It always seems to surprise me when I see something on TV news that seems to support something I’ve said. This very evening on the news I saw this report where a manufacturer reported being worried that he would soon be unable to hire skilled workers, skilled technicians to work for him. The one job they actually mentioned was, ya ready for this? Welding. Yep. Remember back a few articles ago when I was ranting about how maybe some kids just really didn’t need to go to college? That maybe even my over educated self would have been far better off when I moved out here if I had a welding certificate rather than a Masters Degree in Broad Field Earth Science.
Now here’s this report on national TV saying that American industry is running out of workers who can do skilled labor. That’s folks who can actually MAKE STUFF rather than push paper around on a desk, fill out forms, or make presentations for a business, a product or whatever. Now the wild thing is why these folks fear they will soon be unable to find these skilled workers. Seems the Vocational Education in most schools is being cut.
Yep. Seems kids today are basically being told, you can go on to some Jr. College and four year University OR you can flip burgers for the rest of your life. Nothing in between like welding, machining, carpentry, or even the technical side of the high tech revolution. You know the side that builds the machines or actually takes care of folks like nurses do. So who’s going to do that if we don’t let kids who’d rather mess with that stuff than spend endless hours and money they might not have getting a higher education they don‘t really want?
This is supposed to be a rural community here in Lone Oak. That means that, theoretically at least, most folks out here make a living off of the land. They grow food of one kind or another, for people and animals, they grow fiber. In other words they keep the rest of the country fed, clothed and supplied with numerous things they take for granted. Do the local kids in 4H or any of the Ag classes really get any encouragement to keep doing that? Don’t think so. Some of what I’ve heard is that the Ag department is shrinking. I’m guessing due to lack of funding.
Now I do not subscribe to the idea I’ve sensed in some areas that farmers and ranchers are dumb, narrow minded, resistant to change or anti-technology. Anybody who can fix a hay baler with spit, hope and baling wire is probably as smart as any big time engineer, maybe smarter and way more practical. I also know that if it looks like it will work for them they will be the first in line to jump on a new technology as well as the first to drop it if it turns out to be a dud.
So why are the schools dropping vocational ed and cutting back on teaching Ag?
Heck if I know. Same reason they are cutting out PE and complaining that the kids are getting fat for all I know? Yep. I know. They blame lower funding for the schools. But come on here folks. Dose it really take that much cash money to do a really good job of teaching? Yeah, you got to pay the teachers and the better they are the more you better pay them to keep them there teaching your kids. But then the teachers are like the guy on the line welding stuff together. They are making a product. They are the ones who should get the good pay, I say, not the folks with the fancy degree (fancier in the case of teachers) shuffling papers on a nice big desk while sitting in a comfy chair. They should also be let to do their jobs instead of baby sitting or trying to use politically correct language to tell parents that Johnny would read better if there was stuff at home for him to read or if he ever saw his parents reading. And maybe just maybe, little Anna Bell really would rather be a nurse than a doctor or even a farmer! We all need to realize that there are real jobs out there that are extremely important that don't get paid enough, but should at least get some respect for the folks who do them and do them well.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Alt Op # 40, Economic downer
Lots of bright minds in DC and other places are coming up with all kinds of plans to “Save the Economy.” Well, folks, here is where I get not only alternative but down right gloomy.
I don’t think the “economy” that we have developed over the last century or so can be saved. I don’t think it can be saved because it is inherently unsustainable. Why do I believe that? Who am I to say such a thing? I’m a regular gal. Slightly over educated, but not in economics. But I read all kinds of things from all kinds of places. I’m not the only one who thinks our present economy is doomed. As to why I agree that it is doomed, keep reading.
Our economy today is dependent on one and only one energy source. If you don’t get your energy from that then you don’t get, by our economy’s standards, “enough to do anything.” No, that energy source in not electricity. That is just how we use a lot of it. The real, the basic energy source is fossil fuel. Oh, here is where I might point out that even the uranium used in nuclear reactors is a fossil fuel, perhaps the oldest one, left over from the very formation of the planet.
That dependency on fossil fuel wouldn’t be quite so bad if we used them, and had always used them, in a wise and frugal manner. But we didn’t and with the outlook our economy insists we have in today’s society we never will. We use them lavishly and wastefully.
We are using them that way even though they are no longer cheap and easy to get. You’ve all read the horror stories about “fracking” as it relates to the process of getting oil or gas out of non-permeable shale. Want to know why we are only now finding out about this problem? Because until now the oil and gas folks didn’t need to do any fracking where people rich enough or close enough to a big city TV station could bitch about it. The only reason they do it where they do it now is because they have to. Why? Because there ain’t no more else where!
