Aggies and Owls and Spartans, oh My! Part II

    My eyes did not deceive me. There are another team of Gamecocks, and they are from Jacksonville State in Tennessee. No, Alabama! Man, confusing. Not to be confused with the HBCU Jackson State where Deon Sanders coached for a bit, prior to moving to the University of Colorado. Maybe Jackson State is in Tennessee. Between Nashville and Memphis, me thinks. Okay, geography fixed for now?

    South Carolina, you are not the only Gamecocks on the block. Nicely separated by Georgia.

    Speaking of Georgia, now we have the double pair of Panthers. There are the longtime Division I (FBS) franchise, the Pittsburgh Panthers, and now we have the more recent Georgia State Panthers.

    Amirite?

    I think so.

    Panthers. Not Purple, like the ones I was in high school with, but Panthers all the same.

Blog it.

    

 Questions for Donald Trump

    These have been accumulating over the years. For the record, I have some Barach Obama and a few others, too. U.S. Presidents. You are under the magnifying glass forever.

    1. Back in your prep school days you seemed to be a good athlete and part of sports teams, yes? What happened with your feet or legs for you not to be eligible for the Vietnam conflict?

    2. Speaking of Vietnam. You once characterized former naval pilot John McCain as a loser for being caught and cast in prison in Hanoi. Do you have an update for that assessment?

    3. You wanted the USFL, of which you had high stakes, to switch from the spring to the fall, lined up more or less against the National Football League. Would you have tried that again, going back in time?

    4. What lessons, if any, did you learn from the times that you have declared bankruptcy?

    5. How many people in the U.S government or otherwise knew where your money was invested in 2016 or 2024? Were there forms that proved it was invested in U.S. entities?

    6. What was the value of removing the U.S. special forces from Syria in your first term? Which U.S. commanders agreed with those decisions?

    7. Are there any things that you would do differently in your decision making?

    8. Are they any U Penn professors that you admire or would cite as wise stewards? Any favorite economists or business people?

Aggies and Owls and Spartans, oh My! And of Course da Cougars

    Out of 138 Football Bowl Series teams, there is bound to be some overlap in names of mascots and their nicknames. 

    

    Not the Hoosiers. My hometown team is unique because no one knows what a Hoosier is other than an Indiana person, or perhaps it means a hick hayseed in Missouri. Either way, IU is singular, unique, and kind've the best. I am biased. But in the days of Cignetti, it is good to be king. Google it.

    What overlap in nicknames do we have? I should Google Gemini that:

    Brobible has a list but I think that they exclude the Owls! What a travesty.

    First, we have the Tigers of LSU. And Auburn. And Clemson. And...Memphis. And, and, and: Missouri.

    All of the above five are not small and they have been around for a while.

    They're Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

    Next are the three fours. Eagles. Wildcats. Bulldogs.

    Boston College soars, as does Eastern Michigan, Georgia Southern, and Southern Mississippi. Those proud birds get around. But not as much as tigers, which are not indigenous to North America, or the Western Hemisphere or Africa, Europe, Australia. Antarctica? No, nothing there as far as mammals unless they swim like seals. Eagles of some form are much more plentiful.

    To be fair and transparent, Southern Miss are the Golden Eagles.Way to go, noble birds of prey!

    Wildcats. Kentucky, Northwestern, Kansas State, and Arizona. There are many types of Wildcats. It is a plausible narrative in many climes.

    Bulldogs. Like my 8th grade middle school Bachelor. 

    We have the ever powerful Georgia, followed by Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State, and Fresno State. 

    These dogs are meant to hunt.

    17 teams overlap with each other on most of the fingers of one hand. If that makes a little sense.

    There are four threesomes on the next rung.

    Cougars, Huskies, Aggies, and Bears.

    There will be some Lions coming up, so we have Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz covered. Oh, my.

    My BYU Cougars share the mountain lion puma wavelength with the Washington State and Houston Cougs. We know which one is best.

    Bears? Cal Berkely, Missouri State, and Baylor. Not to forget Maine, but they are not of the 138 big time ones.

