Hello, to you all on a sunny and warm day. We had an errand early this morning and decided to have breakfast out. I had a yen for waffles which Mom shared so we went to our favorite restaurant which we don't visit nearly as often as we did before the pandemic. Most of our old favorites have changed their menus and raised their prices. We haven't enjoyed them nearly as much. But we have also found that we simply can't eat the amount of food they put on the plates and we really don't want to take the remains home. We asked if, next time we can order one meal with two plates. They said we could so we might go back soon.
I just found this piece on Naked Capitalism about the academic shortcomings of the current generation of students and it isn't pretty. My problem with the piece is that it deals with math performance alone. In high school I took two years of algebra, and a year each of geometry and trig. In college, I also had calculus and other advanced math. But I don't remember much of them. In my working life, I had much younger colleagues who couldn't do basic math without a calculator. Some couldn't figure simple decimal and percentage problems. I said that math was just part of the problem. I don't know how many times I have been simply flabbergasted by the ignorance of some of our politicians. They "misstate" basic historical facts and have little notion of geography. It isn't a matter of The Former Guy, who has never been known for erudition and is only four years older than I am, who, in a stump speech, seemed to confuse George H.W. Bush with George W. Bush and claimed he defeated Obama and that Biden would lead us into WWII. Too many younger writers have such a very weak command of English I wonder what their English grades were like. It is good to have a course of study that provides a good basic education in math and science but not everyone, perhaps not a majority, will want to pursue a career in those areas. I shifted from science to history. I took a basic course in computers and coding which convince me that, though I like using computers, I really did't want to go further into computers and science. There has to be a path forward for people like me.
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Another sunny and warm day. I don't have much to do so I am just puttering around. We are binge watching old episodes of Forged In Fire.
We cut off our usual news early on because they were minutely directing the mess in Washington. That can be very concisely summed up: Democrats didn't save McCarthy who lost 8 of the Republicans and so McCarthy lost. The talking heads said that his Speakership is one of the shortest ever and the first ever Speaker to be "fired." I guess he is following the example of his party's leader who is the first ex-President to be indicted, the first to be indicted twice, the first to be indicted thrice, the first to be indicted four times, the first (I think) to have been convicted of sexual assault, the first to be convicted of defamation, the first to have been convicted of business fraud. The House is in recess until next week when they will start the process of electing a replacement. How long that will take is a big question. And of course they only have about 45 days to pass a budget or another continuing resolution.
Brian Rosenwald at his World According to Brian substack site encapsulates the whole FUBAR situation very well.
And so does Charlie Sykes at the Bulwark who confirms that McCarthy had the shortest term as Speaker except for the unnamed guy who died in 1876. He also highlights how McCarthy was the author of his own downfall.
Some years ago I read that the Saudis had ended their experiment in growing grains by irrigating the desert fields from the aquifers under their own land. They recognized the unsustainable nature of using an increasingly limited resource to try to grow wheat (or whatever) in thee desert. So they started taking over land and water rights in other countries including the U.S. Arizona's governor has decided the cancel their leases in an arid part of Arizona. Considering the struggles with urban growth, much of it technically illegal, around Tucson, the measure makes sense. I remember some accounts of the controversy because several of those satellite towns have been or are soon to be on their own as Tucson has, or soon will, no longer provided them with water.
Jeff Jackson (a Representative from North Carolina) has an account on his substack describing the drama in the House chamber when the voting on the resolution to vacate the chair.
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