Before today’s light-hearted discussion, please – for your own health – go read “Soybean Oil Causes Genetic Changes In The Brain.” You’ll know what to do…
Sometimes, in fact most of the time I daresay, prepping is more about “What’s between the ears” than anything else.
Sure, it’s nice to have 6-million pounds of freeze-dried foods and tons of vegetable seeds, along with land, water collection, solar, first aid, masks for the nukes, and all that…and guns, and ammo, and 55-gallon drums of Hoppe’s #9…
Often, though, it’s more useful (and did I mention cheaper?) to sit back and look at the (short) history you’ve observed over your lifetime and put on your “diagnostics” hat. Try to figure out where things are going wrong, so we can do something about it. Fix the future and you can prep a lot less.
A Real-Life Example
I happened to pick up a book recently, published by the Texas Folklore Society.. There was no question but that “Tales of Texas Cooking: Stories and Recipes from the Trans Pecos to the Piney Woods and High Plains to the Gulf Prairies 
” would land on my Kindle for at least three reasons. First, it was a cookbook. Elaine and I both love to cook and this is a treasure trove of that. (Vinegar cobbler? Hmmm…) Second, it mentioned the Piney Woods district of The Republic and also the Blackland Prairie parts of Texas.
I’d venture most people in Texas have no idea that the Blackland Prairie runs from up along the Red River (effectively, our DMZ with Oklahoma) down generally to the southwest ending around the Eagle-Ford and San Antonio. Maybe on to the Mexico DMZ (which is more MZ than D…). But, it’s the next ecological zone west of the lovely Piney Woods.
The third (and really first) reason for scooping up the book is because it offers a fine assortment of Texasism’s along with a pain-free way to absorb Texas cultural heritage. Through the belly.
Mostly, Texans don’t care what color you are, or where you’re from, we all eat and , breaking bread together is exquisitely bonding. There’s no better place to “talk things out.” Provided splitting the check is decided beforehand.
Which Gets Us to Slang Jang
The arduous research of the Folklore Society includes a Jim-Dandy recipe and backgrounder on how to make “Slang Jang.”
Story hereabouts is that “Slang Jang” may have had something to do with a certain Mr. D. Crockett’s exploits in this region of Texas. He was involved (if I followed it right) in founding Honey Grove, Texas (being named for some honey trees). Which put Honey Grove on the map. Wikipedia relates events this way:
David Crockett discovered the area of Honey Grove when he camped there on his way to join the Texas Army at San Antonio in 1836. Crockett sent many letters back to Tennessee, telling of an area with an abundance of honey-filled trees, hence the town’s name. In 1837, Samuel Erwin became the first settler of the place. B. S. Walcott contributed much to the town’s development, by planning the city’s landscape and later on by selling building lots. In 1873 Honey Grove was officially established.
Samuel Erwin and Davy Crockett, old friends from Kentucky, were instrumental in the founding of Honey Grove. Samuel Augustus Erwin has a large gravestone marker in Honey Grove, stating: “Virginia-born Samuel Erwin was married in 1819 in Tennessee to Sally Rodgers Crisp (1795–1860), in a ceremony performed by local magistrate David Crockett. First settler in the Honey Grove area, Erwin arrived here in 1837 and surveyed land grants for other pioneers. A surveyor by profession, he platted the town site for his friend B.S. Wolcott in 1848. He was the town’s first postmaster and one of Fannin County’s earliest Justices of the Peace.”
What exactly, is “slang jang” and where does it fit in?
Depends who you ask. According to the Honey Grove Preservation League (over yonder) it’s tomatoes, and spices, and oysters, with some ice to keep it cold with variants that include tossing in a can (or two) of canned salmon (yum) and/or some Vienna sausage.
One of my Coonass chums from Loosely-anna might cast slang jang as a cross between a ceviche (spiced pickled fish) and a gumbo; hot seafood chowder with lots of veggies and some rice and local sausage and what-not. On the contrary a few Tex–a-centric Texans might suggest that the lesser gumbo tribes of Louisianna and Peruvian Ceviche purveyors have simply “gone local” and perverted the Texas slang-jang tradition.
Notwithstanding, our “fact-checkers” are siding with Louisianan’s on this citing the Wiki entry on point:
“Gumbo is typically divided into two varieties. Combinations traditionally common in New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana are known as “Creole” after the Louisiana Creole people, descendants of French and Spanish settlers, and enslaved African people, who lived in those areas. “Cajun” combinations were common in southwestern Louisiana, which was populated primarily by Cajuns, descendants of the French-speaking settlers expelled from Acadia (located within the modern-day Canadian provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) in the mid-18th century”.
