Academic-Capital

Homeland security recently recovered 70 children. I find it deeply saddening that people can take kids and exploit them at the age of 10 for their own benefit. Many of these kids come from deeply disturbing homes and they have no choice but to run. At the end of the day it is others who pick them up and exploit them more leaving a trail of shattered trust ( They have no where to go and no where to turn .).  When they grow up we may find many of them in prison and that is a perpetuating problem. We are so accustomed to school violence, exploitation, and targeting kids for personal gain that there are few to no rules. Rules are on the legal books but not in our collective conscious. It is all dependent on who sees, who reports, who follows up, and who believes these things are wrong.  I have never quite understood how seemingly ( I can only say seemingly because it is not my place to judge the depths of a soul, where it has been, or its distortion. ) souless people can do whatever they w

There are some concerns about requesting law clerk phone numbers. Let me say that this isn't a normal situation. Someone took half written papers and dumped them into the public for political purposes (This is not a pro choice or pro life argument). That is a fundamental violation of the sacredness of the court and a serious moral hazard that undermines the institution itself. That has serious implications beyond the abortion issue that could potentially impact every American. It is important to remember that simply choosing because one's beliefs to undermine our system and then try and manipulate the public is dangerous. This would seem similar to situations such as espionage  where information is taken and misused to create harm ( Some might not see it as harm depending on their values but it is a breach of trust. Keep in mind if it is another situation and argument could someone then do something similar such as gun rights, accused, citizens, etc...pick an issue. ).  The cou

 It wasn't as bad and I thought. It was tough getting up in the morning but people showed up just as the sun was going up. I'm a little rusty and haven't done feathering before. By the time I was finished I had the basics. More people were yelled at then me but I was sort of pushing the boat and was told to slow down a little and stay in alignment with the guy in front of me. There was someone in the bow that was moving around too much and putting their ore into the water too far so it was making the boat feel a little unstable. They didn't seem to catch on they were doing it and I'm way too new to say something. I do think the guy in the small boat next to us mentioned it.  Either way.....I didn't fall in nor did not make any major oooppps. My form was still a little off but this was the first time on an 8 man boat so whatever!!! I'm bringing my cap next time to keep the sun from beating down on me. Feather or not. Much less cardio at the gym today. Maybe j

 Keeping it on the light side. I went down to the boat house. Very cool. Lots of early early AMs coming around. The mornings are when the water is the calmest and the weather is the coolest. Sometimes in the afternoon it is 85-90 degrees and a little choppy. 

There are some who answered the call and there are whose ears will always be deaf. The believers in Democracy stand united against those who hope for her to fall. Whether threats be foreign or domestic it is they who have the highest honor and live by a Code of Chivalry . It is they who ring the  Liberty Bell.  (Other Reading. Points in History , Mount Soledad , Regan Defense ,  Military Warriors  , Sacrifices of Society ) The best and brightest have sacrificed their lives for the rest of us! Happy Memorials Day! Another great motivating video....

My sons are college students who work part time. Its the American dream! Working and going to school. They take their classes online and have access to other community events and college activities ( based in proximity to other universities ). One was a competitive highschool swimmer and being 20 years old he wants to try his hand a rowing on a team. Not a problem. Signed him up for a rowing class with other young college students to get his beak wet in the sport. If he likes it he may be able to get more serious and become increasingly competitive. It is a great outlet that keeps him focus on school and socializing with fitness oriented sports players of the same mindset. Many of his friends went off to jobs or off to the military. Perhaps I can convince him after college to enroll as an officer. Let us see what happens! I did a little rowing and my skills are rusty. I wasn't that good and I didn't really keep up with it but I will be down there meeting some of the rowers, coa

Social networks can be good and they can be bad. Sometimes they are a little of both. Good can come with bad and that can lead to many mixed results. There are some signs I have seen that should push people to think beyond these networks based on their personal development level and their conception of values ( ...especially the values they want to teach their children and we as a nation hold sacred. A lot of people fought and died for those rights. Dysfunctional groups should not supplant them just because they think its "cool" to do so .). For example, local families looking out for each other is important and helpful. That is a great thing! We should applaud their engagement. It can help the community and help people in general. We can run into a problem when such social networks limit opportunities for others and some of the core members engage in seriously questionable behaviors ( ..they create the untouchables much like what we would find in an Indian caste system. That

