Where Have All the Children Gone?

 Demographics are Destiny

Mea culpa: You know, in all honesty I have been following this demographic time bomb for years, even while I was still working, but never believed it would happen. I was wrong. 

Update 4/14 - As luck would have it, in today's Star Tribune was an another article by the columnist mentioned below about demographics. In this one he points out that contrary to popular belief, Minnesota is actually gaining people over 65. It's losing younger people that is hurting us. Taxes, schmaxes! 

Unless you’ve been in a coma (or maybe retired) the last several years, you’ve seen or heard about the growing worker shortages. 

• “58%  of survey respondents found hiring to be “very” or “extremely” challenging.” RSM Consultants

• “Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, says the United States has a "structural labor shortage" that’s unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.” 

• “The US Chamber of Commerce claims there are over 10 million job openings in the US for which employers can’t find workers.”

Police and fire departments all over the country are short staffed. (Although for many different reasons e.g. Mpls cops are 18th in pay in MN. Number one? Sauk Center - go figure.)   

And also the miliary:

• (DoD Undersecretary) “Ashish Vazirani said that during fiscal year 2023, the military services collectively missed recruiting goals by about 41,000 recruits.” 

Thunderbirds Missing Man Formation

The Star Tribune’s very own Business section writer, Evan Ramstad, has had several columns about this growing  problem, especially in Minnesota. 

There are a lot of things involved in this first-ever (for the US) phenomenon.

First, there is undoubtedly the effect of retirements. With about 4500 baby boomers retiring per day (and going up every year) a lot of experience is leaving the workforce, creating a shortage of skilled workers.

Then there is the so-call skills mismatch.

• “While the loss of skills and experience through retirement is certainly a contributing factor, the leading cause of the skills shortage is the integration of advanced technology, AI and automation in the workplace.” Minneapolis Star Tribune Feb 20, 2024

     (Just another way to say that companies no longer need bodies,           they need well educated bodies.)

There is also this take:

• “Here’s the truth: There is no labor shortage. There is, however, a shortage of jobs paying sufficient wages to attract workers to fill job openings. For most Americans, real (inflation-adjusted) wage continue to drop. Wages have been increasing less than prices.” Robet Reich, American economist.

       (You know, how supply and demand are supposed to work in America?)

Which of these and how much each matters is open to debate but in any case there are a lot of jobs that aren’t being filled. Yet ironically the workforce is still growing (with great thanks to immigrants who make up 20% of it.)

But for how long?

The US, like most of the world, has had strong population growth for the last couple hundred years and very robust growth for the last 80 years. We went from 140 million in 1945 to 340 million today, average growth around 3%/yr. First Baby Boomers, then Gen Xers, followed by Millennials, then Gen Z, this population growth supercharged our economy's growth too. The growth rate now is about .5%/yr. (Yeah, point 5!) Can you imagine what it would've been - and will be - without immigrants?!

Apparently to all the Einsteins that study this stuff - demographers - the single most important statistic is the fertility rate. (This number is not to be confused with your neighbor who has 10 kids.) Here’s what they are looking for:

“Assuming no net migration and unchanged mortality, a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman ensures a broadly stable population.”

So how are we doing, fertility rate-wise? Right now the good old USA is coming in at a 1.66  – we’re number 134!, we’re number 134! - in fertility. Not terrible, Germany is 1.54. Much better than Japan, 1.33 and way ahead of the lowest, S. Korea at .89 – yowser!  Who’s number one? Niger at 6.6 – double yowser! (How are we doing in MN? 1.75)

Demographics, like DNA, doesn’t lie; the US, like the rest of the developed world, is facing a declining birth rate and population. That said, I’m not sure we all really appreciate what this means. (Well, except that there will be a lot more kids in Africa.)

We in Minnesota, and many other slow growing states (think cold weather), are already feeling the bite and currently can’t fill many types of jobs. We’ll have a lot more to worry about when we encounter a shrinking economy with fewer police, firemen, military members, doctors, nurses, teachers and others. We won’t be alone; this issue is going to affect the whole country over the next several decades.