An out of state anthropologist might also remark on the lack of oyster beds so far from coastal estuaries. But, of course, Texas is the Land Of Bigly and our oysters are known for being “free-range” oysters.
It’s a more-or-less established fact that after the (not so) Civil War, Black Prairie Land cattle were shooed up the Chisholm Trail to the railheads around Kansas City. From there, the cattle sometimes made it as far as Chicago, in time and in sufficient numbers to give Upton Sinclair something to write about later on.
Lesser known, are the massive Texas free-range oyster drives from Fannin County to the Pacific Northwest to the beachheads at Quilcene, and other Washington State backwaters, where they established minuature oyster herds.
It’s an alleged fact that many of the free-range ovsters didn’t make it across the difficult mountains between Texas and Washington State; thousands were lost north and west of Denver. You’ve no doubt heard of these renegade Rocky Mountain oysters who were looking to rejoin the cattle herds in Kansas City. ( You can undoubtedly tell, I’m a real history buff…).
“So How Does This Foodie Rant Relate to Losing Our Future?”
Well, we’re just getting ’round-tuit.:” (Being out of stock of square-tuits.)
What makes Texans “Texans” is the art of being able to trace things back to sources in historical Texas times. A lot of this is oral tradition passed down at big family gatherings..
One reason that the South continues to have a vibrant food tradition is that people here tend to spend more family time than in other parts of the country – just going from what we’ve seen first-hand. Even Palestine, Texas, half a days hike from us, has it’s annual Hot Pepper Festival. in October. (Older residents remember it as the Hot Chili Pepper Festival, which is what it once upon a was…)
In the North, people seem focused on working 24-7. yeah,. yeah – tech is addictive. Been there. A good part of the South is still in post-tech reconstruction.
More recently, we’ve been in Texas for 17-years now, and I continue speed-talking ahead of my local peers. To my two cups of Northern high-octane, burned-tasting, (and over-priced) BigBucks coffee, a true Texas may be quenched with a mix of half “sweet tea” and half plain.
Yet when there’s work’s to be done, they do as much, or more, than anyone and usually better or faster. This is much to the consternation of the Coffee Bandits which still roam the American West, holding up mainly sleepy people.
More Coffee is Not Our Future. Young People Are.
Again, experientially, a lot of Northern industrial tech centers seem to run on “rented everything, and totally scheduled lives.” South of America’s midriff, maybe it’s the climate (which isn’t changing, maybe for a lack of hysteria and a dose of skepticism in our area) families often still spend Sunday’s at least several times a month getting together. The Grandma makes up dinner, Dad has a branch water (or 5), the Eldest Son keeps Bud Light in business, while the oldest children seek counseling and guidance due to what they’re hearing and learning along the way.
The North was like that, once upon a….
Right there! That’s the point: ONCE UPON A….
Tradition matters. Families matter. If we are to have a future as a country, we need to focus more on having better – and more – family time. Break bread, not homes. Cut taxes, not coke.
On the Study Finds website, here’s a number to chew on: “American Families Spend Just 37 Minutes Of Quality Time Together Per Day, Survey Finds.”
Still skeptical? The US Department of labor reported (2018) that the average parents (*in other words both of ’em) spent – on average – how much time daily reading to children under age 6? 0.07 hours per day.
Help with the math? 4.2-minutes per day. ISYN. Damn-straight wish they judged extended family dinners, because I’m certain that as those diminish, so does community cohesion. Ever stop to think that’s why immigrating families advance faster than existent ones in many SMSA’s?
The answer is simple: Immigrant families stick together. They kick ideas around and the stupid ones are tossed, having failed the “dinner-table test.” Non-immigrant families have been here so long, everyone thinks they know everything, already, and they head for the door to land up failures on the street.
One of America’s (left-most) politicians was noted for constantly saying “It takes a village to raise a child.” Don’t buy it – it’s another socialist lie. Designed to “take down” families.
Just as the Chinese are programmed to believe “the government has a place at the family table as the Friendly Uncle” so too, the socialists want to write themselves into you family’s dinner table script. They claim province over “the village.”
And, they can get stuffed.
Like the oft-told lie by a certain former president who sold the gullible on the idea that “You didn’t Build Your Own Business” there’s no level below which a street cornder rabble-rouser or socilist thug won’t stoop to seize power.
