Thursday, October 17, 2024

The Thursday Ramble*: Knowledge


Never in the history of humankind, have so many people, had such easy access to so much knowledge, information, and facts.  At the click of a keyboard and mouse, I can access an almost endless library.  I just have to ask the question, and then evaluate the answers to sort the real facts, from the alternative facts.  The internet as a resource is less than 50 years old.  

Earlier this year I read a book on the history of books. 250 years ago, public libraries as we know and love them in the United States, didn't really exist.  Libraries were private, belonging to institutions or individuals. The first lending libraries in the USA were membership organizations.  Each member paid an annual fee that was used to purchase books for the collection, that the member could then borrow from the library. Today I can walk into my local public library and borrow any book on the self, and they will order in for me anything in the system. Very much any question I have, the library can help me find the real facts; alternative facts are in the fiction section. 

I am fortunate to have earned and paid for a solid education.  I learned how to learn, how to structure inquiry that leads to facts, and rules, that lead to logical conclusions.  Only one of my grandparents had more than a grade school education (8 years of education.) And yet, they knew the basics of how to learn, how to read, how to frame an issue, how reach a conclusion based on the facts.  The challenge for them was often access to knowledge.  They left school to work on farms and in factories, to keep their families alive.  

Higher education has never been more available, or more unaffordable in the United States.  I have a four year degree, a BA degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.  Rollins is a nice private liberal arts college, frequently ranked as one of the best small colleges in the country.  Tuition and books are now estimated at $61,500 per year, nearly $250,000 (plus living expenses) for a University degree. I don't know what I paid, it certainly was not that much. I went to college part time, worked full time and paid for it as I went.  

In the United States, law is a graduate degree, a doctorate.  You have to have a four year University or college degree to be admitted to most law schools.  For law school, I went to a state school, with instate tuition, at the University of Louisville. Currently the cost of tuition, books and mandatory fees is just over $33,000 a year - and it is a three year program, overall the total would be right at $100,000.  This does not include living expenses, those are estimated at another $25,000 per year, at least they will let you borrow that much, meaning that most of the graduates from this mid-level state law school are going to owe about $175,000 when they finish.  When I finished in 1999, and I had borrowed what was allowed, based on the calculated cost of attendance, I owed about $45,000.  

Why has it gone up so much in 25 short years? States expect more from the Universities, and fund them with less money.  The state expects higher graduation and employment numbers, but has not increased in a meaningful way the funding needed to make that happen.  

When Joe and Kamala talk about forgiving student loans, they are is really saying the Federal Government will pay off the loans. In essence the government is spending money today, that it should have spent over the past 25 years supporting higher education.  

An educated populus earns more, makes better informed decisions, commits fewer crimes, helps to build a better society.  Educated people are more likely to be able to tell the difference between facts, and alternative facts.  

 *Ramble, or is it more of a rant?

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

My World of Wonders, aka the Wednesday Ws October 16, 2024


Where have I been this week?  Close to home, the grocery store / pharmacy, a walk at the airport, a walk on King Street, the library, a walk in the swamp at Dyke Marsh, the farmers market, a walk and out to lunch, and the Hirshorn. 

What have I been cooking this week?  I bought a whole beef tenderloin and cut steaks and roasts from it, so we had steak the other day, chicken noodle soup, a lemon custard pie, 

Who have I heard from?  Kim, and old co-worker from my home builder days in Florida.  She wants to know when I am going to come for a visit, it has been a long time. 

When will I start planning the next adventure?  Already have, and figured out this week why I was having trouble finding a hotel in Amsterdam.  It is Kings Day weekend, we will be skipping Amsterdam on next springs adventure. 

What is the sculpture above?  The end of last month, Angus from St Andrews was here in Washington DC. He posted a photo of this, I instantly knew where it was, it is along the side of the a Catholic church near Gallery Place.  I have walked or ridden a bike past it a thousand times in the past 16 years. The church does a lot of outreach to homeless persons in the community. There was a lady a block or so from there who lived in cardboard boxes for years. She would always smile and say Hi when I walked by. She would tell anyone who would listen, that she was owed money.  A volunteer took her serious one day, and discovered that she was entitled to a federal pension based on 30 years of work in a government office.  She had failed to cash the checks during a period of mental health issues, and the payments had been put on hold.  She was owed a decade of back pay, and enough of a monthly payment to live with dignity.  

What made me go "Huh!" this week?  Politicians, and a family member, who think that the government is manipulating the weather. Untreated mental illness is a real problem at times.  

What made me sad this week? I walked past the White House a few days ago, and the 20 foot tall riot fence has been put back up.  This is an additional barrier, about 250 feet away from the usual spiked fence around the Presidential Residence. It is good to see that they are prepared in case a sore loser decides to send his mob to forcibly attack the White House, very-very sad that it is necessary. I hope the police are well armed and authorized to shoot if attacked. 

What made me sad part 2? An old friend is in poor health, heart failure, kidney failure, he has been in the hospital for five weeks. 


Monday, October 14, 2024

Monday Moods: Kindness and Humor

Reading blogs and comments this last week, someone (I can't find who for sure) mentioned a lack of kindness and humor in the world.  In many ways I feel this.  