Yep, that is one of the big reasons the economy is, in my opinion going to go bust. We are running out of the stuff we use to make it go. Coal? HA! What they’d have to do to make that run your car or truck is way more expensive than gas is now. Yeah, it could power an electric car, but without a lot of filtering the smoke from the stacks would have us all suffering from COPD before long.
Then there is the basic outlook our economics has taught us to have. We deserve a raise just because we showed up for work most days and were generally on time. We think we deserve a raise even if the cost of living our life dose not go up.
Why? If we have enough to live on, enough to eat, keep reasonably warm in winter, cool in summer and stay dry and comfy when it rains, and friends / family to keep us company, why do we need more money? More stuff? Human nature? Maybe. Maybe not. Somehow I think our present wastrel life style has taught us this outlook. Now we throw out things even our grandparents would have repaired and kept using. These wasteful habits of ours are really rather new to our culture and will end it.
What to do, specifically what to do NOW to survive the end of oil and the modern economy? Start a sustainable food garden. Read up on Permaculture. Learn to walk again. Help any interested neighbors start their own gardens. Work with nature, not against it.
I don’t think the “economy” that we have developed over the last century or so can be saved. I don’t think it can be saved because it is inherently unsustainable. Why do I believe that? Who am I to say such a thing? I’m a regular gal. Slightly over educated, but not in economics. But I read all kinds of things from all kinds of places. I’m not the only one who thinks our present economy is doomed. As to why I agree that it is doomed, keep reading.
Our economy today is dependent on one and only one energy source. If you don’t get your energy from that then you don’t get, by our economy’s standards, “enough to do anything.” No, that energy source in not electricity. That is just how we use a lot of it. The real, the basic energy source is fossil fuel. Oh, here is where I might point out that even the uranium used in nuclear reactors is a fossil fuel, perhaps the oldest one, left over from the very formation of the planet.
That dependency on fossil fuel wouldn’t be quite so bad if we used them, and had always used them, in a wise and frugal manner. But we didn’t and with the outlook our economy insists we have in today’s society we never will. We use them lavishly and wastefully.
We are using them that way even though they are no longer cheap and easy to get. You’ve all read the horror stories about “fracking” as it relates to the process of getting oil or gas out of non-permeable shale. Want to know why we are only now finding out about this problem? Because until now the oil and gas folks didn’t need to do any fracking where people rich enough or close enough to a big city TV station could bitch about it. The only reason they do it where they do it now is because they have to. Why? Because there ain’t no more else where!
Yep, that is one of the big reasons the economy is, in my opinion going to go bust. We are running out of the stuff we use to make it go. Coal? HA! What they’d have to do to make that run your car or truck is way more expensive than gas is now. Yeah, it could power an electric car, but without a lot of filtering the smoke from the stacks would have us all suffering from COPD before long.
Then there is the basic outlook our economics has taught us to have. We deserve a raise just because we showed up for work most days and were generally on time. We think we deserve a raise even if the cost of living our life dose not go up.
Why? If we have enough to live on, enough to eat, keep reasonably warm in winter, cool in summer and stay dry and comfy when it rains, and friends / family to keep us company, why do we need more money? More stuff? Human nature? Maybe. Maybe not. Somehow I think our present wastrel life style has taught us this outlook. Now we throw out things even our grandparents would have repaired and kept using. These wasteful habits of ours are really rather new to our culture and will end it.
What to do, specifically what to do NOW to survive the end of oil and the modern economy? Start a sustainable food garden. Read up on Permaculture. Learn to walk again. Help any interested neighbors start their own gardens. Work with nature, not against it.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Alt Op # 39 : Don't call me! Call 911!
Okay folks, this is just a little silly. In the past month two different folks have called me to tell me that there was either a fire somewhere or that there had been and now there was smoke somewhere it shouldn’t be.
First, thanks for the vote of confidence, BUT!
Don’t call me, or any other person you know to be a volunteer firefighter when there is an emergency situation. If there is a grass fire headed toward your property; house or barns, or if there is smoke inside your house for some odd reason call 911, don’t call someone on the fire department! 911 is the fastest way to get someone there to help you.
Okay if you just want to know if there is still a burn ban on, or if it’s a good idea to set off fireworks go ahead and call up your friend on the VFD. But if it is an emergency and you need help call 911! Calling a member of the department will not really get help there any faster. Calling them second might get them to the fire house ahead of the others.
Remember most real emergencies, medical, fire, or accident usually require more than one person and even specialized equipment like fire trucks or an AED and not every single person on the department can use ALL the equipment. If you call 911 and tell them what the problem is they can tell the local VFD faster than one of the members can call up everybody on the phone. Then we all go to the firehouse, get what we need and get to where ever we need to go.