Our simplistic thinking comes down to this: You don’t need a village. Not even a web.
What you do need a family. Because the school boards of today are too busy trying to program gender nonsense into children and empire-build to the left. Instead of teaching centrist history (found in cookbooks) so youngsters know what slang jang is. (Even if maybe the oyster drives are pushing things a bit, lol.)
Rather than making up a new “soft industries” of climatism genderism, isn’t it more likely the kids will be better-off spending some time listening to the old people ? Listening to the grown-ups, as many of us did, at the Sunday dinner table? :
Leaning family traditions and the towering history of America at the family level, unblemished by political agendas, if the well of free thinking. We ignore it at our peril.
Which is, dear reader, why local cookbooks from historical and folklore groups are a useful substitute diet for the young with value-deprived souls. Take away their carrots and granola, and feed ’em a pot roast with gravy.
But first, a little slang jang.
Write when you get rich,
george@ure.net
P.S. Oh, yeah, we got the crackers…
Retreat our forces would be a great concept — but how would we re-deemploy these volunteers, for what ever reason? Are there just too many people on our globe? that need a purpose to live?
“Retreat our forces would be a great concept — but how would we re-deemploy these volunteers, for what ever reason?”
What a great concept Bolshevic.. and one that i Have contemplated more than you will ever know..
I think of the ancient texts and teachings… if you read enough of them eventually you can spot exactly where mankind puts his two cents worth in.. the message changes from one of peace and tranquility to one of give me.. and violent undertones..
take the book of secrets.. dead sea scrolls.. “Those who would penetrate the origins of knowelede, along with those who hold fast to the wonderful mysteries. those who walk in simplicity as well as those who are devious in every activity of the deeds of humanity”
as most of you know that have read my posts in the past. and could bury everyone with enough reading to keep them busy for a day or two.. I have read a page or two more than the average custodian or burger flipper grocery sacker, dish washer etc.. I love the old works like Plato and his writing the republic.. or the Kasha.. in one old book I think it was the book of adam.each time he tried to gain the compasion of the creator the creator would tell him.. you are missing the real message..we want to see you thrive… ( he was a fool in my opinion… I totally don’t care if a woman cowgirls up.. bring lilith back.. LOL. and the real origins of the story of a woman scorned LOL LOL..) anyway I digressed again LOL..
but think about it.. and all the legends of a utopia or utopian society.. the story of the lost worlds.. what is it that is the underlying message.. the old addage of Do unto others.. societies that existed in a time of peace working together.. then the same thing happens in every one of them.. GREED… the ME complex and mission for wealth .. today we chase a number.. a peice of paper or a hunk of metal..
considering your thought though.. what if.. we as a race or species went out to help rather than destroy.. lend a hand.. we all can do it right here at home and much of it you doesn’t cost anyone anything.. the boy scout helping the little old lady across the street.. opening a door for someone at the store or whereever.. being respectful and kind..
what is the old creed…this isn’t the whole creed but most of it.. the important parts..
To protect the weak and defenceless
To give succour to widows and orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
To live by honour and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honour of our fellow man
To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
To respect the honour of women
what kind of world would we have if we just changed our mission in life.. instead we see and hear all the hateful things.. the past three years has really embedded just how bad it is to.. I feel sad that our leaders have lowered themselves to those levels of depravity..
I can’t buy into the foodie thing – it’s just too much focus on consuming things that make you fat! There are only two kinds of food – good and bad. I do agree with the idea of families working as a unit and learning from each other across generations.
Not all of us have close families regardless of our efforts, and not all of us understand how to make one. I respect those who do, and it’s one reason I have great respect for the Chinese culture, though even the Chinese IMHO, pay far too much attention to food!
“it’s just too much focus on consuming things that make you fat!”
OMG Mike.. there goes my theory.. don’t buy green banana’s,, eat desert first…for we don’t know what may happen in the next few moments.. enjoy the fruits of life.. sex and food the two only true enjoyable benefits to a fulfilled life…
the rest is all fluff that can be gone in an instant..
I totally agree with you regarding sex! It’s been the reason for me to work hard most of my life.
Food(beyond nutrition) has been troublesome. Regardless of exercise and hard work, eating even a bit too much has caused me to gain weight, and I prefer a slender woman as a bed partner. Such women in turn seem to prefer thinner guys, so I’ve done my best to minimize food. Of course, nothing works out as you imagine it would, and here I am single again at this advanced stage of life.