    Aggies: Texas A & M, New Mexico State, and Utah State. USU is bigger time now that they have joined the PAC 12. The new and deproved (as in reduced and lesser) Pacific 12, which currently stands at 8 programs.

    Huskies. Nothing much with Alaska or the Great White North (does Canada have college sports?).  University of Connecticut, Washington, and the...Northern Illinois dudes, who just joined... The Mountain West? That is a step up, from the crazy mid-week playing Mid-American Conference. Which took in Sacramento State Hornets.

    But wait: what about the Owls? Now we have Florida Atlantic and the... I saw it in my magazine, or magazines... Ooh, and the Spartans. Michigan State and San Jose Spartans.

    Double the pleasure, double the fun. The Owls of ... Wait, we have double Rebels and double... Gamecocks? 

    Lemme check this. Hold the phone! We have both Rice and Temple Owls. That makes three. Brobible guy missed it. He ain't that good, it seems. Come to me for facts, sirs and ma'ams. No, wait! There IS more. Kennesaw State are the Owls, too! I thought I was seeing all that wisdom of Woodsy and the one from the Hundred Acre Wood. We got Owls from Philly to Southern Atlantic Florida to Georgia to eastern Texas. Crazy hooters. Brobible missed a lot.

    Gamecocks. Just South Carolina? Maybe I was seeing things...

    Good for now, possibly more later.

 Depression is a Thing, and it Makes Sense

    I have known poeple that have suffered in it. From it. With it.

    

    Being sad and forlorn, as it were.

    

    There can be many reasons. I think about people like Nicholas Baranovic. I think he may well have died from it. It did not kill my mom, though she had some long bouts and struggles. Thanks cancer, for that grace, I suppose.

   Sad to say, but true, I think.

    Donald Trump should cite some U Penn professors. Has he?

    He never gets down, at least not that we know. Right?

    A guy in Bloomington, maybe an opera and voice guy Roy, could not understand my mom's depression. Or maybe it was more Brother Johnson. I cannot think of his first name...

    Wow. He forgot about Bloomington after 50 years of living there.

    He was an astronomer, renouned in (reknowned?) in Denmark.

    Hollis. Hollis and Greta, who made it through World War II and the German nationalists.

    Some somewhat depressing times, after the Great Depression.

    It all makes sense, but at times none of it.

    Like me, like you.

    We are wonderfully made, says the scriptures.

    True.

    Adam and Eve fell, that we might be. Jesus paid for all of us.

    Not too depressing. But given the facts and the hostory, I can see the meloncholie and the sadness.

    Melancholy.

    Yes, it's a thing.

    So cheer up and get some rest, and keep going.

    Sadness no more, or checked by balance.

    And love. Hope.

 The Three Person Culture Hypothesis, Explained

    I have this thought that all cultures, be they political, historical, national, linguistic, professional, social, have three top people that define that them and give them meaning.

    For example, in the United States of America culture, I could go with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King. Between those three personas, we have the rudiments of what or who our culture as Americans is. Not to slight Canada or Mexico or Brazil as Americans, too. We are all North and South Americans.

    Each culture. Who are the three? China: Confucious, another pivatol leader or thinker, maybe Dao, and Mao Zedong.

    American football, or baseball, or basketball. Jazz. All the Ken Burns topics in documentaries. Art. Movies. Wars. Space travel. All the James Michener stories. 

    Religions. Music. Literature. Business. Economy.

    Terrorism. Communism. Rebellion. Protest. Make up. Telecommunications. 

    On and on.

    The three can change over time.

    Artificial intelligence.

    Engineering.

    Nuclear technology.

    Did I say religion? Philosophy?

    Dance. Architecture.

    You name it. 

    Teaching.

    Who are your three? What are your cultures?

I Have Not Spent a Month in South Carolina, All Told

    I thought this would be part of my bragging rights. What does it matter, in the end? In the three or so weeks that I have been there, did I make a difference in my life or in those of others?