Simply stated, every woman needs to have 2.1 kids - let's call it 3 - just for us to stand still on population. (This used to be pretty easy, my mom did more than her share with 5 kids.)

Sorry, as usual it's up to women to fix our problems.

There was a time in America when we couldn’t wait to have kids because we knew that their lives would be better than ours. Now, not so much.

What to do about it? Well, besides welcoming more immigrants, I suppose we could try to bribe the ladies of America to have more kids like some countries are doing. But that seems a little transactional – and apparently isn’t working anyway.

Actually, none of this is astrophysics. Here’s a thought: 

How about just trying to make this country a place where parents might WANT to have more kids - or any kids. You know, like good schools (and ones where you don’t have to worry about them being shot.) Good health care that doesn’t bankrupt you; enough housing so you don’t need to be rich to have a roof over your head and an economy that produces jobs that pay enough so that it’s worth going to work  - and supporting a family. Oh yeah, and fix immigration. 

Wouldn't that be tax dollars surprisingly well spent? (I shall now hold my breath.)

On a positive note, no need to plan for a shortage of politicians.

The Times They are A'Changin'     Bob Dylan

Wish You Were Here    Pink Floyd

Reminiscing on a Spring Day

 

Right between the Ides of March and St Patty's day - perfect!

Our MENSA Club celebrating a very different spring day - Apr, 6 yrs ago
(True masters of the Y chromosome as you'll see later . . .)

I was looking for something different and light this month, appropriate for a spring day. I have several pages of ideas for blog posts and/or commentaries for the newspaper but everything seems too heavy or philosophical, just not right for the occasion. So I say to myself, "Come on Dear Leader, it’s spring (and has been for quite a while this marvelous winter) so lighten up."

Then it dawned on me: I have a deep catalogue of posts going back almost 20 years. Surely, I wasn’t a pedantic bore in ALL of them. 

Yahoo, I wasn’t! (Pedantic, that is.) I found several from some years ago that I think fill the bill with a combo of science, humor and brilliant insights into human nature that I hope you find entertaining. (Or at least not too boring.) 

Note: I have taken some license to, as we in the writing business say, "punch them up" a bit. Anyway, here you go.

June, 2016 - From the front lines of the battle of the sexes.

Men, I tell you that we are under siege! It’s not just that women are better organizers and at running companies or that they are the majority in law and medical schools. They are generally smarter than us most guys so that's okay. But now it's getting REALLY serious and frightening; our very reason for existence is being questioned! 

There are two separate but related bits of news that I have stumbled upon in this regard that I think may have dire consequences for us guys (and just plain consequences for women.) You be the judge.

First, from Verve Magazine.

No wonder guys like to play with sticks!

(Hmmm, I wonder if I could hit a little white ball with it)

Scientists have discovered that us guys perform spermicide on our own, you know . . . 

Apparently somewhere along the line - perhaps after the first thousand generations of wives nagging about raising idiot children - evolution (without our permission) caused us to start to kill off some of the DNA of our "contribution" to life in order for the woman’s DNA to, quote (get this!) "have a bigger influence.” A bigger influence?! Ha, I laugh at their impertinence!

Well, they certainly got what they wanted. Just looking at our current crop of male (and a few female) political leaders today it seems to me that some genetic improvement could be helpful. Which begs the question: would humankind have been better off if we men had been allowed to share, as it were, all our DNA wealth all along? 

As a patriot I can only say, ask not what your DNA can do for you but what your DNA can do for the country!

Science Update 2/26/24: Headline from Latrobe University - "Men are slowly losing their Y Chromosome." You know, the chromosome that gives women - and the world - the gift of us men? Perhaps that DNA suicide thing is working too well, huh? You'll miss us when we're gone! (Maybe - see picture at the top)

While elsewhere in the world of indiffernt females . . . 

One less man to pick up after . . .

