TOO MANY GOD DAMN CHOICES!

 

When you already have the best candy bar, why confuse it?

The candy counter should be: Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfinger, Payday, Hershey's Chocolate, and Reese's Peanut Cups.   One of each.

That's enough!

the Ol'Buzzard

HOW TO WIN THE MEGABUCKS LOTTERY

 

 

I recently bought a $2.00 Maine Megabucks ticket.   I picked the magic numbers that assure a win:

11111 and 1 for the Megaball. 

Surprising?   No.

I have the exact same odds of winning with straight 1’s as any other group of mixed numbers: 1 in 4,496,388.

 

I think I’ll spend my next $2.00 on a Snickers candy bar; at least I’m guaranteed a sugar rush from that.

the Ol’Buzzard

  

 

NUCLEAR ASSURED DESTRUCTION

 

I have often written about the human race’s march toward annihilation: overpopulation, climate change, a meteor storm, an asteroid strike, the danger of sentient GAI; but the real Damocles' sword is a human race hardwired for violence and war, with aging, psychotic, religious, geopolitical leaders, launching one or more of the 12,000 nuclear warheads that now exist.

 

Countries in NATO have had no reason to pursue nuclear armament, as they have felt protected under the United States nuclear umbrella and the NATO alliance.

 

Now, with the threats of withdrawal from NATO and the removal of troops from Germany and Poland, countries can no longer count on America’s commitments of shared protection. We are increasing the chances for a new nuclear arms race, and may see a renewed effort to acquire nuclear weapons by countries across the globe to ensure their own sovereignty.

 

Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iran; each feeling vulnerable without a nuclear weapon.   

 

Look what happened to Ukraine.  They had nuclear weapons, but disarmed between 1994 and 2001.  Had they maintained their nuclear arsenal, Russia would not have attacked.

 

Every new nuclear-capable entity will exponentially increase the danger of a nuclear exchange.

 

We are not eternal. 

the OL’Buzzard

 

Making A Grave Announcement: MAGA

 

The Ol'Buzzard

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR

 

 

I feel sorry for my brothers in arms who wear a ball cap proclaiming their Vietnam service, as if that was the high point of their lives.

 

No one chose to be there.  No one was killed or wounded by choice. 58,000 died, and most of those were between the ages of 18 and 25.

 

And that 58,000 number was probably a low-ball number manipulated by the government; not an actual count; not accounting for people who later died from war wounds, injuries, toxic poisoning, and suicide…  I am sure the number would be well over 100,000.

  

Ask a Vietnam vet why he was there, and he can’t tell you.  It was politicians moving around pieces on a checker board, and vets were the expendable pieces. 

 

We weren’t there to support a democratic government in the south.  We were there to establish and support the Tan Son Nhut Air Base, giving us a nuclear threat presence on the southern border of China.   It was all about China.  It was geopolitical politics.

 

China did not want an American nuclear presence on its southern border any more than we wanted a Russian nuclear presence in Cuba, on our southern border.

 

We could have, at any time, moved into the north and taken Hanoi, but that would have brought China into the war. 

 

China did not want open war with the US any more than we wanted war with China, so we armed the south, they armed the north, and we fought to a stalemate that, for fifteen years, maintained a status quo, allowing us to maintain the geographic nuclear threat on the Chinese southern border.

 

Finally, the death toll of American forces became too much to hide, and anti-war activism threatened the politicians in office; so we retreated with our tails between our legs – we surrendered the war – we accepted our death toll as having accomplished nothing, cut our losses, and came home ignobly. 

 

A Vietnam vet wearing a hat proclaiming his service is equivalent to a rape victim wearing a hat with a picture of her rapist. 

 

WE were both violently fucked. 

 

the Ol’Buzzard

DIVERSITY EQUITY AND INCLUSION

 

DEI has always been promoted by the Democratic Party and always rejected by Republicans.

 

I was raised in Mississippi during segregation.  I witnessed first-hand the degradation and suffering of the Black community. 

 

The Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Voting Rights Act is turning back the clock on Civil Rights; a step back for racial equality.

 

That said, I feel that some DEI is past its time.

In college admissions, minority racial groups have been given preferential consideration.  I believe that preferential consideration based on race is past its sell-by date

 

Today, with the ever-widening divide between the wealthy and the poor, I believe that preferential entrance consideration for higher education should be determined by income; this would bring advantage across all races where a need exists. 

   

We can still debate the need for race-based DEI hiring, housing, and other issues.

the Ol’Buzzard

GENERATIONAL DIVIDE

 

Yesterday I sold a set of snowshoes to a retired State Trooper in northern Maine.   It dawned on me that I was seeing a generational divide that goes further than old people aren’t techno-savvy.

 

I was seeing a gap in basic values between the old and the young.   I had had those snowshoes advertised for two years, and no one showed interest.  This was because wooden snowshoes are large and heavy.  You can buy aluminum snowshoes that are small and lightweight.

 

But it goes beyond that: My snowshoes were made by a person. Someone shaped the wood, steamed it until pliable, formed it on a jig, then someone with skill laced them with leather thongs, varnished them, and put their stamp on them.

 

I bought the shoes in 1976 - fifty years ago.   I have revarnished them numerous times.   I stored them carefully when not in use.   The value of these shoes, to me, was more than just their use.   I cared about them and took care of them.

 

Who cares about a factory-bent oblong piece of aluminum with a plastic sheet filling?  

I have a Silva compass that is sixty years old, a pocket knife that is ageless…

What does a young person have today that they value so highly they will still have it fifty years from now?   Their cell phone?   

the Ol'Buzzard