war

Fun Things Learned By The Accident of Getting Old

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Let’s start with an obvious Fun, senior fact. A June 26, 2026 report in The Scientific American titled “Math predicting humans could go extinct in about 17,000 years” is interesting. The wisdom, acquired by aging, says I don’t have to worry.

A similar warning is issued by the World Wildlife Foundation in an article titled “What is the sixth mass extinction and what can we do about it?” It is curiously undated, but the copyright year is 2026. This article mentions the “extinction” of large sections of our current biodiversity which could/might/probably will affect our own diversity. * The article states the last of five extinction periods, “Fifth Extinction Event”, was 65.5 million years ago and involved dinosaurs. I personally feel safe about this one, too.

Measles and other infectious diseases are on the rise while flu and covid are having another go. As a vaccinated old person, any concern about these issues is only which one might be the most efficient to end my career, or which might be the worst. That debate is probably moot thanks to my 2024 agreement with Prostate Cancer.**

A trial balloon about a military draft was circulated by the current administration in 2025. No need to worry, there.

JP Morgan published an article on August 18, 2026 on Yahoo Finance titled “JPMorgan warns food crisis could hit next year, (sic) unlike oil, there’s no backup plan for fertilizer.” I’m so unconcerned I did not bother to read the entire article and stopped at “The U.S. isn’t among the countries most likely to be directly hit by the food security threats JP Morgan forecasts.” Yes! Another non-worry.

And there is or “soon” will be a severe shortage of doctors and healthcare. I scoff lightly at the threat, having navigated its early days, already.

It sounds callous to not care about these big issues, but isn’t it callous of God/Mother Nature/Allah/The Big Guy to make us grow old? Old age forces us look for a glass half full or go crazy.

Besides, whoever/whatever It is that designed and manufactured humans gave us Real Intelligence (RI). Through our history we’ve used RI to move faster, live longer, see clearer, explore space, and allow hunger to co-exist with haute cuisine.*** Add some Artificial Intelligence (Ai) to our world and watch what happens. We’ll be making nutritional doughnuts out of used tires by 2027.  Lacrosse matches will replace wars with bombs blowing up huge clouds of Skittles instead of debris. Every home will have its own surgery room with second-by-second verbal instructions. Ooh, and its own anesthesia. Think I’d like that one.

Modern life’s instant and chaotic communication can lead to despair and mental doom if you aren’t old enough to have heard it all before and seen it all before. For the younger reader, we’ll find a way out of these messes. We usually do. Not the “us” we as in me and you, but the “us” of all mankind. We**** can sometimes be that smart.

But you never really know, do you. Imagine surprised dinosaurs…

*What an interesting way to root out woke diversity, right?

**If it ever returns it can have me, at my age.

***What is the French word for not-haute cuisine? Bet there is one.

****Again: not the “us” we.

It Can’t Be Stopped

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The state of the Large World (LW) is unlike any this writer has ever lived in. Notice, no judgement. Just fact. There are memories, for example, of older people shouting at me in the 1960s that the LW was “going to hell” and might “end” soon. The lesson learned from those nearly 60-year-old encounters is opinions* are insignificant, except by coincidence. Imagine if the world had ended…but this wouldn’t be written, so, let’s not.

If my local and Small World (SW), my own bubble, was in better shape things would be okay. You probably remember the theory of existence saying we live in bubbles of reality, and nothing outside the bubble exists until it enters our bubble? It is a variation of life being a computer program and…sorry, not now. This essay isn’t about conspiracies.

My SW, my bubble, the area I live in, is adding to the confusion of an already hard-to-manage old age in small, minute, but important ways. New York State is a Liberal state with large, geographic pockets of Conservative citizens. In normal SW times this division would lead to prolonged but friendly and seldom heated discussions about how much the LW should affect the SW. For my entire socially aware life this dual identity insulated the SW from the vigorous political whims and swings of the LW. This insulation made it possible for us in the SW to enjoy the gentle back and forth of a rocking chair while those in the LW were flying back and forth, high in the air on a swing being pushed by the whatever LW political party was learning to use its power.