I may have to recant my words to a degree, since I’ve been invited to a party next weekend by a dear friend who unfortunately for me, is married. Food and family are the two pillars of the Chinese Spring Festival celebration!
There are two kinds of food:
1) Too much
2) Not enough
IMHO no one should “qualify for public election of any kind” that has not demonstrated in real time to have lived at least 1 wek without running water or electricity. Period!!
About 60 million dead under MAO.
George
” a gumbo; hot seafood chowder with lots of veggies and some rice and local sausage and what-not.”
To be considered authentic gumbo it must have okra in the mix. This I know as fact from growing up in Nawlins. There are several versions of this wonderful concoction. They are seafood, chicken and sausage. Of course there are probably variations that have not been cataloged by gastronomic explorers.
Don’t forget that other mainstay of southeastern Louisiana food. I write of course of Red Beans and Rice. Christened by the Frugal Gourmet of PBS fame as Peasant Food Raised to Glory. And so it is in my experience. It is considered a staple every Monday in the Big Easy. The thing about this dish is that not only is it good eating but you can feed a lot of people with just a pound or two of the ingredients and they store for months if kept dry. Add pickled pork or sausage and a fine meal can be had. A pork chop on the side turns a simple meal into a feast. While the inventor of this dish is not known I tend to credit the African American’s who applied their African cuisine to the local produce to create this unique regional dish. It is traditionally made on Mondays as it requires several hours of slow cooking. This allowed people to attend to clothes washing which was usually a Monday chore in the old old days. At least that how the story goes. I pity those who have never had a good dish of Red Beans and I’m not talking about the stuff that Popeye’s sells. Not everything coming out of Louisiana is too spicy to eat. Adding cayenne pepper to anything does not make it Cajun! She Who Must Be Obeyed is half Cajun and knows that a mix of spices are used and not everything is red hot!
Sorry to be so long winded but most cooking shows don’t have a clue about Louisiana food and that’s something I am very passionate about!
As you go west from New Orleans, the okra becomes optional. In south Texas, you usually have to ask for okra, if it is available at all. Roux stock is what distinguishes the gumbo from other soups.
Interesting fact and correct about the Roux! I also forgot to mention that most people I know add Filé powder, ( pronouned Fi-lay), which is a spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree. It adds some flavor and acts to make the gumbo thicker.
Laissez les bons temps roule!
Ma what’s for supper tonight.?
Food.
Good.
No no good food just food
In response to your podcast: Do your projects and write about them. Your charts can be interesting, but once a week is plenty. The podcast has turned out to be better than I was expecting, but again, once a week is good enough. Be careful with multiple antibiotic therapies; old men have delicate beta cells. Do what you gotta do outside, but remember that you live on a tree farm, not a country club. I have found a lot of tools and prep stuff squirreled away in totes this season.
yes. Stop at purpose, “need a purpose.”
This subject alone could be an entire Peoplenomics focus piece, and worth every word!
As we pass through stages of life, our purpose may or may not become irrelevant. Finding real goals and purpose in life sets our direction and keeps us moving in productive ways.
I am big fan of synchronicity.
My entire life I’ve had people telling me I’m under-performing or over-performing. Then one day I realized my purpose is really about doing something or helping someone else for some greater reason. I have a way of changing peoples’ luck, but I never really know who or how I’m helping. I have figured out that when I start getting restless and developing an urge to move on, I’m probably done with the current mission. Sounds like the plot to any typical television serial so it’s probably a common thing that doesn’t get much attention…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AkNqLuVgY
Joe your post touched me..
“My entire life I’ve had people telling me I’m under-performing or over-performing. Then one day I realized my purpose is really about doing something or helping someone else for some greater reason”
That is my life entirely..
I found myself in being there as the helping hand for others in need. Their strength when they were weak, the comforter when scared, the protector when they were in danger.
I don’t have financial riches or a big fancy house or car..what I have is memories of the look in their eyes of gratitude when
Helped. The tears of happiness.
I have no regrets for the path I’ve chosen. It’s been a full life filled with love and compassion .
If I had it to do over I’d make the same choices.
George,
In St Francis’ prayer for peace a verse states to not seek to be understood but to understand.
I am a long time reader of your site and have not knowingly struggled with gender issues most of my life. I understand I am biologically male… but my brain functions more like a woman’s. Gender is a spectrum and I can probably function as a male the rest of my life…. but it is a struggle as I try to not show emotions (I cry at movies before my wife and many other ways).