    Maybe. I influenced a few people that I was with before being rocked for being five pounds overweight. Yeah, there were a few good moments in that week or so. I have memories of some of them. The two guys from Chicago. The cyber guys, kind of geeks. Was it the law enforcement personnel?

    The women, maybe five of them or so. The immediate guys in my room, and the guys next door. The riddles, the comraderie. Not bad.

    The week in 1998 with my college friends. John, Rhea, Chris, Jim, Kristin. Jared Asay. His former girlfriend.

    The community of Saints, we are.

    My own family. Eating at Waffle House, playing mini-golf. I got mad. I needed patience, I was learning. The beaches. The cruise. Leaving the stuffed tiger behind, getting it later.

    South Carolina. The propaganda.

    The annoying song that I heard and repeated (somewhat regretably) to others...

    Yeah.

    Thanks Steve Colbert and Air Force guy PM. Friend of Elizabeth Bailey.

    Great times.

 College Football Analysis - 2026

    The power conferences are bigger than ever. They span the entire USA, coast to coast in a few cases.

    The Atlantic Coast Conference has 17 teams. The Big Ten 18. There are schools on both coasts in both these power conferences. Even smaller conferences are spanning both coasts, like the Mid- American. It has the Massachisetts Minutemen and the Sacramento State Hornets. The Hornets?

    The South East Conference now dips into Texas and Oklahoma.

    Some argue that the mega big conferences will creat their own elite league, like the top 64 or 68 or so. However, the intermediate conferences still have some stakes in the whole thing. Like the new PAC-12. The smaller conferences are adding new programs, too, like North Dakota State, Sacramento State, Kennesaw State. These schools bring money, revenue.

    James Madison, for example.

    Or Texas State and Texas San Antonio.

    The PAC 12 shows upward mobility for smaller schools.

    This just football. Then there is basketball.

    The College Football Playoff is new and seems to work. More games, more money, more happy customors. The smaller bowls still afford some pride and success; customers are happy.

    Except for brain injuries, college football is alive and well.

    Go IU, go BYU, and may the best teams win.

 Money Does Note Solve Everything -Helpful When Used Right

    Some people have a lot of money and power because of their purchasing and investing resources. However, that does not mean that they are bettwer than the other people who have less means.

    I have discussed Elon Musk. No matter how much he has and has gained, it does not take away from facts that he has been responsible for the awful pain and deaths that he has caused on thousands of people. Hopefully not millions. I am positive that he would count the millions of lives that he has improved through his influence and innovations. No one is perfect. It is a mixed bag. With his wealth there is heavy juju.

    Cutting programs domestically and abroad, with the alacrity that it occurred, had some dire consequences, which some choose to ignore, and some applaud.

    Jeffrey Epstein had millions, but things did not go well for him. He left terrible results in his wake.

    What a shame. 

    Sam Bankman-Fried. He never let anyone wallow and die. Never abused or molested a soul, right? He mismanaged a lot of money and cost a lot of folks hearthache about their funds. Perhaps some misallocated life savings.

    Unfortunate. Some mega wealthy know how to be philanthropical.

    Good for them. Bill Gates, George Soros.

    What has The Donald done? I guess people can argue it many ways.

    Hunter Biden? How much has he earned? How much heroin did he buy?

    How much heroin purchased ends up killing someone in the illicit drug industry? What is the death ratio?

    Use the money right. Use the drugs correctly. 

    Brother Atkinson from the stake spoke of the looks and the teacher of Warren Beaty.

    Use your talents and don't abuse God's natural gifts.

    Easy for me to say.

Aging Father Bequeaths Wisdom

 My aging dad told me last year that a man or person proves himself by age 50. After that he does not have to prove anything (more).

Not true.

I have a lot to prove.

I am turning 56 soon enough.

A lot more to prove.

Maybe he just made that up.

BYU Football Versus the World: Who to Beat Next?

    Brigham Young University has been playing football since 1922. They did not play very competitively until the 1970s. The Cougars have played 122 diffferent teams in that 104 year time span. Overall, they have a winning record, beginning the season this next week historically with 643 total wins, 448 total losses, and 28 ties. Ties stopped back in 1997. Overtimes are the thing now.