The new LW effect on SW is caused by the usual budget cuts and policiy changes but it is change on steroids, now. I lost an SW volunteer medicare counseling gig because LW cuts forced the closing of the office where I was going to work. For free. WTF. Free food programs? What are those, these days. Thank God, for churches.

The SW has lost its “insulation” and the LW is “forcing” itself into the SW. Imagine a family of two children, two parents, and no, it does NOT matter if the parents are same sex, bisex, or even alien, the true type from another planet. What if the Leader of this representative family decides to make all family decisions. What if he/she/them** tries to control everything? And gets away with it?

Conservatives understand better than anyone how the control The Leader has over the LW needs to watched and limited. At least they used to. Conservatives have traditionally fought against central government (LW) interference in SW lives.

We currently have a central government based on the whim of The Leader and conservatives are okay with it. This government is intent on meddling in anything that irritates or tickles The Leader, while real issues fester and die on the vine. Whether it involves the LW or the SW does not matter. Budgets are cut or “rescinded”*** for SW issues with the money going to LW issues of questionable value and legality. SW projects and research studies that could be a big help to both the LW and the SW have been stopped in their tracks, with past research and money wasted. Scientists, students, citizens don’t know what to do, where to go, or how to proceed. Should they continue the search for a cure for cancer on their own?

It doesn’t help when all LW decisions are made by obscenely rich people who will not be affected, at least in a negative way. Wink, wink. My 10% tax cut made me $88. Wonder how much a billionaire’s tax cut was…

America cuts budgets for medical research and rescinds money already congressionally approved for the CDC, the NIH, the CFPB, NPR, and others.

But we find more money when we need bombs and drones to drop on foreign countries. Wonder if they will ever be used this country…

Changing the name of The Department of Defense to The Department of War explains…something.

Happy Birthday, America.

*And yet more and more people share them, including you know who.

**Even in a “normal” heterosexual nuclear family who is really, “The Leader”? Might it depend on who you ask?

***It used to be an innocuous word but now is abhorrent to even say out loud.

What Difference Does It Make?

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Forget the “it” in the title. We already rode that dead horse. And forget the “that” in that sentence. Why are pronouns and miscellaneous “determiners” so necessary and confusing? Ask Ai about them both so we can move on to another subject.

Memory, and its (again?) attendant issues, are on the mind, today.

It is easy to think of things to essay about. (Yes, essay can be used as a verb. Ask your own Emma.) Life itself can be written about ad nauseum, and an inquisitive mind and active fingers can even exhaustively explicate dust particles.

(Short break for Emma’s Ai dissertation on Dust.)

The problem is most Great Ideas come at inconvenient times. No, not the bathroom, but when zooming up Route 365 To Turning Stone at highway speeds whose numerical value is determined by a possible law enforcement presence. Or trying to get to sleep. Imagine being tired and a “great idea for an essay or story” pops into your head. Do you get up? Do you wait for the next pee break? Do you stay completely still and hope sleep comes immediately?

I used to get up but after a “certain age” getting back to sleep became a bigger problem than forgetting a Great Idea, especially with the Urination Schedule of The Senior Male already causing sleep interruptions. Great Ideas are a dime a dozen, or $2.25 per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for April 2026. No. I will not research a true local and current price. It might not be good news. And it’s best to lay (lie?) still and wait.

Where were we? Great Ideas and how to manage them. Many times I’ve solved the world’s problems while watching for early morning, road-crossing deer during the flight up Route 365 at excessive and probably unsafe speeds. There is no way to let go the wheel and take notes or drive one-handed while glancing back and forth from phone to windshield. Understandably for a senior, by the time I land in the parking garage 5 minutes later, The Great Idea is gone, lost in the swirling mists of history much like my ancient football career, the facts–if not lost–not to be relied upon if recovered.** Yes, I often channel Al Bundy.