Anyway watch this doctors lecture on Transgender Health Care, especially the 6;40 mark as he speaks of the known causes for the issue – some genetic and some estrogens in the environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fefu33e8O-0
Well, actually, now you have turned over a damn interesting rock, for sure.
Here’s how
A number of years ago, I took some kind of super “personality” test – and it shows that I had both male and female thinking processes – in about equal balance. Hmmm..
On the other hand, the physical side of me is all man (or dog, lol).
There’s a very interesting exercise that I evolved to help me understand how to “move my consciousness around” that is not hard to do, and can even be done in a semi-dark room with a flashlight, although a red LED array works better.
Turn on the red light and hold it up to within about an inch, or so, of your right temple. Eyes closed while you do this.
As you do, the right eyelid will be lit up, as well, but the left eyelid will be “in the dark”
\
The “normal” thing for the brain to do is process the strong light signal into the mental awareness space…which it does because that’s how the frontal cortex (and other) vision processing in the brain works.
But, if you can balance your “aspects” you can also see the3 “dark” or unlit side and its here that you will see dancing patterns appear.
Thing is, it’s hard to look too much at the patterns – almost a martial arts kind of thing, for once you focus on them the brain will pop awareness back to the bright light input.
Now, reverse and do the same thing.
The left eye is now bring and the right eye input is where the dark (and different patterns) now live.
With a lot of work, you can “own” which you are focused on, IoW the light, or the dark…and yet the hell of it =- and mystery too – is why it takes no conscious effort and it’s more a mastery of attention.
Which is where men and women seem to be most different, other than the “hard coding” of a few million years of evolution.
This may sound like a very strange thing to do, yet, this “soft control of attention” (it’s not like the top-of-mind male attention/action sort at all) may be what’s behind a lot of the gender confusion/discussion today.
Men and women “look” at things differently – and this exercise has, for me at least – gotten me “in touch” with a very different aspect of “self” – down at the intent and intending levels and soft perception versus the other hard intent, demand focus, hard perception.
It may come easier to people who are able to learn across a wide spectrum…
But for those too lazy to try, a simple test, like the Gregorc Style Delimiter which only takes asbout 10-15 minutes, will give you a good idea how “really balanced” you are.
There are two axes in the Gregorc: Concreate vs. abstract and random vs. sequential.
Both Elaine and I have just about “perfect balance” – which is to say that there’s only a point or two on any of the axes which is nothing in today’s world.
The more highly male (in terms of chauvinist, testosterone, kill, march, dominate) tend to be “off-balance” you might say, very “concrete” and very sequential.
Extreme women, tend to be highly random and highly abstract… Which is why, we I read about all the nearly faddish reports of gender change and selling gender choice is school, it sounds more Mengele than data-based.
For in order to live in a balanced world, the idea’s to have a balanced mindset that can see “all things as they are” and not need to dominate it or run from it.
The Truth is out there…but some work on how the “unforced attention” can be explored, why that’s a dandy way to spend a few minutes a day, because it that state, nothing is really forced, but rather there’s an exercise of deep internal intent that takes place.
Woo woo enough, for you?
“I took some kind of super “personality” test – and it shows that I had both male and female thinking processes – in about equal balance. Hmmm..”
We all have those traits.. here is my test results..
“Remember, scientists have said that men can have female brains, and women can have male brains, so don’t worry if your brain type does not match your physical sex! There are many advantages to having a brain type different to that of your gender, not least because you might really surprise some people!
A BALANCED BRAIN
Your brain is probably close to what scientists call a balanced brain, halfway between female and male, though possibly leaning more towards the male end. You like to take a proactive approach to problem-solving, and you’re not afraid to take the lead. Sometimes you might not show enough appreciation of other people’s ideas or feelings in your eagerness to put your own forward.
OR
A TOTALLY FEMALE BRAIN
You most definitely have what scientists describe as a female brain: you are empathetic, sociable and detail oriented. You like to work with others and believe in collaboration not confrontation. You relish your pleasures, but they are mainly quiet ones, and you don’t believe in aggression.”
I have been called an Empath in the past..
detail oriented? Social ? (living in the woods with a messy shop, lol?) No, testosterone is working, lol
Btw, I have been pondering trying to make a light crown… However, I also have a strong connection to all that is. I’m sure you know Greg Braden’s work… I have used it to bring rain (had a military helicopter fly overhead the time I wen’t very deep inside myself to do so), used it in conjunction with Whitley’s meditations and (the dowsing guys) methidology to heal a friends father (had lightning strike in my head (no storms in the area unlike the previous day when I actually saw columns of energy in my head and a real lightning strike about 50 feet from me – stopped after that as I got scared).