It seems the Cape Honeybee ladies have decided they've had enough of the males in their lives, they're going to wash that man right out of their hair - permanently. Apparently, once they escape the queen bee they wander off and reproduce on their own with no help from the males. (But men are so much fun - just ask them.) On the other hand, who can blame them; how attractive are a bunch of drones in the first place? 

You might have had an idea by visiting any number of military stag bars I once knew, er, ah, heard of. I, for one, am happy that wiser and more progressive leaders saw the obnoxious unfairness of a "boys only club" where mindless humor and drunkenness served as entertainment . . . so they shut them down. (Acknowledging, perhaps, Mrs DL's loving insight about men: "one is one and two is a pack.")

What?! Women just don't understand us - we need
a quiet place to talk and reflect on our love for them.

Anyway, this is the sort of thing that if it were to spread among humans of the female persuasion might just have a great impact on us guys, don’t you think? Well, on some of you anyway. 

On a positive note, if women didn’t need us around anymore I guess we wouldn’t have to kill off any of our own DNA anymore either, right? (And besides we'll still have the only Y chromosome, ha ha! No, wait . . . hmmm.) 

Anyway, hope for the best, men, and plan for the worst! 

More June 2016 (What can I say, it was a good month for nonsense.)

Farm to Table Fresh Veggies - Like the SW Light Rail, another failed urban experiment

Along with lutefisk, some other inedible things

 "I’m NOT eating arugula. You can’t make me and I won’t do it!” 

Confused? Let me explain. This is our second year of buying into a sort of a home delivery of farmer’s market veggies. You buy a share of farm grown veggies and they are delivered to a house in the neighborhood where everybody goes to picks up their share and every week the box has a little different mix of vegetables. When I peered into this first box, I knew I was in trouble; nothing really edible in there like carrots or peas or beans or tomatoes. There was a collection of stuff in various shades of green. Don’t get me wrong, I like green.  . . when it’s on a golf course or in my yard right after winter but I’m just not a fan of many of the green vegetables and especially of the leafy variety.

 Which reminds me that I once had a co-pilot with whom I flew all over the world. His self-given nickname was “Golden Hands.” (There were times that his hands did indeed act like hunks of metal, gold or not, but that’s for a different story.) In any event when it came to food he had a motto he called Collette’s Corollary (not coincidently his name was actually Collette.) It was, “If it’s green don’t eat it.” Now why I have taken the advice of a person who clearly had a lot of personal issues is beside the point but I have never forgotten that important warning and apparently took it to heart.

Back to my story. Sooo we open this box of stuff and it’s confirmed, there’s nothing good to eat in there. Spinach, arugula, kale – yuck! There were a few really good radishes which I devoured right away. I know what you’re thinking, you Epicureans you, what a food swine I am. How can I not like kale and arugula?! Well, I’ll tell you why. Because it tastes crappy! If I can put enough 1000 Island dressing on it, I can probably choke it down (but that seems like a terrible waste of good1000 Island dressing.) I mean when I was growing up, fresh peas were like a delicacy. Green beans from a can, mmmmm. Iceberg lettuce; what a treat! 

Before you go all smug on me think about this: 

The first time my mom made (or tried to make) "Eyetalian spaghetti" – basic tomato sauce and some sort of noodles, I think - in the early 60’s sometime, my dad simply said, what is this and what do I do with it? Good question. Also, I had never heard of pizza until I went to college in the big city of Duluth. I'm not kidding. Chinese food? Same thing, Duluth's own Chun King chow mein in a can!  (Quite the culinary foundation for a connie sewer,) 

Don’t get me wrong, though, through my 68 19 76 years on this earth I have developed a taste for some of the more . . . interesting foods. Like asparagus (sparingly and only with sauce); broccoli (sparingly only with sauce) and mushrooms (sparingly and only on pizza.) There are still things, however, that I simply don’t care for and it’s too late to change now. Among them, arugula, kale and sushi.  OMG raw fish? Seriously? What am I, a porpoise?! 