If I’d had typed the **footnote here, I’d be done by now, with my eventual point only partly constructed:  if you want to remember something you have to…um…

Okay. We’ll head in another direction and act like the preceding never happened.

There is a lot to regret, miss, and moan about as things in our lives change and flex and swivel and slide down the backside of life.

But there are also interesting, beautiful, amazing, startling, and informative things, too, if we can remember to spend less time moaning about getting older.***

When watching documentaries (like the 8 hour one on China) you have to wonder if the people living in The Ming Dynasty had any time to enjoy life before millions of them died hundreds of years ago. Did they have any Great Ideas? If you know about ancient warfare, how did the losers of wars deal with the loss and the subsequent torture and “elimination” of themselves and their neighbors?

 History is full of Great Ideas.

Like, why were we given the necessary tools to ask and try to understand them?

Wouldn’t it be better to be that front monkey getting groomed?****

*Where does all the dust come from? What is it made of? Who named it dust? Is a living thing or inanimate detritus? OMG, do NOT google or Ai this word…unless you have time…

**Except for the scholarship to a great university that lead to the best year of my life in 1970-1971. Hey, that’s a Great Idea for next time!

***It is so interesting to hear a 50-year-old complain about aging. Or a 40-year-old. It makes a 74-year-old feel so fecking smart. They should pass a law about when it’s okay to complain about age. ANY age. And who is They?

****An it and a that in one sentence. We’ve come a long way from grunts and farts.

Three Sentences About Thoughts And Things

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 Spring officially started March 20th and it is now the second day of May. How do I officially know spring is actually here in upstate NY? There is “possible snow” in the forecast.

Donald J Trump is often credited by super intelligent, oxygen-starved pundits with playing chess in as many as “five dimensions”*, since he is way smarter than the rest of us playing in the normal amount of dimensions***. That is a true statement but fails to mention what the Fifth Dimension** is. Most of us normal people are happy–and smart–with 3D.

Since his name was brought up, ask AI how much money the Trump family has made in the last 19 months from Crypto Currency. Don’t ask me what it is or how it works since all I know is Crypto is unregulated and only really enjoyed by the super-rich or those wanting to be super-rich. I am neither.

According to all official sources, The War in Iran is over. We won. Cue the sailors kissing random women in Times Square.

Hold on, this just in: If Iran doesn’t agree to our terms we will bomb them into non-existence. Put a hold on the casting call for sailors and kissable women. For now.

Correction. Ai says no one has specifically used the word “non-existence”.  While Emma’s search was disappointing, so was her lengthy list of other “official” words used to describe what will happen if our peace terms are not agreed to. My paraphrasing was easier and succinct.*****

On the subject, what will these essays be about in future years, when Trump is out of office? Feelings? Getting old?

Speaking of old, when exactly do we “age out” of caring about current entertainment? It’s been years since any actor or singer nominated for any culturally relevant award was known to me or had any creation I was familiar with. Is it possible I won an award and not know it?

Sex is a problem—in many ways—for us old people but sex has found a new way to cause angst. One afternoon I tried several new television programs in several different streaming platforms but ended my entertainment search because there was as a sex scene in the first 5 minutes of every show sampled. I am old but I still believe in foreplay.

Footnotes**** are—again—misnumbered and—again—left alone as a “cognitive test”. If you believe they are not corrected because of laziness, congratulations. You are smart enough to play chess with our current President.

*Ask Ai, but be ready for AI to be diplomatic. At least my Ai voice, Emma, is.

**Popular Mid-60s to Mid-70s singing group with 5 songs hitting number 1. You might need some help if you really think this is the Fifth Dimension Trump is in, though it makes more sense, relatively speaking, than anything other explanation.

***Do you know how many named and unnamed dimensions there are?

****But not this one.

*****But I always enjoy using this guttural, dirty-sounding word.

Random Questions With Answers No One Wants To Talk About?