Anyway, I think that the light crown is great…. but cheating, all one has to do is try and enter the interior castle as St. Theresa of Avilla wrote about.
Anyway, again I actually am happy with my physical makeup, try to escape at times (in the closet to what matches my brain wiring) but seemingly have had the struggle happening for some time and many of the health markers I have were high before I actually considered something happened in utero giving me a brain more like that of a women…
The point is that I do not believe that it is some marketing trick… but believe that we have destroyed our environment and food such that as Soybean oil (estrogenic) might be dis
Have you discussed this with your wife? She could probably be very helpful in determining if it is even a problem. Some people are just sensitive, men & women alike.
Yup, but there are other factors… Testosterone can increase hemoglobin levels – which when I altered my hormones slightly fell from dangerous levels to normal. My heart rate runs at near 100bpm and im not out of shap, essentially resting… dropped it to an avg of 70 bpm at the same time… then there is the cortisol levels that spike first thing in the AM to above the average trend channel and fell to the bottom of the average range after taking menopause medicine.
as far as your description of extreme women, unfortunately I’m highly abstract in my thinking and also very random (I attributed much to being pisces.)
My concern is my health… A resting heart rate near 90 -100 most of the day, with extreme cortisol and hemoglobin levels might do me in sooner rather than later.
I watch a video of one individual exposed to DES in utero and he was prescribed Testosterone and his body converted it to estrogen some how.
I really dont know, but all the endocrine disruptors, birth control in our water and …. probably have a big impact… and yes I understand Im a man, but if the only thing I can do to lower my cortisol, heart rate and hemoglobin is to alter my hormones, I probably will – even though id prefer not.
Thank you Mr. Ure. This is the one thing I am working on now and hopefully with my future wife we will be able to bring quality time back into our lives and with the family we create that I didn’t get and her family is showing me now. It is amazing the quality time spent and how much I have learned just sitting round the dinner table with her family. God Bless you Mr. Ure, you like the father I never had.
Thanks – that’s one hell of a compliment. But is really all the people around here. We’ve been through about 3-times as much Life as you (so far) so it’s natch’el that we’d pick up a few things along the way.
Trust things are going well for you up in Co.?
So, every one talks about gumbo, which is one dish I do not believe I have ever tried – at least to my knowledge . I do understand the benifits of being able to prepare from dried vegs , peppers etc . To me a special treat of cajun is boudan sausage , how great and wonderful that sausage is — those that haven’t had boudan are missing out .
Knowing full well that we live under a “democratically” elected “representative government” I reckon that population’s IQ is the most important factor for our future.
Since GU and his minions have these mind boggling sources of information available to them, my question is: What were the changes in IQ over the last 100,50, and 10 years within our US general population? All else aside IQ will determine our future.
Retreating our military forces from foreign soil would be a great concept — but how would we re-employ all these volunteers? Are there just too many people on our globe? that need a better purpose for living? ;-)
IMHO no one should ever “qualify for public office of any kind” who has not demonstrated to have lived (unexpectedly!) at least 3 days without running water and/or electricity. Period!!
Sorry, when I repeated myself. Old age seems to be galopping too fast ;-(.
That is a weekend camping trip. That is a weekend camping trip.
“Knowing full well that we live under a “democratically” elected “representative government” I reckon that population’s IQ is the most important factor for our future…
“…What were the changes in IQ over the last 100,50, and 10 years within our US general population? All else aside IQ will determine our future.”
I sincerely hope NOT!
I am taking my reply to a top-level post, to facilitate replies…
LOL… I did love this one…
“Since GU and his minions have these mind boggling sources of information available to them”
You have the same resources available to you as well.. in this part of the country we call it ….. are you ready… get set.. THE LIBRARY….LOL.. no seriously I shouldn’t have been smug there. for some reason.. I get a personal irritable sensation when IQ is mistaken for advancement of society rather than emotional stability curiosity of the what if…. kind of like Cow Pie chunking.. would someone associate cow pie chunking to an advancement of society. Yet a cow pie chunker not wanting to handle the cow pie and figures out how to use weights levers and gravity to fling it further…. emotionally secure and curiosity is where I think society advances .. whether or not someone can spot a pattern in an abstract does not justify that they are”BETTER” than anyone else.. neither does having a fancy coloring book paper in a frame on your wall.. a diploma basically says that you had the tenacity to spend a great deal of time and money partying and sitting through some lectures where someone helped you to focus on what your goals were.. you the person are the tools needed to get that paper… does that piece of paper make the difference not really.. the only difference it makes is with a society that places a high value on it in the job sector..
