy a bunch of Doughnuts and everybody would get to eat them while they said goodbye.  I wonder how the retirement ceremony will be held when the retiree of the Future had been working remotely?  Will it be a ‘Virtual’ send-off?  Maybe the Gold Watch or the Doughnuts, even, had a nicer touch.  But that’s all HISTORY now.
• PASSWORDS:  I read it is not a good thing to use the name of your dog for your “Password”.   It seems the Russians know you are likely to use your dog’s name when they try to break in to everything you have ever owned.  On the one hand, I am doomed, for as time goes on, my dog’s name is about the only thing I can remember.  But, on the other hand, the Russkies don’t know which one of the  six dogs of my life I use for my P/W.  If they try the wrong names three times, they are locked out forever – and I’m safe at last.
• MASS TRANSIT:  Studies show 71% of voters vote for mass transit friendly measures. But studies also show that only 5% of the people use mass transit and want to use it in the future.  What this means is that most drivers want other people to get off the roads and go on mass transit so they can have the roads all to themselves.
• RELIGION:  Protestants are leaving the fold.  Catholic numbers are in decline.  Millennials are claiming “Unaffiliated” & “None”.   What does this mean for our society?  Will we be better?  Worse?  Will we commit fewer crimes?  Fewer invasions of foreign lands?  Tell more of the truth about our HISTORY?  Stay tuned
• TIDBITS:  *The Iditarod has moved upriver (North) more than 60 miles in the past few years – to follow the Climate Change.  So much for the ‘Deniers’.  *In some States you must be 19 to buy a gun; still, you have to be 21 to drink. In some of those States you can Open Carry your weapon; but not your drink. It is becoming difficult to know what you can do where and how old you have to be to do it when you are out of your home State. *Our Honey-bee hives have been collapsing for years.  This disproves the proverb: “Once a problem is known, it is half solved.” *The Golden Arches Theory:  “No two countries who share a border have gone to war against each other since each got its own McDonalds.” I wonder if the U.N. knows about this…and if Jared had known this, he could have personally bought a franchise for Palestine and brought peace to the land and made some money on the side…oh, I forgot, Palestine is not a country.  *My favorite Headline of the week: “Risk of Brain Eating amoeba may increase due to Climate Change.”  I did not read the follow-up article, however, I have the answer on how to handle this: We concentrate on the part about the Brain Eating amoeba problem, since we let the Climate Change thing get out of control.
• The Air-Force is training more pilots for drones than for manned planes. If drones are to be used as a form of combat, is the Air-Force training as many women to fly these things as men?  Have they done a study on who flies drones better?  Do men press the ‘Kill’ button more readily than women? How old do you have to be to fly a drone for the military? Can you fly a combat-drone before you are allowed to drink? I don’t things in the military were this complicated in the past.

And now a few words from MATHUZALA, our wise rodent guest Columnist:

MATHUZALA SPEAKS:

• It has been said that all your problems are the result of your solutions to previous problems.  You are entering a new phase in your HISTORY; for you are not coming up with any solutions to your present problems: (Pollution, world hunger, Climate Change, ad nauseam.) Your solutions to problems in the PAST caused problems, yes, but your not coming up with any solutions at all…will cause more hovoc than you can imagine. We have the ‘solution’, however. We are taking control.

(If you want to learn more from Mathuzala, please go to Amazon or Barnes & noble and buy “THE RAT PAPERS”.)

A few quotes in support of the above posting:

• “Our problems are the result of our solutions to previous problems. -Eric Severeid, Newscaster, 20th Century
• “Americans could always be counted on to do the right thing – after they have tried all other possibilities.” -Winston Churchill, HISTORY Writer.
• “All Intelligence is Artificial Intelligence.” -MATHUZALA, Commentator
• “What’s Past is Prologue.” W. Shakespeare, Playwright, ‘The Tempest” …if the “Past” changes, so does the “Prologue”

Take care out there. and “Hello” to Daisy, wherever you are.

Decoding the photo: Your powers of reasoning are spot on, if you see that if you fool with HISTORY you could be blinded to what is what. You might not even know the past is in the trash-bin and you might have to repeat it all over again – or worse. We do not know why Bork, the Purple angry slug is in the picture.  Come back next week for more.

C. E. Metzger

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