And that brings me to another big problem. When you call 911 know where you are! Know where the problem is! If you call from a land line the address you are calling from shows up at the 911 office, but it helps if you also tell the dispatcher your address number and road. Then you can elaborate a bit and say it’s this or that color house with something noticeable (if anything) out front. If they ask you can give them simple, clear directions. You should have also told them exactly what the emergency is. Maybe you burnt that pot of beans and the house is full of smoke and all you need is a big fan to blow the smoke out. That’s fine. Make sure they know that’s what you need so they can tell the VFD. If your friend just fell down after complaining of a sudden pain in his left arm and stopped breathing, be sure they know that and be ready to do what they tell you to do.
However, if there’s smoke in your house or it’s on fire don’t even bother calling 911 until you and your family is out of the house! And don’t go back in! Use a cell phone or your neighbors phone and call 911 from OUTSIDE the house.
If you use a cell phone to call 911 about an emergency on the road or otherwise, be very sure you can tell them where you are. Preferably something like “Hwy 69 near the water tower just north of 513.” or “the water tower north of the river bridges.” Be as specific as you can. It’s very frustrating to be wandering up and down roads trying to find somebody who’s called for help when you’ve only been given a very general location like “somewhere on 513!” when the actual problem is at the fourth house east of 513 on 21whatever and THAT is actually closer to, say 2947 than to 513. See what I mean.
When you need help you almost always need it quick. So call 911 rather than an individual. After all it is entirely possible that all the volunteers on the VFD could be at work and/or out of town at the particular time you need help. If that happens and you only call your friend on the department then you are, as they say, S. O. L. But if you call 911, give them a good idea of the problem and an accurate address and/or good directions then one of the surrounding VFD’s can come help you. Or at least come looking for you if you don't give them an address or good directions.
First, thanks for the vote of confidence, BUT!
Don’t call me, or any other person you know to be a volunteer firefighter when there is an emergency situation. If there is a grass fire headed toward your property; house or barns, or if there is smoke inside your house for some odd reason call 911, don’t call someone on the fire department! 911 is the fastest way to get someone there to help you.
Okay if you just want to know if there is still a burn ban on, or if it’s a good idea to set off fireworks go ahead and call up your friend on the VFD. But if it is an emergency and you need help call 911! Calling a member of the department will not really get help there any faster. Calling them second might get them to the fire house ahead of the others.
Remember most real emergencies, medical, fire, or accident usually require more than one person and even specialized equipment like fire trucks or an AED and not every single person on the department can use ALL the equipment. If you call 911 and tell them what the problem is they can tell the local VFD faster than one of the members can call up everybody on the phone. Then we all go to the firehouse, get what we need and get to where ever we need to go.
And that brings me to another big problem. When you call 911 know where you are! Know where the problem is! If you call from a land line the address you are calling from shows up at the 911 office, but it helps if you also tell the dispatcher your address number and road. Then you can elaborate a bit and say it’s this or that color house with something noticeable (if anything) out front. If they ask you can give them simple, clear directions. You should have also told them exactly what the emergency is. Maybe you burnt that pot of beans and the house is full of smoke and all you need is a big fan to blow the smoke out. That’s fine. Make sure they know that’s what you need so they can tell the VFD. If your friend just fell down after complaining of a sudden pain in his left arm and stopped breathing, be sure they know that and be ready to do what they tell you to do.
However, if there’s smoke in your house or it’s on fire don’t even bother calling 911 until you and your family is out of the house! And don’t go back in! Use a cell phone or your neighbors phone and call 911 from OUTSIDE the house.
If you use a cell phone to call 911 about an emergency on the road or otherwise, be very sure you can tell them where you are. Preferably something like “Hwy 69 near the water tower just north of 513.” or “the water tower north of the river bridges.” Be as specific as you can. It’s very frustrating to be wandering up and down roads trying to find somebody who’s called for help when you’ve only been given a very general location like “somewhere on 513!” when the actual problem is at the fourth house east of 513 on 21whatever and THAT is actually closer to, say 2947 than to 513. See what I mean.
When you need help you almost always need it quick. So call 911 rather than an individual. After all it is entirely possible that all the volunteers on the VFD could be at work and/or out of town at the particular time you need help. If that happens and you only call your friend on the department then you are, as they say, S. O. L. But if you call 911, give them a good idea of the problem and an accurate address and/or good directions then one of the surrounding VFD’s can come help you. Or at least come looking for you if you don't give them an address or good directions.
Alt Op #38 Buzzes and bites
This time I’d like to talk about buzzwords and sound bites.
First let me give you a definition of these two words. Buzzword means: a fashionable word or concept, often associated with a particular group of people and not understood by outsiders (informal)
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Sound bite, on the other hand, means : brief broadcast remark: a very short comment or phrase intended or suitable for broadcasting in a news program, especially one by a politician. Their use is often regarded as demonstrating superficiality and glibness.