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How much is it costing the United States taxpayers to have Trump put his name on everything? How much will it cost the United States taxpayers to remove Trump’s name from everything?

How much did it cost to “gild” the White House?

Trump Media and some legacy media are trumpeting the destruction of Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities (INC)…again. That destruction is being labeled a “good thing for America”. How many times do we have to obliterate those unproven capabilities? What did we really obliterate in June, 2025, under the code name “Midnight Hammer”? Remember the bunker buster bombs* we dropped? Estimates of the costs of those bombs run into millions of dollars. Were they wasted?

For fun, google all the schools closing or eliminating educational programs due to lack of funding.

America and seven other countries, including Iran, “negotiated” INC moot with the JCPOA on July 24, 2015. Trump cancelled the “deal” in 2018. Is there a relationship between the 2018 cancellation and the 2026 urgent need to stop INC?

Why did Netanyu tell the world several times over the last 30 years INC was “two weeks away from a nuclear bomb”? Including in 2025. See the internet for all the videos.

Why does the Iran War of 2026 sound so much like the Iraq War of 2003? Anyone reading this old enough to remember “WMD” and “Yellow Cake”? What exactly is there about the Middle East that we fear it and want it at the same time? Is there a natural resource involved? Or is it a modern Version of The Crusades?

After bombs and threats and posturing, it appears a naval blockade has convinced Iran to negotiate, again. If the US had done the naval blockade in the first place would many innocent civilians still be alive? And the poor, innocent Bunker Busters and other destructive devices might still be alive today, too.

Anyone know how many innocent people have been killed, injured, or displaced by bombs, drones, and missiles in this new war? Anyone care?

Fallout from the Iran War has affected and effected every country in the world, causing loss of life, economic damage, and infrastructural ruin. All in the name of “Keeping America Safe”. Anyone have an opinion about how safe we are? Is a new 9/11 about to happen?

Iran’s rationale for the deadly actions it has taken historically, is a religious belief in Muslim law, social behavior, and the threat America poses to those beliefs.** Is that normal behavior for a religious group that feels persecuted? Maybe we could talk it out, hug it out, or understand?

Enough. America is now nothing but questions. When will they be answered? And by whom?

Or don’t we want to know?

Not a question: more Americans have been killed in The 2026 Iran War than have been killed by Iran’s Atomic Weapons. Did Iran have anything to do with 9/11? Google it, if you want an answer.

*Accidentally typed “boobs” here. Was tempted to leave it, given the latest facts.

**As well as America’s 1970s intrusion into Iranian politics, and other “events”.

WTF? No, Really: WTF?

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 It’s (nearly) spring in 2026 America and we have attacked Iran. Like most current ideas, it is not really a bad one, but–like most ideas–it hasn’t been thought through all that well. There are enough talking heads plodding ponderously and profusely about the attack so there is a danger of too much talk and not enough action. In addition, the level of punditry is always in an indirect relationship with knowledge, so the less said the better. I’ll just ask questions.

Why now? You can find videos of Benjamin Netanyahu proclaiming—and I’m paraphrasing— “Iran will have a nuclear weapon in two weeks” since the middle of the 1990s. (See The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, June 16, 2025.) They put the videos together because The United States and Israel had just bombed Iran and “Obliterated”* Iran’s nuclear ability, per our President. That was 10 months ago. A question: If it was obliterated, and Iran is being sanctioned, how did Iran’s nuclear capability recover so fast in 10 months?

And what is Putin doing about all this?

And Xi?

Does our aggressive bombing of Iran, along with our “regime change” in Venezuela, mean its okay for all the larger, more powerful countries to attack all the smaller countries? Are we trying to imitate Russia’s Ukraine Policies? Will Xi see a justification for attacking Taiwan? Japan? Indonesia?