Gun reform is necessary and we will see that as more people use them to project outward their inner distortions. I'm a supporter of hunting rifles and self defense guns but do not believe anyone who wants a military assault rifle should have one. As a matter of point, those who want them and often have them aren't the ones who should be carrying them. Let us be wise over this issue and support our long term health over short term profits. The rhetoric has grown and their is intentional inflammation that will be too much for the population to bear ( They are seeing people dying it is their right to be angry! ).  The most important  job in society is teaching and schools are underfunded as it is so all the promises aren't going to make a difference this time. Loading our population with killing tools ( Guns are tools. Those choice of how to use that tool is up to the handler. Personally, I trust very few people with those tools. Look around and ask yourself, "Do you trus

 This council meeting wasn't as exciting as the past. There were talk about Delta County and new flowers. There was also talk of 360 performance appraisals. When done well they encourage a rounder view and force managers to think of the need from different department perspectives. They are also time consuming and not all of the information is going to be particularly useful. Full Bloom Delta.   You can read the Escanaba May 19th, 2022 Agenda .  Why am I watching? Because I want to see if a UP location ready ripe for investment can transform itself by encouraging new interest and investment. Of course I also have my own economic theory. Covid has change some of the investment interests around the world and with the right exposure and model (matched with govt interest in returning manufacturing and industry) it may be possible to develop new life into old resource towns like this.  There have been some new investments into Verso, local mines, military to the north, Navy in town, hote

 Moe the horse picked up some bad habits with the kids. Pulling his head forward when the reigns are annoying him. I watched a few videos on how to have him stop doing that. He can be a little stubborn and thought it was going be a run of the mill ride where he could do what he wishes. Except this time when it tried to pull forward I wiggles his mouth back and forth and he put his head back.  The next method would have been a little more aggressive and that would be pulling his head to the side while jabbing in with my heel in his ribs. I didn't need to do that. He tried playing around once more and then stopped. He learned quickly. I wish we could get people to do that. Good job Moe! Today was perfect out so we hit polo balls out in the field for a while. 65 degrees and nice sun.

Life is confusing. Soooo many options and choices and one must think through their options. Logic is usually one of the secondary considerations behind emotion and social networks when people make decisions. When people are in leadership position they should have the capacity to balance logic with emotions and social network demands. They are expected to be above that but often fail to muster the personal strength.  Over the years I have seen people make superficial self interested choices and then distort the logic leaving big holes in their decision making. The goals is to achieve something and all the logic used is distorted to that end. Better decision making leads to better ends. Worse, if you point out possible alternatives even if you don't care specifically about any of them you will find some start to think and you will find other enraged. Part of my life is about helping people think through alternatives. Sometimes if you point out something different they get really angr

In this war Russia has a lot of weapons and are using them as a long-range advantage. Many of them are old and some of them new but they have numbers and they have replenishable equipment supplies. A tactic they seem to be using is to shelling and artillery to soften up and spread out Ukrainian troops. Artillery and Long Range rockets supplies to the Ukrainians may help counter those forces. Putting Russian troop formations, batteries, supplies, and equipment outside of the range may force Russians to come in lightly armored and commit boots to the assault. That raises costs for PR and fear factor ( many are younger Russian soldiers with a lack of experience .) and right now the goal is likely to stop infiltration, slow down the shelling, and break up the assault so that smaller groups can be dealt with more effectively ( Reduce numbers advantages ).  The Ukrainians might want to create a strategy of breaking up movement and target pockets with focused shelling and quick assaults. That

Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2022 (table 1), according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 6.9 percent. You can read the actual release at Gross Domestic Product (Second Estimate) and Corporate Profits (Preliminary), First Quarter 2022 I find it interesting personal income rose but disposable income declined. Personal savings declined. I kind of suspected the digital economy would grow but most the statistics are horrendous out there and don't capture what I'm looking for. You can browse around for Digital GDP, Digital Economy, etc... and find lots of either old or irrelevant things. Internet Economy Grows . Our government should be tracking the Digital Economy because its going to be the new way forward in the Digital Era. Its important. Advance Estimate Second Estimate (Percent change from preceding quarter) Real GDP -1.

 The Michigan Senate is voting to reduce taxes around 50 cents per gallon. Its a nice idea. I'm not sure of the overall impact but I'm sure it helps drivers a little and it sends the message that government is doing something. Let us just make sure we wouldn't have more benefit with that money somewhere else. If we don't have any pressing needs at the moment as a state then great! My $20 buys me about 4 gallons and that is $2. I do that 2X a week and that is $4. In two weeks I can buy a burger. Others drive much more so their are likely to have $10 a week. Its helpful, but not necessarily huge. Where it is likely to make the bigger difference is in business that delivers stuff, travels, and fills their gas regularly. I don't think it applies to diesel but I'm unsure. I doubt it.