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
There is even a game called buzzword bingo that can be played when you know you will be sitting through a boring meeting or speech likely to be loaded with the things. You simply make up a bingo card before the meeting with a list of the most likely buzzwords the speaker will use and then pass it out to your friends. A number of words used for a ‘bingo’ is decided on and when you are able to check of that number of words on your card you either yell ‘bingo’ or, if you just don’t want to get in trouble then you raise your hand and ask a question, dealing with the subject, that has the word bingo in it somewhere.
Sounds like something we should all do when listening to either the news or political speeches. It might make it harder for them to lead us blindly about with these kinds of words.
The problem is that while these words may have once actually carried a definite meaning, buzzwords especially as they are usually taken from a technical jargon of some kind or other, that meaning has usually been lost or diluted when it becomes popularly used. “Green” for instance. Once it was just a color. Then it became a movement. Then it became a descriptive for a special form of whatever other word it was tacked onto as a descriptive. We now have “green power”, “green fuels”, “green economy”, and any number of other “green” things. It has become as bad as the word “lite” or “light” and just as misleading or, in this case; fattening!
Sound bites are just as bad. We all think we know what they mean. But these short groups of words that may or may not stir the soul one way or the other, have been taken completely out of context and used that way so often I doubt some of us even know what they once really meant.
One that bothers me, that I have heard recently is “Class War.” It was being used to refer to the idea, a splendid one in my opinion, that maybe; just maybe, those who have scads of money should pay the same tax rate as everyone else. Not MORE than everyone else, just the SAME as everyone else.
Now I’m not against people who have a lot of money. I’d really like to be one someday. I’d have no problem paying taxes on what I earned then, just as I have none paying what I owe now. How dose that make the very idea the opening shot of a “class war?”
First let me give you a definition of these two words. Buzzword means: a fashionable word or concept, often associated with a particular group of people and not understood by outsiders (informal)
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Sound bite, on the other hand, means : brief broadcast remark: a very short comment or phrase intended or suitable for broadcasting in a news program, especially one by a politician. Their use is often regarded as demonstrating superficiality and glibness.
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
There is even a game called buzzword bingo that can be played when you know you will be sitting through a boring meeting or speech likely to be loaded with the things. You simply make up a bingo card before the meeting with a list of the most likely buzzwords the speaker will use and then pass it out to your friends. A number of words used for a ‘bingo’ is decided on and when you are able to check of that number of words on your card you either yell ‘bingo’ or, if you just don’t want to get in trouble then you raise your hand and ask a question, dealing with the subject, that has the word bingo in it somewhere.
Sounds like something we should all do when listening to either the news or political speeches. It might make it harder for them to lead us blindly about with these kinds of words.
The problem is that while these words may have once actually carried a definite meaning, buzzwords especially as they are usually taken from a technical jargon of some kind or other, that meaning has usually been lost or diluted when it becomes popularly used. “Green” for instance. Once it was just a color. Then it became a movement. Then it became a descriptive for a special form of whatever other word it was tacked onto as a descriptive. We now have “green power”, “green fuels”, “green economy”, and any number of other “green” things. It has become as bad as the word “lite” or “light” and just as misleading or, in this case; fattening!
Sound bites are just as bad. We all think we know what they mean. But these short groups of words that may or may not stir the soul one way or the other, have been taken completely out of context and used that way so often I doubt some of us even know what they once really meant.
One that bothers me, that I have heard recently is “Class War.” It was being used to refer to the idea, a splendid one in my opinion, that maybe; just maybe, those who have scads of money should pay the same tax rate as everyone else. Not MORE than everyone else, just the SAME as everyone else.
Now I’m not against people who have a lot of money. I’d really like to be one someday. I’d have no problem paying taxes on what I earned then, just as I have none paying what I owe now. How dose that make the very idea the opening shot of a “class war?”
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Alt Op # 37, Alternative book lists
Well, school is back in session and some kids are being taught, despite the teachers best intentions, that reading is painfully dull, boring, and uninteresting. They are learning that it is something that often must be done, like it or not, to get information to pass tests or perform tasks.
Yeah. Some books are like that. Text books in particular. But, honestly, there are a LOT of books out there that are WOW! Just that, folks, wow. They can blow you away. They can yank your self / home town centered brain right out of your skull, strap a faster than light unit on it, and set a course for. . . Well, for the grandest adventures you never thought of before!
Uh-huh. You got it. I am a reading fool. I started reading young and I still read. When folks ask me how many books I read in a year I get glassy eyed, then I have to ask, "Does that include the ones I’ve re-read?"
Honestly, I usually can’t tell how many books I’ve read because I lose track! Ask some other folks how many songs they’ve listened too! That’s me, only with reading. Books, magazine articles, even stuff I can find online!