We all individually have a personal genius in each of us.You live your life and survive in your world better than anyone else.. whether it is washing dishes at the restaurant sacking groceries or working as a college professor.
a few years ago now the worlds most prestigious cancer research doctor in the world.. was discovered that he didn’t even have a high school diploma.. yet he had the skills associated to being the best in his field..
in the book.. The Open Mind: Exploring the 6 Patterns of Natural Intelligence
by Dawna Markova she writes Every one of us has a special genius and the discovery of yours is the key to faster learning. that each of us fits into one of six patterns for learning.. by opening our minds and realizing that it isn’t the IQ but the curious mind and the determination to seek out an answer or figure out our own answer is the true genius..
I think what I read in your post is.. you would like those that lead us to actually know what real life is at the bottom.. to have had the life experiences that the vast majority of us do.. learn to survive on minimum wage or make it without running water.. or sewer.. garbage disposal sanitation.. there seems to be more millionaires in office than not.. I think no one should be in office that isn’t willing to write or read and discuss or think about the bills that they vote on.. trust me .. if they did read any of that crap any sane man would think twice about voting for them..
as for myself.. I have read a page or two more than the average person.. but then my life revolves around the written language.. I drive everyone mad that watches me read because I get a page or a paragraph that spurs a curiosity I then read other material that revolves around that one paragraph ..
it isn’t the IQ that is lacking.. its the emotional security and respect of those around us..that is lacking in society today.. with deregulation in my opinion started it.. the adult essence and the destruction of the family structure put a gap between parenting and the child to fashion their young minds. As the gaps widened in society and our drive for more both parents had to work the mom at home is gone..we now leave our childs growth and stability to be fashioned by a tv or game on a computer..many popular game shows are candidates that win by having the best sociopathic tendencies.With the promotion of greed pushes the need to dependence.. instead of taking smaller advancements and getting to the same mountain top a little later that instant gratification of want pushes people in different social status into dependence on others for survival. it is a vicious circle.. a cycle..unfortunately people are blind to see that.. . I promote curiosity and push reading.. show the kids something that they won’t be shown and get them to look at the same thing as something new with.. why does it do that..to look at something that is common in a different way.. to look outside of the average box that everyone is in..
of course that is just my opinion…
for myself.. the only fancy paper on the wall is a coloring page by a five year old.. his creative genius at work.. I never advanced in our economic society because I didn’t have the paper on the wall.. that opens doors.. Luckily for me.. I have a grounding rod.. I have a tendency to have fifty thousand different things going on at the same time and can get distracted quite quickly.. which is why if someone askes me my opinion on a subject.. what do I think.. or what would you do.. if they know me.. they say.. mull this over for a while and let me know down the road.. my grounding rod keeps me from being a little crass and insensitive at times.. or getting to eccentric LOL.. by letting me know when I am being a butthead..then she says.. ten words or less.. your opinion is your opinion and no one cares about your opinion more than you do..
NY Red Neck Gumbo is made with Deer meat.
When men get old everything about them starts becoming feminine ,
When women get old everything about them start turning masculine.
That’s why as couples stay together through their lifetime that they have become so well adjusted to each other ,
One becomes the other an the other becomes the other
bolshevic posted:
“Knowing full well that we live under a “democratically” elected “representative government” I reckon that population’s IQ is the most important factor for our future…
“…What were the changes in IQ over the last 100,50, and 10 years within our US general population? All else aside IQ will determine our future.”
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My personal opinion is: The brightest of any era, are of comparable intelligence — i.e. Our brightest are neither more, nor less intelligent than a Tesla, a Napoleon, a Washington or Franklin, a da Vinci or Galileo, a Socrates or Alexander. However, all those of bygone times, even the theorists like Plato, earned their trade and accomplishments by application. Today’s kids learn it almost exclusively by theory which, by definition, is THEORY, and unproven. A “practical” teacher can always teach more than he knows. A “theoretical” teacher can only teach less.
My impression of today’s people is that in the aggregate, Millennials are more-intelligent than Xers, who’re more-intelligent than Boomers. However intelligence, without knowledge of how to use it, is both useless and meaningless. It’s like “having a computer without an operating system,” and that is where Greatests and Boomers “have it all over” those who’ve come after.