Today I didn't catch any fish but I did get my engine running and ventured out the mouth of the harbor. It did clonk out a few times but I also had low fuel in the tank so its likely related. Just enough to play with it. It does seem that it was running fine but if not the next step would be to replace the spark plugs. For a few dollars that makes sense form a maintenance standpoint.  I cast a line and not even a bite. I'm just in the wrong place and need to get farther out. The view was awesome. A little foggy, glass water, and NPR in the background ( I know its kind of liberal but they have good programming sometimes. They also have some classical and international music. Don't get me wrong I like different music for different activities. ) The Escanaba harbor is beautiful and it is gaining more interest from visitors. I haven't seen too many harbors as nice as this one. The bathrooms are clean and it is well taken care of. The staff are friendly and prices are fairly

Its a narrow opportunity but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell   opens a window through discussions with Senator Cornyn , Sen. Murphy and Sen. Sinema and others. You can read more about that in  Exclusive: McConnell says he has directed Cornyn to engage with Democrats on a ‘bipartisan solution’ on gun violence . Children being involved has changes some things and broke some hearts. They are central to society. Here are a couple of points to consider briefly: 1.) Democrats should take the olive branch and put forward moderate Democrats to quickly engage and problem solve. Personality is important. No one needs radicals causing mayhem on either side destroying opportunities. Life is too important for irrationality of politics. Both sides need concise, pointed, and specific conversations.  2.) Focus on military grade weapons that are designed to kill people. Few are going to support taking away 2nd Amendment Rights but they may consider some restrictions on outward projected weapo

Some problems arose over fraudulent ballot signatures in the primaries and that is likely to do some damage to the GOP candidates. There are a couple of options but this is how I see it below.  There were 69K false signature among 5 candidates. It has been referred to Attorney General Nessel's office for review. Apparently it was caused by First Choice Contracting LLC but that remains to be seen once a full review if there were others involved. Here is an interesting article you may want to consider. Fraudulent signature reports referred to Nessel's office for investigatio n and an other article GOP to Board of Canvassers on petition fraud scandal: Evaluate each signature one-by-one 1.) Those that knew, conducted and supported should be prosecuted ( No place for games with democracy. What is referred to as a "Money Grab" by some candidates .). 2.) Those that didn't do their due diligence reprimanded ( Sometimes people skip steps and its not wise in our mad rush

Once you become targeted you also become aware how important it is to hold people accountable. Without accountability we will find ourselves in a few years back to the very same spot; perhaps a worse spot. There are certain behaviors in our society we should not nor ever accept. For some reason we have accepted them as "ok" even though they run against the grain of everything good and just. There is a higher calling for our society to adapt to the distortion of hate and rage. We must only be willing to take a few steps to see the risks we face as individuals and as a society. Give you an example. Someone holds inappropriate beliefs about their importance in the world. Racial and religious hate and is willing to lie and manipulate to gain benefit. That sets off a whole serious of dangerous events that include police targeting ( by a few corrupted officers. Not all. Most did the right thing but a few persisted. ), a large mediocre ex-sports highschool players clan engage in hig

Detroit firefighters have a hard job. They deal with all types of interesting things that range from homeless fires, burning industrial buildings, residential areas to crime scenes. Now they also must deal with one of their own stealing from them.  The firefighter involved embezzled $220K in money that was to go for retirement and into personal spending and organizations she supports.  You can read more about it in  Ex-Detroit fire official gets prison for embezzling $220K on hotels, flights and cruises According to the  U.S. Department of Justice Bulletin  , " During the four years Day was Treasurer of the DFFA, she fraudulently obtained approximately $167,900.00 of union funds by (1) issuing checks in her name and then changing the name of the payee in the Union’s Quickbooks software; (2) cashing checks which were voided by her in Quickbooks; (3) writing checks made payable to cash; and (4) withdrawing cash from DFFA bank accounts. Day also fraudulently obtained money by diverti

Violence and hate are a growing trend. People and groups engaged in hate targeting has become increasingly common because we haven't developed mechanisms to deal with it as everything is politicized. People bent on violence are hard to reason with and there seems to be some support among different peoples as to the acceptance of violence.  Targeting children, targeting people in our community, and general dishonest mayhem have become part of us and in many cases acceptable ( Depending on who the targets are .). The development of solutions is slow and when good solutions seem to be forming there is lack of desire to act because of social, political, and other pressures. It creates scenarios where such behaviors are repeated over and over because of failed accountability and no theoretical methods of intercession. We have lost our sense of community and the willingness to stand for basic values. The way and the will should come together. Rules apply differently to different peoples.