My opinion of why kids get turned off reading, other than never seeing Mom or Dad read anything and there being nothing to actually read in the house, is that the stuff that educators tell them is good to read; well, it isn’t all that great. I shudder when I remember some of the stuff I had to read for my English classes in Jr. High and High School. I can summarize them all with one word. BOR-R-R-R-R-ING!
To that end I have compiled a list of five books for "juvenile" readers and another five for "older" readers. Some of these are series’ of books. At least one group you will find familiar.
JUVENILE BOOKS:
1) Any of the Asimov Juvenile books, particularly the Lucky Star series. Yes, a lot of the science in them is now outdated, but the books are still hard core SF.
2) Ditto for the Heinlein Juvenile books.
3) The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
4) Any book by Andre Norton
5) The Harry Potter books ( I said you’d recognize at least one!)
BOOKS FOR OLDER READERS:
Okay, there will be some repeats here. Some of the above books have stuff in them that younger readers just don’t see. I didn’t. The wow got bigger when I reread them as an "adult!"
1) The Hobbit AND The Lord of the Ring.
2) The Power of Myth by J. Campbell
3) A Brief History of Time by S. Hawking
4) Harry Potter, trust me. Older folks get even more out of it.
5) Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Of course I also recommend just about anything you can find in the science fiction, fantasy, adventure and mystery section of the library or book store of your choice. These are the kind of books that can open up your mind and get you to thinking outside of the box you live in now. I decided to limit myself to just five each but I could go on and mention other authors like Anne McCaffery, Glenn Cook, . . .Oh, yeah, I said I’d limit myself to five.
Oh, science books are good to. Just scarier cause it’s well, real!
Yeah. Some books are like that. Text books in particular. But, honestly, there are a LOT of books out there that are WOW! Just that, folks, wow. They can blow you away. They can yank your self / home town centered brain right out of your skull, strap a faster than light unit on it, and set a course for. . . Well, for the grandest adventures you never thought of before!
Uh-huh. You got it. I am a reading fool. I started reading young and I still read. When folks ask me how many books I read in a year I get glassy eyed, then I have to ask, "Does that include the ones I’ve re-read?"
Honestly, I usually can’t tell how many books I’ve read because I lose track! Ask some other folks how many songs they’ve listened too! That’s me, only with reading. Books, magazine articles, even stuff I can find online!
My opinion of why kids get turned off reading, other than never seeing Mom or Dad read anything and there being nothing to actually read in the house, is that the stuff that educators tell them is good to read; well, it isn’t all that great. I shudder when I remember some of the stuff I had to read for my English classes in Jr. High and High School. I can summarize them all with one word. BOR-R-R-R-R-ING!
To that end I have compiled a list of five books for "juvenile" readers and another five for "older" readers. Some of these are series’ of books. At least one group you will find familiar.
JUVENILE BOOKS:
1) Any of the Asimov Juvenile books, particularly the Lucky Star series. Yes, a lot of the science in them is now outdated, but the books are still hard core SF.
2) Ditto for the Heinlein Juvenile books.
3) The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
4) Any book by Andre Norton
5) The Harry Potter books ( I said you’d recognize at least one!)
BOOKS FOR OLDER READERS:
Okay, there will be some repeats here. Some of the above books have stuff in them that younger readers just don’t see. I didn’t. The wow got bigger when I reread them as an "adult!"
1) The Hobbit AND The Lord of the Ring.
2) The Power of Myth by J. Campbell
3) A Brief History of Time by S. Hawking
4) Harry Potter, trust me. Older folks get even more out of it.
5) Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Of course I also recommend just about anything you can find in the science fiction, fantasy, adventure and mystery section of the library or book store of your choice. These are the kind of books that can open up your mind and get you to thinking outside of the box you live in now. I decided to limit myself to just five each but I could go on and mention other authors like Anne McCaffery, Glenn Cook, . . .Oh, yeah, I said I’d limit myself to five.
Oh, science books are good to. Just scarier cause it’s well, real!
Alt. Op # 36. I Remember 9/11
We are coming up on a ten year anniversary. One I do not have an alternative opinion about. It hits way to close to home even though, technically, it never affected anyone I knew personally.
The week before I’d found out that I would indeed be getting that new job in Quality Control at a slight, ever so slight, increase in pay. I’d also learned that I’d have to go through some on the job training. I’d looked at my old clunker and decided I just could not take the chance that it would fail me as I was starting a new job. Besides my birthday would be that very Saturday! My best friend had already said she would be treating me to a movie so, just to feel special that Sept. eighth, I’d put on my nicest pair of shorts and a nicer than usual blouse. I even accessorized a little with a necklace and went to look at cars on the way back from picking which movie I wanted to see. I left the car lot, in debt but driving a truck that had not seen the light of day before 1995! I was feeling good.