    The website that chronicles the all-time matchups seems to have stopped aroun 2018, which is weird. It is 2026. They have not maintained it. BYU only has like 571 wins in it. 417 losses and 26 ties. Go figure. Cannot figure out the discrepancy of the two less ties.

    Anyway, I will identify in this blog post a few teams that they need to play in order to reduce the deficit of the win/loss ratio, but in many cases the teams are too small or do not exist anymore.

    I will do this in reverse alphabetical order. Also, due to the lazy latency of the website, it is possible  that they played some new programs, like Coastal Carolina in the COVID season. What a time that was. And the Chanticleers ruled the night. Still hurts a little..

    So here goes:

    Wichita State: BYU lost in 1950, and is 0-1. Do the Shockers have a team in 2026?

    West Texas State: BYU lost the one time in 1961, record is 0-1. Is that UTEP now? If so, I feel like BYU beat them... Maybe they are Texas State now? Mysteries... That match up could happen.

    Above: Nope, BYU clearly has a positive winning record against the Miners of El Paso. 29-7-1.

    Oh, man, the U.S. Marines. 0-1. Played in 1931. That is not make-up-uppable, because I am pretty sure that the Teufelhunden do not have an intercollegiate football team. They are really into fighting wars and stuff like that.

    San Francisco, 0-2. 1931 and 1941. I think this will be really hard to make a rematch. Oh, the Bay Area Killers!

    Portland took the Cougars twice in 1937-1938. We beat Portland State in 2017 (I was there in Provo!), but I do not think Portland is on the docket soon... 0-2, against the Portland... Pilots? Not looking good to get these rematches.

    Pacific Fleet. 0-2. 1948 and 1949. 

    Pacific. 0-1. Wow. Both those teams are hard to hook up with again. Maybe both do not have teams anymore. Far from the decades of millions in the armed forces after World War II.

    Made it to the Ps. This is getting onerous. More later, we hope.

    A lot of teams seem to not exist anymore. And they have overall wins over BYU.

    No chances for redemption. That is the way the cookies crumbles.

    

    

    

When the "State" College Football Team is Bigger or Better than the State Named School

    LSU. Louisiana State. Geaux Tigers. Is there a Louisiana U.? Maybe not. There is the University of Louisiana-Monroe, and the University of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, formerly Lafayatte. There is Louisiana Tech, where the great Karl Malone played.

    

    But LSU is the state school It is bigger, better, more famed, more feared, more talked about, more ballyhooed, than any. Other. LA. Team. In college. Usually more popular than the Saints, I would wager.

    Where else is the blank state named school bigger and better than its cousin without the "S" appelation? Perhaps Kansas (football) less than Kansas State. 

    We shall investigate. Michigan is bigger/better than Michigan State. Texas is better than Texas State.

    Where else?

    In Virginia, University of Virginia is much bigger and better than Virginia State, which is a small time football program and a historically black college.

   Are LSU and Kansas State the only ones?

    Florida State and Florida are close to even. That is an interesting example. They both are big, and they have to argue and bemoan who is more dominant. They both are huge. To be fair, Michigan State up there is pretty big, too.

    Ohio State is much bigger than Ohio. Okay, that is the biggest state. After LSU.

    The Buckeyes and the Tigers. And Florida State is even.

    Colorado is bigger than Colorado State.

    Mississippi and Mississippi State are about even. Like the  Florida situation.

    Iowa State claims power and nobility like the University of Iowa. Okay, Iowa makes three ties. Four if you count Kansas.

    What else.

    Of course. Penn State. PSU is ever more powerful than U Penn. Temple is bigger than Penn.

    All right, we got: The Ohio State, Penn State, and Louisiana State. 

    Nothing more, right?

    Thinking.

    NC State tries to be as big as UNC. But Duke is usually better than the Wolfpack.

    Carolina is bigger. Not by too too much. By North Carolina predominates. Even in football.

    That is all. New Mexico is bigger than NMSU.