The insanity of the use of guns, copycats and rage is beyond what any nation can reasonably accept. 19 children and two adults dead and many of them very young. We need better ways of ensuring people who display these behaviors of targeting get mental health help quickly before they do real harm. Likewise, we also don't want guns free flowing into the streets ( We need to think about the gun purpose and the rules associated with high caliber guns. I say that as a light right Republican who believes in the right of citizens to bear arms for things like hunting and basic self defense. Not assault guns whose very design is based in destruction. Aggressive guns need different rules.  ). So many problems and not so many solutions.  It seems as though the specifics are tight lipped in terms of motive. Perhaps they don't know and investigations will reveal more of what happened. We need to chase this down and find out what happened. If we find they exhibited aggressive behaviors mixed

Moe is my horse. He is often used by kids and he may have picked up a few bad habits that includes strong pulling his head to pull the reins out of your hands. So I will need to work on it with him to ensure he doesn't continue with these bad behaviors. That includes moving he reins right and left until he gives and making him go in circles. He has someone who trains him so I will inform her as well.   I learned how to pull on reins.                                            

Small dysfunctional groups eventually are pressured to conform to wider societal values through sustained pressure and the practicality of higher level thinking. The wider value pressure based on the philosophies acceptable to different sociological, religious, political, economic and ideological entities ( I think you could probably find how how society is demographically sliced and how each influences group identity formation. That would be way beyond the scope of this blog post. ) will exert different types of influences to create cohesion ( vs. conflict ) because ultimately it is in the best interest of society ( local, national, global ). Sometimes small groups can influence larger spheres based on the ability to describe something, understand something or solve a long stemming problem ( That is why its important to create a universal society to minimize ethnic, racial, religious, political conflict. See Conflict Modeling ). When dysfunctional groups influence their surroundings i

Students often come with all types of backgrounds and understandings. Part of the purpose of higher education is to raise the level of problem solving and performance in a way that improves personal and professional growth. We want students that can compete in the global market and obtain meaningful jobs and enriched lives. That takes commitment by faculty. Sometimes students, like professors, and like business professionals come with good and bad habits. Some students are ready to compete and some need a little more help shoring up their abilities and skills. Higher education is likely one of the last times outside of life and work to help the student. Coaching is part of the job of developing higher overall performance. Being flexibility also means taking the time to find the right tool to help the student achieve their long term goals. Some argue that coaching on life skills isn't the professors role that they should not take the time to ask questions and listen. Others argue th

Sometimes it is the small things in life that are exciting. I messed around with this Johnson motor in my garage and put it on the boat (Remember I bought the 12' boat, trailer and motor for $500. I couldn't start it right away and messed with it in the garage in a bucket of water. The Escanaba Marina dock hand came over and he said it looked like the old 1960's motor on another boat. We played with the choke and we worked through it to determine what some of the knobs do. We got the idle to go down. Letters are sort of worn out. Guess what? It works! It hasn't been tested so I'm not going too far out yet least I be rowing back! This AM at the gym I got into a discussion of fishing spots. Apparently the Walley are hiding on the other side of the bridge in the shallows, out by "the point" ( My friend Len probably knows where the spots are . Keeping it a little secret. Shhhh! ) and along the rocks near the mouth of the marina when they come in to feed. I hav

Had some excellent training tonight. It has been a while since I repelled. Have done some rock climbing but its great to get back and do it. They have a lot more safety equipment in firefighting vs. rock climbing. Top ropes, heavy duty belay, etc... The biggest thing is to keep yourself leaning back at a near 90 degrees. We also did a little basket rescue. ( That is me! LOL )

Russian UN official Boris Bondarev, the Russian counselor at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations resigned his position stating, " For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year ." ‘Ashamed’ Russian diplomat resigns over Putin’s ‘aggressive war’ This marks a type of turn in the war. While Russia has gained some ground in Eastern Ukraine it also is coming with increased cost. They are loosing diplomatically and economically. Military strength has somewhat been tarnished. It is not guaranteed they will continue to make headway as Ukrainians create countermeasures and receive new equipment. While this may mark a turn in internal dissention, that appears to be growing, it does not mean that Russia is down for the count. What it does mean is that he will now feel internal pressure, in addition to external pressure, to end the w