Since the late 1960s, “education” has emphasized homogeneity of thought and process, and discouraged independent thought and common sense.
The ability to extrapolate “possible solutions” to a problem, then tenaciously “stick to it” and repeatedly fail until success is achieved through trial and error (or dumb luck), no longer exists, except as an occasional outlier.
My biological children are (at least according to whatever is now used as a testing regimen) more than 20 IQ points more-intelligent than I. I’d say they have less common sense than a doorstop, but I don’t want to insult doorstops. They can not isolate a problem, identify, formulate, or create a solution, or in any form or manner, “think outside the box,” which appalls me more than I can say. They are incapable of seeing an object and visualizing any way to use or utilize it, other than the exact purpose for which it was MARKETED. The things they saw me do, growing up, are lost. Those actual accomplishments were more than overshadowed by the “unlearning” they received in “school,” and which is now constantly reinforced by their “adult” “peers,” most of whom are even more-inept than they.
Youngsters “live by the straw-man.” Given a problem, they will construct a mental wall, which may (or may not) have anything whatsoever to do with said problem, then bash their heads against this construct, quickly declaring the problem (which, by the way, their construct has prevented them from ever actually addressing) “unsolvable.”
Please, prove me wrong or inaccurate.
I don’t believe anyone can…
Your kids were trained by leftist school teachers to be cogs in the great leftist machine. They know that to avoid persecution, they must conform to the dictates of the party watchers. This is the reality of dealing with kids who are plugged into social media networks where they receive instructions about who is out and who is in from posts from social media personna.
Much of the kids education now centers around studying to pass standardized tests. That is why they score better on standardized tests like IQ tests than you; taking standardized academic tests is all they know how to do.
That is exactly right. They can’t understand why I have movies like THX-1138, 1984, Logan’s Run, Brazil, Soilent Green, 2081, ZPG, even The Matrix and Terminator series’, and why, when they come to visit, I’ll be watching one and suggest they hang around (which they invariably don’t.) Perhaps I should have force-fed them these varied flavors of “dystopian he!!” when they were young enough that we could’ve done it for family movie night…
‘Point is, the path down which the U.S. is leading the entire world, ends in one, or a combination of several of the scenarios broached by these movies, and others of their ilk. It is a very bad place, at best, a living death, and a place from which Mankind is likely to never be able to extricate itself. I don’t want my kids to go there, and I don’t want my planet or species to go there.
“Much of the kids education now centers around studying to pass standardized tests.”
I tutored a “kid” who couldn’t, through college. He’d come out of the Navy SP with bunch of brass on his uniform and an urge to go to college to become a civilian LEO. Dude scored a combined 190 on his SAT — required a document from his Congressman to get through the door because of that SAT score. I got him graduated cum laude in 4 years with a degree in CJC. He was not the brightest bulb on the tree, but he was also far from dimmest. He simply could not take form exams of any kind. I hadn’t seen nor heard from him in years. He and his wife stopped by my house last fall — he was a newly-retired career Federal law enforcement officer, and they stopped by just to tell me “thanks,” again…
” then tenaciously “stick to it” and repeatedly fail until success is achieved through trial and error (or dumb luck),”
AMEN RAY…
You said it way better than I did.. that also is one reason why I like our president so much.. sure he got a fortune to begin but he lost it.. and didn’t give up.. till he did it right..
the same goes for why I have the issues I do with one of my sewer lines.. I read the books.. but it never told me the one secret that seasoned plumbers know.. LOL.. the reason why you have a water wall when I built the house.. live and learn.. I did it my way and now I have to deal with the minor mistakes I made for my own convienience.. the no double Y’s concept….
“think outside the box,” which appalls me more than I can say. ”
I do totally think outside the box is important..
https://www.vision3d.com/sghidden/dino.html
like seeing a window screen.. then watching the eyes of a child light up when they get close enough to see the window screen when it makes a three deminsional window screen image..and wonder why it does that..It is the same object but from a different angle and by looking at it from a different perspective see’s it in a completely different light. such as einsteins bus theory that perplexed him.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/albert-einstein-time-travel-theory.html….
an engineer for an example looks at a space in the chasis of a car and the design of the motor.. he puts the oil filter in the most logical spot to fit in.. without seeing the three deminsional where it will be a nightmare to remove it for regular maintenance..
even though we see the laws of physics as absolute they are nothing more than guidelines and theories..