Tuesday morning, September 11, I was still feeling good. The new job was ever so much more technical than just standing there shoving plastic pipe into a machine then pulling out the finished product. It at least engaged a larger portion of my brain. Besides I was driving a brand new (to me anyway) pick-um-up truck! The morning sky was a deep beautiful blue and it was not too cold or to hot. It was a perfect morning to be driving home from a third shift job that had just become a lot more interesting. The radio even worked in my new truck so I turned it to my favorite oldies station from Dallas.
They weren’t playing music at that point but I was used to that as the DJ’s during the morning rush hour were always joking and joshing about all kinds of things. This time they seemed kind of serious. I heard them discussing the breaking news about an airplane crashing into one of the World Trade Center buildings. They talked about how there were two extremely tall buildings very near the river. Some one suggested that maybe it was one of the tour planes that had somehow gone badly off course. As I turned off of highway fifty on to the north end of 513 at the Campbell exit it was solemnly announced that yet another airplane had crashed into the other building and that something had blown up in Washington, D. C.
They played music occasionally, mostly I suspected, so they could pay attention to a TV or other radio reports. I kept that radio on all the way home.
When I got there the first thing I did was turn on the TV. There the horror played out in full color. There were reruns of the planes crashing into the buildings, reports from D.C. showing, at first a column of black smoke in the distance, then from nearer to the Pentagon as time passed.
Meanwhile there were reports of people jumping from the heights of the World Trade Centers burning buildings. Long range camera’s showed the cluster of fire trucks around the base of the buildings, the ambulances, some with doors ajar waiting to whisk the injured away.
Then there was the news of that airplane crashing into some field because the passengers resisted the hijackers. Those passengers saved DC they said, as that is where that plain was apparently headed.
Unlike some, I had some idea, slight but there, of what was going on inside those two tall buildings. Inside people of all stripes who worked in those structures were trying to go down the stairs few of them ever saw.
As they sought to escape, men wearing heavy, oh, so heavy, bunker gear and carrying hoses, axes and other heavy instruments of fire fighting were going up as fast as they could. I know that to a man the fire fighters intent was to save as many lives as they could while putting out the fire before it could consume more property. After all. That is the job of any fire fighter. The EMT’s were there too, getting to the people who just couldn’t go any further and helping them. Doing what they do, everyday. Helping the ill, the injured.
Then one of the camera’s started focusing on one of the corners of one of the buildings. I felt a mild stirring of disgust. Was this fool looking for someone to film as they jumped, choosing death by falling, over burning or choking to death on acrid smoke? I looked closer at the image on the screen. No one would be jumping from that area, I realized. The fire burned there, licking through shattered windows. Then I noted how the edge, the corner of the building, seemed to be bowing outward. "Oh, that’s not good." I thought. Moments later it happened.
There on live television I watched as the first and then the second tower fell as if they were the object of a poorly planned and badly executed implosion. I found myself shivering, quivering as I sat there unable to move.
I heard a voice plaintively asking, "But what about the firefighters? What about the EMT’s?" I realized the voice was mine and that I had gone into a kind of dry eyed shock.
I managed to get up and go feed my animals. I managed to eat something myself. I even went to bed and slept. When I got up that evening I learned that all air craft were grounded and I had the odd experience of feeding my critters their evening meal with no contrails from passenger jets crossing the evening sky and glowing in the setting sun.
Of course I watched the news and saw the towers fall again and again. Learned that so many thousand civilians and hundreds of fire fighters and EMT’s had been lost. I saw the mangled remains of dust coated fire trucks. Those mangled trucks somehow brought it home harder.
When I left for work I sadly realized that I no longer had any joy in my new truck and that my fascinating new job had already become just that, a job.
And yes, the next time my pager went off, I like my fellow volunteers, jumped in our cars or trucks and headed to the fire house. What else could we do. Our Brothers in New York would have expected no less.
The week before I’d found out that I would indeed be getting that new job in Quality Control at a slight, ever so slight, increase in pay. I’d also learned that I’d have to go through some on the job training. I’d looked at my old clunker and decided I just could not take the chance that it would fail me as I was starting a new job. Besides my birthday would be that very Saturday! My best friend had already said she would be treating me to a movie so, just to feel special that Sept. eighth, I’d put on my nicest pair of shorts and a nicer than usual blouse. I even accessorized a little with a necklace and went to look at cars on the way back from picking which movie I wanted to see. I left the car lot, in debt but driving a truck that had not seen the light of day before 1995! I was feeling good.