    Buckeyes, Nittany Lions, Tigers of the Bayou. 

    Oregon over Oregon State. Washington over Washington State.

    Oklahoma is bigger than Oklahoma State.

    No such things as Nebraska State or Wyoming State, right?

    Hold the phone. North Dakota State is now a thing in FBS, Division One.

    The Bison? Okay, that is number four.

     There cannot be anymore...

    I have run the maps in my brain. 

    Thus it is. Four state powerhouses and maybe four ties.

    No, not quite. Arizona State and Arizona are tied. Five ties? That many?

    Okay for now.

    

    

Major League Saves are a Funny Thing - All Time Leaders are Low

    To make it in the top 1,000 saves leaders of all time, there are around a dozen or so pitchers with only 15 saves. That is paltry, in my opinion. Saves have become much more prevalent in the last few decades, so guys throwing before the 1970s did not have as many chances. Also, close wins are part of the save as a statistic. If a great closer is part of a team that blows out their competition a lot, he does not get as many chances to score the save.

    One great closer in a big season can get 50 or more saves. A few have done this consistenly. Some have some great seasons and peter out faster than others. The Wild Thing for Los Angeles was that way.

    It is hard to believe that 15 saves gets you into the top thousand of all time in 2026.

    Blog it, discuss it.

Global Warming is So Real, Science Skeptics and Deniers

    To claims that the world is not warming is being ignorant in spite of the facts. We are heating up the planet, no question.

    Back in elementary school we learned some science, displayed some projects in the gymnasium, and we were getting more savvy and aware one display at a time. In 6th grade, daily specialized classes of science, old Mr. Stewart (Stooey Manooey!) taught us about principles of our world and the the universe. In seventh grade... Maybe I did not do science? In 8th grade it was Mr. Hudson. We learned about the planets, the moon, more about the world we lived in. Facts.

    What was seventh grade? Hateful cooking with Mrs. Graebe. Maybe I had Huddy Bud that year, too?

    Freshman year, anthropology. Not as hard a science, but still quite scientific. Built on empiricism, all the same.

    Sophomore year was biology. The sweet old teacher was a Bible believer, but a good science teacher all the same. Riggelman and an student teacher came in for a bit, too.

    Junior year: physics. Oh, the formulas.

    Senior year. Chemistry. I could not pass the tests, and most of the homework. But I learned some things. I read magazine articles about science, too. Not to mention science fiction.

    College, I passed my requisites.

    All said, science is a thing.

    We cannot deny that ice is melting everywhere and temperatures are rising.

    RIP to the victtims in Nepal and Tibet. 

    Ice is melting...

 Goodbye, Dolly! Eighty Years Old. Eternal and Forever. Grateful for Grace

    Yes, she was America. Our country, our humqity. I hope that she had children and those had theirs. Continue her beautiful spark.

    She was talented and smart, and luckily lived to be 80.

    A person of faith and grace.

    She created wonderful art and music. 

    We are better because of her.

    We thank God for Dolly Parton. She was among the best, by all counts.

    She lived quite a bit longer than Whitnety Houston, which was the person that she helped propel farther with her anthem.

    Amen.

Maybe I Am  Fixated with Elon Musk - Maybe He is the Problem, and I Would Like to Fix Things

    Elon is an easy but obvious target. He is very famous, the world's richest person. He has power and influence. Me, I am a much smaller fish. No one has followed this blog in 12 plus years in its existence. It has not earned money. Thankfully, it was not wiped and deleted (and won't be?) as my Foxsports blogs were that I wrote from end of 2005 into the summer of 2009. They killed them, without fair warning.

    Many of the things I wrote were not impactful, anyway. Only a few things, I think.

    I resent them taking away my writings, but I failed to back them up. I will take some of the blame. They offered me this service for the price of a free registration, and paying to be a denizen of the Internet.

    Okay.

    We fight for freedom, we live and die for it, and we are free to opine as I do here in this forum.