Luckily, this year, having learned our limit on how many fresh vegetables we can eat, we split a share with a neighbor. They don’t know it but they are our saviors! (well, MY savior.) And, much to Mrs. Dear Leader’s chagrin, I can pawn off all the crappy green things to them. Ha ha ha! (Oddly, they apparently like that stuff – vegans? vegetarians? veterinarians? Whatever.) Better yet, I get to make them feel bad that we “sacrifice” the green stuff just for their kids. This will work out great. Now for some REAL veggies! 

 

Now you're talking!

 Come on, just one more quick food related one 

 Finally this . . .

Oct 2015

Now I know how the Inca’s may have felt. Or the Hittites. Or even those stone worshipping people on New Guinea.

My life and the society that I have lived in is being buried. First, they take away a man’s real beer like Budweiser or Grain Belt and replace it with Moose Drool or something with an equally stupid name. Then they make him wear dayglo green lycra shorts and a helmet to go for a bike ride. Isn’t that enough?  Nooooooo apparently not . . .

. . . now they’ve gone too far; they’re stealing my childhood food! No, that's not right. They're are appropriating it.

Listen to this (From Sept 15 Star Tribune Food section): ”Delicately spiced pork shoulder defies its bologna shape; its thinly sliced, warmed and slightly scorched on the stove, cloaked with Gruyere and sharp cheddar and tucked into a toasted and buttered roll.” All for only $11. This is the modern replacement for the good old bologna, Wonder Bread and chunk of (fake) cheddar cheese sandwich. Really.

First, if you even know what Gruyere cheese is I don’t want anything to do with you. Next, why would anyone do this? Can you imagine your mom saying - when you come in from a morning of playing ball with your buddies without a single adult interaction - “Come on, honey, it's almost done, I’m just slightly scorching your pork shoulder and Gruyere sandwich. I’ll get the sugar free koolaid and low salt chips in a second.” Oh boy.

Now THAT is a samich!

Thanks, mom, but could I just have a hotdog? “Sure, dear, I’ll get your Limousin beef dog blanketed with a barrage of Asian inspirations: tangy kimshi, yuzu fruit mayonnaise, avocado, chopped egg, charred shishito peppers, pickled ginger. . .” Limousin beef?! Fruity mayonnaise? First, I only use Miracle Whip and second, NEVER on a hot dog. (Although I do put it on my bologna sandwich - and almost everything else.) And I’ve got your shishito right here. 

Well, can’t screw up dessert, right? How about S’Mores? Sure, as long as it’s “a light, spongy graham cake indulged with chocolate cremeux (fancy word for pudding?) with picture perfect pillows of meringue marshmallows strategically placed around the artful plate.” Picture perfect pillows. . . huh? That will NOT look good on the camp fire. Is nothing sacred!? 

You know, it’s okay if all stores have to be "upscale." It’s also fine if we only build “upper end” homes and apartments. It’s even okay if no hip person would be caught dead going to a regular restaurant. (Gotta be a trendy joint that serves this kind of stuff – and covered with kale, no doubt.) But this is going too far! Taking the remnants of my youth and trashing it and then charging $11 dollars for a bologna and cheese sandwich (replacement), well, that’s just too much. 

 

"Remember the Embers"     Now THAT was a restaurant!

I guess this is a not too subtle reminder that I just might be a bit out of step with the times and need to go gently into that good night (on the town at Olive Garden - if I can find one.)

Move it on over (Inca’s) a big old dog is movin’ in! 

Note: these stories are from several years ago so please rest assured that I am a totally different man now; I will eat broccoli without sauce. 

You've been warned!

Sorry, pay no attention. Not sure how this old man got in my blog.

Now Music for reminiscing

Reminiscing     Little River Band   1978
Love of a Woman     LightHouse  1971
Vegetables    Beach Boys  1967

Home Schooling for Everyone?