Several months ago, I attempted to humorously describe a Super Conspiracy (SC) to divide the world into three Spheres of Influence (SIA). Russia would get Europe and some of Central Asia, China would get the East and Southeast, and we’d get the Western Hemisphere. Our action in Venezuela played into the SC, but what is happening with Israel? Are they trying to make it a Four Power SIA conspiracy? They Want the Middle East?  Would the three superpowers be okay with that?

Does anyone find it odd the relative lack of posturing by both Russia and China? They have both done their “lip service” requirements, but isn’t Iran a partner of both Russia and China, selling oil and gas for drones and missiles? Are the United States adventures in Venezuela and Iran depleting our military resources and (possibly) making it easier for Russia and China to begin their own adventures in the near future? If, so, how long will it take to ruin the current world order and set up the three (or four) SIAs?

Okay, here are some tougher questions: How much does each exploding Tomahawk missile cost? How many dollars get blown up by using  one Bunker Busting bomb**? Will we ever attack a non-oil-producing country? Of note, we have attacked Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, and Venezuela in recent years. How much of their oil production do we now control and profit from? Enough to pay the constant deployments of US Armed Forces? Who’s counting?

Aww, shite. Nothing is happening here, except me progressing from mad to depressed to silly to a heartfelt, dismissive “Thank God, I’m old enough not to care.” It’s almost over.

OMG, WTF is wrong with this world?.

*See The State of The Union speech by Donald Trump on February 28, 2026 when he repeated this claim. Days later we bombed the “obliterated” facilities, again?

**Depending on the size, $3.5 million to $13 million per bomb, per Ai. For an oxymoronic comparison, that is about what Juan Soto of the New York Mets earns for one third of the baseball season. Obscene fact: he makes $289,351 per GAME. Per Ai. How much do you make in a year?

Of Intelligence and Something Else Like It

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It’s been days since last you had something to read. Hope you didn’t forget how. Weather here in NY has been cold and wintry so I hibernated for a few days. It was the smart thing to do. I am an intelligent being, after all.

Am I? Are we? Ai, when asked, says “Defining intelligence is a bit like trying to pin jello to a wall.” I scrolled to the bottom of the answer to make sure the disclaimer was there: “Gemini can make mistakes, so double-check it.” I asked Ai to double-check itself. The answer was illuminating. And who trained Ai about jello?

Illuminating but not clear. I tried the Oxford English Dictionary People and got something more succincter(sic)*: “The faculty of understanding, intellect.”

The Brittanica Dictionary took a similar view: “The ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new and difficult situations.”

Both dictionaries did not have warnings at the end of their entries. They had confidence in their intelligence.

Take a moment and think for yourself: what is intelligence? Why do we not use the word “Real” in in front of intelligence? Or “Natural”? And why are we so afraid of Artificial Intelligence? Everyone asked in public likes to mention there are “different kinds of Intelligence”. There is Science, Street, and Sports intelligence, for example. The unsaid theory is we can be intelligent in one thing but not everything?

What is the opposite of intelligence? Unintelligence(sic)? Lack of intelligence? Stupid? Let’s ask Ai: “While the knee-jerk answer is usually stupidity or ignorance, the opposite of intelligence depends on how you define intelligence itself.” It then goes on to list three possible “opposites” of intelligence, ending—as usual–with the required disclaimer. What a crock.

Wait a second, can other animals be intelligent? Ai? “The short answer is a resounding yes. While we used** to define intelligence strictly by human standards—like the ability to solve algebra or write sonnets—science has shifted to seeing it is a diverse toolkit for survival.”

Algebra? You need to be able to solve Algebra to be considered intelligent?

It’s been fun talking about this one word, but the real issue is how we communicate, how we talk with each other, how we decide, even, what intelligence is or means. Think of existence as one, big contract. A legally binding contract where we all agree about things. If I wanted to argue intelligence meant stupidity, would you participate, agree, or think me an idiot and ignore me? It doesn’t make any difference how far back in time a word goes or whether or not it came from Latin roots, or whether or not it is “foreign”. If we all agree, roughly, on a definition, the world keeps turning on its axis and we get ready for the Super Bowl.