    Grateful for these blessings and privileges. Elon has done and is doing his part to better humanity and help others. He has. Unfortunately, he more recently has been part of sweeping cut of jobs and programs (2025) that was untempered, ill-conceived, rushed, and destructive. It led to many deaths. And uneeded suffering and death. How many did so? Remains to be seen. Any who might deny this might as well be part of those that we have not reached the moon.

    Believe what you want. Believe the facts that you know.

    It is important not to let innocent or desperate people suffer and die.

    Elon? Not sure. I do not think I could trust him to do the right thing. He clearly has done a lot of amazing things and been innovative and far-seeing, but he has disqualified himself as much of a paragon of our race. A very big fish. But harmful to quite a few.

    I hope the most and best for his children. And wives or ex-wives. I hope that they have more compassion and foresight than him when it comes to life and death.

    We, the good guys, save lives, we do not let them perish and die. No more suffering, Elon.

    Would you recognize these errors and apologize? Heavy juju.

    I have worked in fields that save and take lives. I have to account for those actions and efforts.

    Elon is at another level.

    I am worth maybe .01 percent of what he is worth? Monetarily. Maybe much less? .0001? Perhaps that is closer to our estimated worth in holdings and money. We are close to the same age.

    I am content with my actions, my intentions. I look to do things to help others.

    I wanted to be a State Department diplomat to help wage or assert peace. Not meant to be.

    War and strife are what they are. Others have attempted and failed, lived exemplary lives, tried their hardest to help represent the United States to negotiate truces and agreements to reduce hostility and violence.

    We only succeed so much. Conflict continues, the cycles persist.

    Meanwhile, I guess Elon is helping humanity in his ways. May he do so without killing anyone else.

 There are Worse People than Elon Musk

    I feel bad for Jim Jung Un because he has inherited a position where the millions of captive people surrounding him are beholden to following his every whim, and the father and grandfather were absolute despotic and deranged monsters. Or, is he just as mixed up like them? I do not think he is as cold blooded and blood thirsty. I hope.

    I feel bad for him. He is in a tough spot. He was not elected, he did not campaign for this spot and circumstance. He was born into it, like so many monarchs.

    Kings. You got guys like Prince Harry. Tried to be normal, I think. Was heroic in Afghanistan, which I give him credit for. In Afghanistan you got well over thirty million people trying to make it, but heroin is the king in some places, and a vicious form of Islam is prominent almost everywhere.

    No school or education for girls. Meanwhile, I write a letter to the local principal to the kids who choose not to rise to say or recite the pledge of allegiance to our country, because many or most of them are ignorant, apathetic, or lazy coddled children who do not get it. I hope that they will.

    I am not perfect. I can be ignorant, apathetic, and lazy. But I will honor our flag. Because we are great, despite some of our own choweder-headed leaders. Those that cut medicine and aid willy nilly an let the sick die. Not what Jesus would do, this I know.

    We all think and act and write for many reasons. I have mine. I do not necessarilly even recognize them all until sometimes I talk, or write, or just think: we can do so much better!

    

    We need to, we should.

    We should be concerned about finances and costs and opportunities to get ahead and enjoy the high life. But we should also look out for those on our left and right.

    We have different ways to approach this, sure.

    My altruism in high minded goals and aspiration are another person's walk with a sick old man, caring for the garden, cooking meals. Things that I have not done much of, nor care to.

    I can talk a big game. But my actions can be wanting, lacking, lagging.

    I can pray for peace in the world and want to choke out the guy next to me on the grass the night before.

    Conflicted are we. Especially me, perhaps.

    But we struggle on.

    My son survives a scary dog that can destroy and maim by the grace of God. He, my older son, strives for peace. The other too, and will do so closer to the equator. Only 3.5 degrees north.

    Girls are by the mountains, or here with her friends.

    My friends are further away, distant and alone, perhaps.

    My significant other cares, but I am not always that convinced. Probably to do with my own insecurities. Think nothing of it. Oh, I will.

    We can all be lonely, that is for sure.

    Each line with a disparate charge. Meaning. Depth of reasoning.

    There might be a million people worse than Elon Musk, some who purposely hurt and kill and let others die on the vine.