I often write about tiny acts of kindness, being nice to one another. Go out today and do something kind.  Send a note to a friend that is struggling, open a door for someone whose hands are full, let the other person go first. Tiny acts of kindness add up. Leave a kind comment on someone's blog, or at least refrain from saying something negative.   

I find myself being touchy about things people say, likely in an attempt at humor, that I take offense at.  

I miss the Comics page in newspapers.  A full page in black ink, six days a week, about half of which were funny, multiple pages in color on Sunday.  Back when we read print newspapers.  A media that has all but gone away.  I read the Far Side daily (linked in my daily reads.) I miss Hagar, Andy, Snoopy, and the Family Circus. When I was in Orlando the daily cartoon on the editorial page was written by Jake Vest, 'That's Jake" always found humor in the weirdness in daily life.  

Back in my legal aid days, I would create and present an hour long ethics presentation every year for an annual conference. One year I illustrated the entire hour with cartoons I had collected over the years.  I remember one, two women standing next to a coffin, one says to the other, "can I tell you a secret, life insurance is easier to collect than child support." This illustrated the point that lawyers hear things from clients that they must hold in strictest confidence. Sure enough someone was offended, saying this promoted homicide. 

A brilliant therapist once told a dear one, "if you can't remember the last time you laughed, it has been too long." 

This week, let's commit to an act of kindness and to find something, anything to laugh about. 


 

Sunday, October 13, 2024

The Sunday Five: Planes, Trains and Automobiles


1: Is there passenger rail service available where you live? 

2: How far is the nearest airport with airline service? 

3: Do you drive? 

4: Given a choice of planes, trains or automobiles for a trip of 500 miles, what is your choice? 

5: Have you traveled by long distance on a bus? 

My answers: 

1: Is there passenger rail service available where you live?  Yes, the nearest Amtrak station is about a 1.5 miles from home. 

2: How far is the nearest airport with airline service? About 5 miles. 

3: Do you drive? Yes, often. 

4: Given a choice of planes, trains or automobiles for a trip of 500 miles, what is your choice? For 500 miles, fly. 

5: Have you traveled by long distance on a bus? Only once when I was a teenager. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

Saturday, October 12, 2024

The Saturday Morning Post: Adventures in Flying: When Things Go Thud


I changed planes in Charlotte North Carolina one morning, I had been flying since the day before. The last leg was on a small regional jet, the last leg home from my first trip to Alaska. 

We had settled in, I was talking to the guy sitting next to me who was flying out to drive home a car he had bought without seeing. The plane started to push back from the gate and it went thud. It felt like we had backed over a trash can or something. The plane pulled forward a few feet, backed up again and this time I could hear metal tearing.  We came to a stop, the pilot came out of the cockpit, opened the door and charged off shouting "what in the hell have you done to my airplane!" 

It took a couple of minutes for the flight attendants to assess what was going on, and make a call to the terminal. 

What had happened? 

We had backed into another airplane, twice.  

We would need to get off the plane while the damage was assessed.  As I got off, I looked over and the end one wing was torn loose and hanging down.  It didn't take long for the airline to say, please go stand in line at customer service for rebooking.  

I was flown to an airport, about 90 miles from where I headed, put on a chartered van and driven onto the airport. Several hours late, I did arrive home that day.  


Friday, October 11, 2024

100 Ideas to Slightly Improve your Travel Experience: # 27 Trains


Sadly in much of the United States, passenger rail service either does not exist, or it is terrible. Where is train travel does exist it can be a very pleasant way to travel.  On the east coast, from Boston to Washington DC, passenger rail service is good, relatively frequent, and often a bargain.  The California coast has good service, a mixture of a state run service and Amtrak, there is a main line up the west coast to Seattle.  Florida has expanded passenger rail. And there are a few other regional train services are out across the country. 

We are a ten minute walk from a subway station, two stops up the line and the train station is next to the subway station.  Wait on the platform.  Board, find a seat and settle in.  The train staff will come by to scan you boarding pass in a few minutes.  You can get up and walk about, the cafe car will be open most of the ride.  There is no X Ray, body scanner, metal detector. 

For me, from Washington to DC taking the train beats flying or heaven-forbid trying to drive up the east coast.  Our nearest station is Alexandria, Virginia.  If I take a train from there to New York, it takes about 4 hours.  It is a 20 minute ride into DC, then the train changes engines with a layover that takes 30-40 minutes.  If I take the subway into DC and take the train from DC to NYC the travel time is about 3 hours. It takes about 45 minutes to take the subway into the train station in DC from home. Strangely it is often cheaper to travel from Alexandria than it is from DC.   If I avoid holidays, Fridays and Sundays, trains are inexpensive.  The trip we just did was about $80 per person round trip.  If we took the night train it is about $50 round trip.  

Fridays and Sunday a lot of people travel to see family for the weekend, and it can get expensive.  A couple of years ago we went to Philadelphia to have lunch with a dear friend who was in for a conference (she lives in British Columbia) and the train was almost $200 a person round trip, up and back on a Friday.  

There are a few places, like Wilmington Delaware, that do not have airline service. To get there you take the train, or deal with miserable east coast traffic.  

When we travel internationally, I always look at rail.  Train service in Europe is generally excellent.  In some countries it is a bargain, in others it is not. Always worth looking into.