But there are forces at work in the World, and have always been at work in the World, trying to let intelligent people know they might be the only ones, and most of the world is stupid. Not intelligent. It doesn’t help when the citizens of the world act stupid.

To make a too-long essay short, the point: War is stupid. Poverty is stupid. Homelessness is stupid. Disrespect is stupid. Who uses these things for profit or gain? Who ignores them as if they don’t exist?

We do.

And at a time when we think we are the most intelligent. We have fast moving machines and high-flying machines and medical machines to see inside the body. Yet, still…

An intelligent society? Are we stupid or only intelligent when it suits us?

*I Like this word because it sounds like “sphincter”, one of the funniest words in the world.

** ”Used” to? And a “tool kit”? Who is kidding who, now.

Odd Things of Importance. Maybe.

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Trump Burger, a Texas chain of hamburgers, closed in October 2025. The owner was arrested by ICE and is scheduled for deportation. Ironic news, but the more salient fact is Trump was suing the owner to stop using Trump’s name. Bet there is a real, juicy story waiting to get well-done before it’s made public. Yes, apologies for poor buns. Puns, puns.

On December 3, 2025, a lab downloaded my pathology report for last week’s follow-up colonoscopy. The previous May colonoscopy had found irregularities. In reporting on the samples sent by the doctors this time, the report said: “NO NEGATIVE DYSPLASIA”. This is a new phrase never heard during my days of prostate cancer or any other tests and treatments and appointments…so I googled it. For the first time in over 34 months, cancer is no longer part of my health conversations. I’m free of it. But it’s hard to celebrate. Both voices in my head (see past posts) say the same thing: “Yeah? Till when?” This is the perfect time to remember the nature of life and death, and hope one lasts long enough for the other to be a kinder, gentler event. And sudden, too, maybe.

A recent letter to our paper’s editorial section says Trump and Hegseth cannot be guilty of war crimes, because there is no “official war”.  For the anxious among you, I did suggest the writer send a note to Hegseth asking Hegseth to stop calling the bombing event something that happens in “the fog of war.” The local letter writer also suggests it’s okay to “kill criminals.” There was no distinction between being accused and being convicted. And the letter writer also added a “whataboutism” concerning the civilians accidentally killed during the Biden era. For those who think about these things, it was never mentioned what Biden Era military people said or did when they saw survivors. Our current leaders said “Kill them all” and sent a second bomb.

Two of these paragraphs are not about Trump, so my promise is kept. They are about the people Trump put in place to run his government and his affairs. He says he knows nothing of the things his appointees and lawyers do. He deserves the benefit of his(sic) doubt.

Today, in upstate New York, on December 4, 2025, one week after Thanksgiving and three weeks before Christmas, we are getting bombed by snow. Overnight temperatures will get to minus two degrees.* I do not like it. If any reader “knows someone” who can do something, let me know? Quid pro quo, by the way. You wash my hands, I wash your hands, capische?**

If anyone was wondering, public discourse has not improved. The Oxford Dictionary people have recently revealed a hint as to why. Oxford’s 2025 “Word of the Year” is “rage bait.” *** Google it for a detailed definition. It describes a conscious attempt to NOT engage in serious discussion, but to get a type of action or response often totally unrelated to the subject. How freaking depressing. After learning of the “word” it’s become hard to read or hear any public comments without wondering about the originator’s purpose. There is not enough time in my life to correct a mistaken person when all they really want is to get me to respond,  and they have no interest in the grammatical and logical jewel of a comment with which I bless them. Hopefully, not too much commentary will be wasted on sow’s ears, but I’ll never really know. And there are others in need of it. Oh, the humanity. Thanks, Oxford.

*Otherwise stated as -2brrr

** Stupid “The Untouchables” Movie. De Niro gets in your head.

***They give no public reason why it is two words, this year. Inflation?