    Name them. Give me a few. Some are locked up, wasting away. Most of them made their poor choices.

    Elon? Father of a dozen or so? He must live with his decisions.

    Is he lonely as a leader at the top? Sure.

    Great guy, way to go.

    Am I jealous? No. Just aware. Eyes wide open,  I hope.

PS: Some people cannot serve much abroad because of their past. Who they have worked for. Perhaps I have been preserved (by God, fate) for such things. Hard to tell.

    Learning languages and cultures may amount to something.

    

 Chess, Go, Poker, Investing

    All these games. I have mostly down the Persian one. Meaning, I play it, but I am not that good at it. Not the east Asian one, though. I have played a few rounds of poker, but it bothers me, and bores me. But at the end of the day, I am not good at it. Poker, card games. Maybe of the dozen or more card games that I have learned to play or toyed with playing, I have had a few good instincts, but really, the card games do bore me.

    Basketball makes more sense. Playing and watching. Games of chance, calculated risks, trying to win by competition. Physical and psychological elements. Team sports, which can happen in some games of cards.

    Money is big. We put some scratch in, we win, we lose. Making money helps us have credit, gets us better food, or company, entertainment, and travel.

    Travel drives a lot of people.

    My buddy is 73 now, finally retired. He is okay financially, but he does not have all the finances to do all things. No one does.

    Elon Musk does, and he ends up killing thousands upon thousands of innocent sickly people, mostly of African origins with dark skin. His white South African background makes it more ironic that eliminates more dark skinned people from the gene pool.

    But Elon may not think that he is racist. Just a genius. Like so many awful killers in our human history, starting with Cain. he knows how to innovate and bring success to many realms.

    Our U.S. president had faith in his process, and the DOGE, standing for Department of Government Efficiency.

    Like money, like oil, as all energy, as all food and goods and commerce.

    Adam Smith's dismal science reigns upon us and shapes and forms us, dictating a few or many of our freedoms.

    I will go to India some day. Or China. Or some other places like Australia or Antarctica.

    Or none of those.

    I have played much poker, or Go, but I do play a few games.

    I have invested some,

    Yep.

    Blog it.

 Physically Angry Responses

    Last night I had a little of my ire or dander up. Part of me for a couple or more minutes wanted to throttle a guy, because he was saying a few things that I was about to throttle him for. I was physically reacting to him. More mentally.

    It can and has happened in cars. Sometimes in military moments of stress or frustration.

    But overall, the event was great.

    However, that interruption had to happen.

    Nothing happened.

    Cooler heads prevailed.

    I will fight for life and death. Those are the rules.

 A Month in South Carolina  - Have I Done It?

    I was counting up U.S. states that I have not lived in but that I have spent a month or more in. I put South Carolina in there. But, upon further review, I may be short of 30 full days, let alone nights.

    The first time was 5-6 days in 1998. Traveled with my friends from college. We stayed about two nights on Edisto Island, then the last three on a military base near the city of Charleston. Not quite a week, but a solid start. My first time there.

    Although, it was possible that I spent part of a day there back around 1982 when I visited a retirement community with my dad. Old friends of his, or perhaps some distant family, like a great aunt?

    Next came vacations that we as a family would spend between between 2009 and perhaps 2023? In those years we would go down the East Coast, alighting on some touristy beaches, stating at hotel or two. That was mixed with North Carolina, and a little Georgia, going into Florida. We took trips down to Florida, and inevitably would pass through South Carolina. The last time we went to Stone Mountain in Georgia, then came north into South Carolina and had dinner at a restaurant with my niece who works down there.

    I spent about 8, maybe 10 days at a military base there in 2018. I was supposed to be there three weeks, which would have gotten me the month, easy, but things did not work out.

    So, I think I am at 15 days without the vacactions with my wife and kids. Did I do another 15 days in the state? Maybe not. I spent some nights in a few hotels, including a memorable time for a cruise out of Charleston, and a stay in Myrtle Beach, but it does not add up to abother two weeks...

    So maybe South Carolian is only 3 weeks...