Just Another Mouth to Feed
In prehistoric times the people in a tribe were happy to have children. Children grew up to be young adults who could help carry supplies, could help hunt and prepare food, and could help make clothing, utensils and tools. The tribe needed children to survive and survival was a desperate struggle. So desperate, that when a person grew too old to help and became just another mouth to feed, they were left behind to die. In this society if you weren’t a contributor you were out.
Later, when the people discovered the advantages of agriculture, survival was less desperate. In most situations people were allowed to grow old and die of natural causes. Even though they became just another mouth to feed, the community and the family had the resources and could spare the food. Children were still very welcome because of their boundless energy and ability to help with the planting, harvesting, preserving, storing and preparing of food and to help with the building and maintaining of permanent shelters.
In today’s society, at least in the affluent parts of the world, (so called third world countries are still in the hunter-gatherer / agricultural stage) children are no longer so welcome. In the cities especially, children are at best, only part time helpers. The older ones may help baby sit the younger ones, and some may help with the cleaning and food preparing chores but these chores are light and require little time now. In our comfortable world many people are finding children to be a nuisance. Most couples do not produce the “two plus" offspring needed to replicate themselves therefore the well-off population is in decline. There are a lot of people now (and this includes many children) who are just another mouth to feed. But because we are now so prosperous, and because as a whole, humans are capable of love and generosity, few people today are being left to die.
Still, I think it is probably better if you are not just another mouth to feed.
The 10 Times Rule
Studies have been done that seem to show that in countries where the difference between rich and poor is less, the people are generally happier, they like each other more, and there is less crime.
So why don’t we make a law called the 10 Times Rule.
No one in a corporation, business, company, firm, or conglomerate may be paid more than 10 times its lowest paid employee. In other words if the lowest paid worker, part or full time, gets $10.00 per hour the highest pay may not exceed $100.00 per hour for hours worked.
Also, no one working for, or elected to, any government jurisdiction can be paid 10 times more than the lowest benefit amount a person on social assistance gets from that jurisdiction, or 10 times more than the lowest salary, amount calculated per hour, of a person being employed by that jurisdiction, whichever is less.
Think about it. This will give the people who run things an incentive to help the disadvantaged. What could be wrong with that?
The Auto-beast
Every time you sit down in the driver’s seat in your vehicle you become the brains of an auto-beast; you become the auto-beast.
When migrating:
1) Always observe the migration speed limit very carefully by making sure that you do not fall below it. If you do fall below, you will be butted from behind or shadowed extremely closely, flanked and agitatedly snorted at. An attempt may be made to make you veer off the route.
2) Be aware that auto-beasts may join or leave your migration from time to time. Some may move into your line at a much slower gallop. Do not attempt to gore them. You are not invincible even though you may think your horns are bigger than theirs. Some may even move into your line by pretending you do not exist.
3) Following the auto-beast in front of you closely will not amuse it. It will begin to pay you close attention. It may start weaving, and altering its gait. It could even stumble.
4) If you want to change lines during your migration and do not have a space to move in, just indicate to the auto-beasts in that line that you want in. The ones that are paying attention will immediately gallop faster to get by you.
5) The auto-beasts on the right lines are generally friendlier and you should stay there, but if you do find yourself in the left line of a multi-line migration route you must gallop as fast or faster than the auto-beasts behind you no matter the speed. If you are overtaken by an auto-beast in the left line, it will immediately attempt to pass you by using the lines to your right. This will cause considerable consternation in the herd, much huffing, puffing, and weaving will occur in the auto-beasts surrounding you. Some may strike you.
When you have finished your migration and are nearing your destination remember that you are still surrounded by stressed out auto-beasts that could go round the bend anytime. The ones that jockey around you at a full gallop probably think they are still in a migration.
Daytime Television
I happened to catch a glimpse of daytime television the other day.
A mature, intelligent looking woman, presumably an expert in her field, was explaining the reasons many people go into debt in a big way. Apparently these people have low self-esteem. She went on to say that for these people to tackle their debt problem, they must first raise their self-esteem somehow.
Sure makes me feel sorry for those of us who live in those big fancy houses and drive those shiny new cars.
In Winter Many Slow Drivers are Dangerous Drivers
Let me explain: Most people realize they need to slow down in icy, slippery conditions; after all stopping quickly if necessary may not be easy, so driving slowly decreases chances of hitting people or things.
So here you have someone who feels safe because he or she is driving slowly. Is he or she really safe? Not really! Many people don’t really; REALLY feel the law of inertia. A guy by the name of Newton made it his first law.
With a car it goes something like this: Your car just wants to keep on doing what it is doing
I have followed a car going 40 km\hr in icy conditions and watched it slide right through a stop sign. What happened? Well in my opinion the driver forgot the law, inertia. Drove right up to the stop sign at 40 km\hr and then slid right through. Duh!
I have also followed a car (been driving a long time) going 60 km\hr out in the country in icy conditions and again watched it slide right into the ditch on a curve. What happened? Inertia again! A curve that is safe for 80 km\hr in dry conditions may not even be safe for 30 km\hr in icy conditions.
Come on people: Slow down also means REALLY slow down on curves and before stops. Always remember that, in winter, your car is only pretty good at going in a straight line.
Coding in C\C++ is a lot like driving a Model T
People respect and envy Model T owners and actually like the vintage car, especially the cars that have been slaved over and result in what many call a work of art.
People have a high regard for C\C++ programmers too, because of the amount of work and skill required to get something done.
But like Model T drivers, C\C++ programmers invariably find themselves on the side of the road fixing something that has gone wrong. : )
End of Life Insurance
I dread car insurance time each year because the bill is always so surprising and the cost to insure my children so extraordinarily high. Each time I think about insurance in general...
We have auto insurance (the irritating one, because it's required), home insurance, employment insurance (some of which is paid by our employers), life insurance, work place safety and insurance (employer again), business insurance (good for you if you own a business), travel insurance (nice to be able to travel hey?), loan insurance (this one is a real scam), extended warranties (another scam), disability insurance, and here is the big one: health insurance (you are paying taxes through the nose on this one). Insurance has now become a real growth industry. There are evermore-creative policies being developed to "help us become evermore worry free".
It's like having a huge "hundreds of thousands of dollars" mortgage that most of us get little use of. Wouldn't it be better if, instead of paying for high-rise buildings, we pay this money to ourselves and at retirement use it for a nice multi-year vacation?
Cleanliness may be next to Godliness but it kills birds.
I had just washed the windows of my house and was sitting down enjoying the view when, thump... A beautiful cardinal had attempted a shortcut through the house and didn’t see the glass.
This, of course, is yet another example of how the other life on this planet is having a hard time co-existing with us humans.
I like to look outside so I’ll probably keep on washing my windows. I guess mini blinds may help.