Tuesday morning, September 11, I was still feeling good. The new job was ever so much more technical than just standing there shoving plastic pipe into a machine then pulling out the finished product. It at least engaged a larger portion of my brain. Besides I was driving a brand new (to me anyway) pick-um-up truck! The morning sky was a deep beautiful blue and it was not too cold or to hot. It was a perfect morning to be driving home from a third shift job that had just become a lot more interesting. The radio even worked in my new truck so I turned it to my favorite oldies station from Dallas.
They weren’t playing music at that point but I was used to that as the DJ’s during the morning rush hour were always joking and joshing about all kinds of things. This time they seemed kind of serious. I heard them discussing the breaking news about an airplane crashing into one of the World Trade Center buildings. They talked about how there were two extremely tall buildings very near the river. Some one suggested that maybe it was one of the tour planes that had somehow gone badly off course. As I turned off of highway fifty on to the north end of 513 at the Campbell exit it was solemnly announced that yet another airplane had crashed into the other building and that something had blown up in Washington, D. C.
They played music occasionally, mostly I suspected, so they could pay attention to a TV or other radio reports. I kept that radio on all the way home.
When I got there the first thing I did was turn on the TV. There the horror played out in full color. There were reruns of the planes crashing into the buildings, reports from D.C. showing, at first a column of black smoke in the distance, then from nearer to the Pentagon as time passed.
Meanwhile there were reports of people jumping from the heights of the World Trade Centers burning buildings. Long range camera’s showed the cluster of fire trucks around the base of the buildings, the ambulances, some with doors ajar waiting to whisk the injured away.
Then there was the news of that airplane crashing into some field because the passengers resisted the hijackers. Those passengers saved DC they said, as that is where that plain was apparently headed.
Unlike some, I had some idea, slight but there, of what was going on inside those two tall buildings. Inside people of all stripes who worked in those structures were trying to go down the stairs few of them ever saw.
As they sought to escape, men wearing heavy, oh, so heavy, bunker gear and carrying hoses, axes and other heavy instruments of fire fighting were going up as fast as they could. I know that to a man the fire fighters intent was to save as many lives as they could while putting out the fire before it could consume more property. After all. That is the job of any fire fighter. The EMT’s were there too, getting to the people who just couldn’t go any further and helping them. Doing what they do, everyday. Helping the ill, the injured.
Then one of the camera’s started focusing on one of the corners of one of the buildings. I felt a mild stirring of disgust. Was this fool looking for someone to film as they jumped, choosing death by falling, over burning or choking to death on acrid smoke? I looked closer at the image on the screen. No one would be jumping from that area, I realized. The fire burned there, licking through shattered windows. Then I noted how the edge, the corner of the building, seemed to be bowing outward. "Oh, that’s not good." I thought. Moments later it happened.
There on live television I watched as the first and then the second tower fell as if they were the object of a poorly planned and badly executed implosion. I found myself shivering, quivering as I sat there unable to move.
I heard a voice plaintively asking, "But what about the firefighters? What about the EMT’s?" I realized the voice was mine and that I had gone into a kind of dry eyed shock.
I managed to get up and go feed my animals. I managed to eat something myself. I even went to bed and slept. When I got up that evening I learned that all air craft were grounded and I had the odd experience of feeding my critters their evening meal with no contrails from passenger jets crossing the evening sky and glowing in the setting sun.
Of course I watched the news and saw the towers fall again and again. Learned that so many thousand civilians and hundreds of fire fighters and EMT’s had been lost. I saw the mangled remains of dust coated fire trucks. Those mangled trucks somehow brought it home harder.
When I left for work I sadly realized that I no longer had any joy in my new truck and that my fascinating new job had already become just that, a job.
And yes, the next time my pager went off, I like my fellow volunteers, jumped in our cars or trucks and headed to the fire house. What else could we do. Our Brothers in New York would have expected no less.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Alt Op #35, Water conservation?
You all may remember me complaining about bureaucracy last week or the week before. There’s an example of it right on our water bill. Lone Oak, as well as most other cities in this area have a contract with Cash water. It’s the same all over Texas, I hear. Different cities, different water companies, but still the same.
What chaps is that most of these companies right now are yelling for us to conserve water as we are in the midst of a drought. That in and of itself is not the bureaucratic problem that I see.
The problem is that these companies have a contract with the local cities that guarantee’s them a ‘stable income.’ I see no problem with that as I’m all for folks making a profit. I’d love to make one myself. The problem is that while we are in the midst of this drought these water companies are unwilling to back up their demand that we conserve water with any real reward for good behavior.
"Duh, isn’t the reward for good behavior NOT getting a fine?" you may be snorting in derision right now. Yeah, I can see that, but you may be missing one little bit of the puzzle.
These water companies guarantee their stable income by having the cities sign up for a specified amount of water per month to be sent to their cities. The cities in question must then pay for that amount of water whether they use it or not.
Generally this is not a problem as they pass this cost along to their citizens.