In Escanaba you are on the water and it becomes to many residents part of our lives. One of the places that hasn't truly been tapped for development. It is also one of those places that carries old world charm.  While many are out in there in their $40K boats I'm styling in my $500 boat. I couldn't care less anymore. I would rather have a retirement account and run around in an old boat.  The only problem I face is that the old Johnson motor that came with the boat didn't work. The guy promised me it did but I had a hard time starting it in the water so I took it home and put it on a rack to play with it.  You can use a barrel of water to test it. In this case I had a bucket so I used that and once I ran it for a few seconds I shut if off because I didn't want it to overheat. You can read about the water inlet and why it needs to have constant flow HERE . It was a fuel problem. I ensured the connectors were tight with some zip ties and ensured it was drawing fuel fr

Today I had a second dose of RIT team training with 4 man crews. We went in blind again (wax paper in mask) and were the second team in to help extract the victim. This time they person was covered in debris. Half way through the pretend victim went into cardiac arrest. The person at the head pulled off the mask and helmet and removed the hands from the jacket. The person on the left hand side of the victim helped loosen air pack straps, the person on the victim's right hand side started chest compressions and the person at the victim's feet pulled them out of the equipment.   As usually it takes time to learn and develop those skills. We were in full gear so that always makes things more difficult. If real chaos happens we have to be as second nature as possible and rely heavily on training. Other things we learned were better ways of rolling and preparing hoses as well as how to move people down the staircase (My back is a little sore. Yikes!)

I have been watching the missing money as it relates to the Delta County Jail issue because it is associated with hotels, investments and some lose connection to some other questionable behaviors. Furthermore, tracking the activities to see if I can perhaps put together a model of how something like this might work, who it is connected to it and the ways to avoid having something like this repeated is important ( Taxpayer money should be used for furthering the public's interests ). Sometimes I'm fairly successful in finding new things and other times I'm not ( usually a time issue. I got a life but like to sort of see how things unfold. ).  An article on in the Daily Press showed up by Ilsa Minor on May 21-22, 2022. The following key points were pulled (Minor, 05,21-22/2022). - $29K missing from a state grant ( That is interesting that it was grant money. Yikes! ) -Escanaba Public Safety and FBI investigating. -$23 million development project with Proxima Management Group

Georgia is gaining Hyundai's $5.5 Billion EV plant which will create 8,100 new jobs. While I am super happy the U.S. is attracting international EV manufacturing ( something we must be doing to stay ahead ) I'm a little sad they didn't choose Michigan. Having the pre-existing infrastructure and working together to reach out and attract investment is important. Awesome for Georgia and kind of sad for Michigan. At least its a big investment in the U.S.  Hyundai to build $5.5 billion EV and battery plant in the US. Here’s where

This seems like a fun little post but sometimes they are kind of educational. I have lots of down branches and brush from an old tree so I called my local DNR to determine if burning personal fires are ok and they said yes. You can check everyday at DNR Burn Restrictions .  Threw some chicken with seasoning on and a pot of vegetables with an all metal pan and we are in business. Burning up some old brush, cooking supper and having a good time.  Delta County Michigan is rural so you have a relatively small town covered by lots of woods. Its normal to have fires around here and cook hot dogs. I'm trying to get a little more into natural cooking with wood. Not as easy because it cooks uneven and the heat intensity changes. You also have to nurse it.  Our ancestors may have been better at it. Apparently cooking on fire started like 2 Million Years Ago . I suspect wild boar or fish or something. Up here you are still connected to that nature in some ways.

Saving democracy requires more than lip service and partisan politics. I reading an interesting article  An author who studies diverse democracies shares what he sees as the future of the US . He discusses that there has been a lot of bad behavior but some hope and that in his studies he believes democracy can thrive and succeed in the modern world. We have to learn how to create a conception of how we can rally around certain values and intermingle as different peoples. To me that is the universalism of our American values and how that applies to everyone based on values and merit and not subject to differences of race and religion. I've seen this attempt to split society through social networks and inappropriate use of a few law enforcement officials on a local level and the coordinated sacking of our capital on a national level. ( ...before you jump a conclusion I'm 100% in support of law enforcement and many rallied to a higher cause. Some did not. ). The smirky selfishnes