Those of us here in Lone Oak all are (or should be) aware that we have a two thousand gallon minimum on our water bill for water usage. In other words, if we use only that two thousand gallons of water or less every month, then we will pay only a minimum set amount every month (comes in handy when you are planning your personal budget). If, on the other hand, we use a varying amount of water every month, two thousand this month, two thousand fifty next, then fifteen hundred, then fill up our swimming pool and use five thousand, our bills will reflect it. That is also not a problem as far as I can see, unless like me, you habitually use less than that two thousand and are on a fixed income. But if you are on a fixed income the city you live in may give you a break on your water bill. (As Lone Oak does, thank goodness!)
The problem comes in when there is a drought. Then, as a whole, we good citizens get all bent out of shape when we are told not to water our yards or else, especially when we see no relief for our pocket books on the bill for using less water. Maybe the city goes ahead and lowers our rates, mostly it doesn’t. But the real kicker is that the water company does NOT lower the cities rates! They have a contract, after all.
So, let’s say the city does an excellent job of getting it’s citizens to lower water use, and bingo! everyone uses less than two thousand gallons. What happens then? Does the city only have to pay for the smaller amount of water used? HA! Guess again, my friend! No way that happens and if the city doesn’t pay up it, and it citizens, don’t get any more water. This leads to an obvious attitude of "So there’s a drought! I’m still going to use the amount of water I’ll have to pay for anyway" from not only the citizens but the city as well.
That’s no way to save water.
If the water companies really want us to save, to conserve water they need to wake up and side step their own bureaucracies. When a drought emergency is declared they need to inform the cities and the citizens that for the duration they will only be charged for the amount of water they use. Now THAT should save water!
If the water companies want to save even more water on a constant basis they could also encourage rain water harvesting for gardening and animal use, and the use of gray water for toilet flushing. That last would even help the cities with sewer costs maybe as the volume of effluent would be lessened.
Just a couple of idea's folks. Think about it. Then start nagging the water companies.
What chaps is that most of these companies right now are yelling for us to conserve water as we are in the midst of a drought. That in and of itself is not the bureaucratic problem that I see.
The problem is that these companies have a contract with the local cities that guarantee’s them a ‘stable income.’ I see no problem with that as I’m all for folks making a profit. I’d love to make one myself. The problem is that while we are in the midst of this drought these water companies are unwilling to back up their demand that we conserve water with any real reward for good behavior.
"Duh, isn’t the reward for good behavior NOT getting a fine?" you may be snorting in derision right now. Yeah, I can see that, but you may be missing one little bit of the puzzle.
These water companies guarantee their stable income by having the cities sign up for a specified amount of water per month to be sent to their cities. The cities in question must then pay for that amount of water whether they use it or not.
Generally this is not a problem as they pass this cost along to their citizens.
Those of us here in Lone Oak all are (or should be) aware that we have a two thousand gallon minimum on our water bill for water usage. In other words, if we use only that two thousand gallons of water or less every month, then we will pay only a minimum set amount every month (comes in handy when you are planning your personal budget). If, on the other hand, we use a varying amount of water every month, two thousand this month, two thousand fifty next, then fifteen hundred, then fill up our swimming pool and use five thousand, our bills will reflect it. That is also not a problem as far as I can see, unless like me, you habitually use less than that two thousand and are on a fixed income. But if you are on a fixed income the city you live in may give you a break on your water bill. (As Lone Oak does, thank goodness!)
The problem comes in when there is a drought. Then, as a whole, we good citizens get all bent out of shape when we are told not to water our yards or else, especially when we see no relief for our pocket books on the bill for using less water. Maybe the city goes ahead and lowers our rates, mostly it doesn’t. But the real kicker is that the water company does NOT lower the cities rates! They have a contract, after all.
So, let’s say the city does an excellent job of getting it’s citizens to lower water use, and bingo! everyone uses less than two thousand gallons. What happens then? Does the city only have to pay for the smaller amount of water used? HA! Guess again, my friend! No way that happens and if the city doesn’t pay up it, and it citizens, don’t get any more water. This leads to an obvious attitude of "So there’s a drought! I’m still going to use the amount of water I’ll have to pay for anyway" from not only the citizens but the city as well.
That’s no way to save water.
If the water companies really want us to save, to conserve water they need to wake up and side step their own bureaucracies. When a drought emergency is declared they need to inform the cities and the citizens that for the duration they will only be charged for the amount of water they use. Now THAT should save water!
If the water companies want to save even more water on a constant basis they could also encourage rain water harvesting for gardening and animal use, and the use of gray water for toilet flushing. That last would even help the cities with sewer costs maybe as the volume of effluent would be lessened.
Just a couple of idea's folks. Think about it. Then start nagging the water companies.
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