 

An Old Guy’s View of the School Controversy

  

One parents' view

As the Florence Nightingale of Bryn Mawr I go about my duties quietly and without complaint, slaving night and day to make Mrs DL comfortable after her surgery. In fact, I actually made a meal the other day with three different ingredients that did NOT include water, wieners and beans! That said, I feel I can take a break from my caregiving to share some deep thoughts (from a shallow mind?) about the current state of education in the US.

There was an article in the Star and Sickle back on 1/21 regarding the Anoka-Hennepin school board and their difficulty in selecting a president due to conflicting views of the board members. If you haven't been paying attention, this is just the latest example of a phenomenon not just here in Minnesota but across the country. Ostensibly it is about how much input parents should have to their kid’s curricula. While that is certainly part of it, I believe it is also a proxy for the ideological war that is being fought across all of American society.

You may remember this little tidbit that I mentioned in an earlier post:

For God's sake Marge, cover the kids' eyes!

A BBC article in April of this year reported how the principal of a Florida school was forced to resign after allowing an art class of 11 and 12 year old kids to view Michelangelo's famous statue "David." Almost as bad, according to some parents, the kids viewed other “pornographic” items like Michelangelo's painting "Creation of Adam" and Botticelli's "Birth of Venus."  Seriously?  (Interestingly - and ironically - the school is called the Tallahassee Classical School.) Sheesh.

I hate to go further down the slippery slope of Florida education but this is too interesting not to share.

“In November, the Miami-Dade School Board adopted new rules requiring schools to fully inform parents of any school-sponsored events, activities, or supplemental programs and to obtain signed permission forms from parents in order for students to participate.”

So far so good – I guess.

Then this . . .

Parental permission slip: Whew, thank god it's only for a Black guy reading, could be for that libtard Dear Leader!

The state education department said, “Of course you don’t need a permission slip to listen to a Black author!” 

However, if you ran a school in FL and knew Ron DeSantis what would you do just to be safe? 

Permission slip, coming right up!

Anyway, right, wrong or indifferent, school curricula is a very sensitive issue.

Another parents' view

Like most folks of a certain age I attended public schools from kindergarten through bachelor’s degree. (Don't tell anyone but I snuck off to a Lutheran-affiliated college for my Masters. Lower entrance requirements?) Anyway, it’s been about 60 yrs since I was in junior high but despite calling someone “gay” (not intended as a homosexual term) I’m not sure I knew exactly what a homosexual was – let alone a transexual. And certainly there weren’t any in our town. Right? And I definitely did not hear about them in school.

 

There were no people of color in town either except for an exchange student from Ethiopia (great guy.)  In fact, the only “different” people were Catholics. (Relax, protestant humor.) Racism? Well, I did know there had been slaves but I understood that problem had been solved with the Civil War. Racist jokes were apparently still okay though.

I know the kid in front row left looks like me but no, I'm not THAT old!

Yes, I went to school in a few small Minnesota towns but I'm not sure that mattered then or should now. Nor do I think my experience was all that different than most people my age.

You know, I have no recollection of my mom and dad ever having any opinion about the curriculum (granted, they had a 10th and 8th grade education respectively but they were very smart people.) I'm not sure but I don't think other parents did either. Nor, I admit, did we for our kids. Perhaps it was our lack of time or attention. Or perhaps there just didn't seem to be any issues to fight about. I might, however. today if they wouldn't let my kids see a Michelangelo painting or statue!

So here we are today. This is not the America I grew up in - duh! - it is much larger, much more complex and much, much more diverse. I’m an old white guy, kids long out of school – one of which was public, the other two split split private and public – so I don’t really have a dog in this hunt. No surprise, however, I have an opinion. Yup, I am in no position to offer advice or solutions but I won't let that stop me. Besides, age is suppose to bring wisdom so I will presume to offer what little of that I might have. And perhaps a mea culpa for my own educational shortcomings?

The curricula today is obviously much different, as it should be. It also is fair to question it, especially on the more controversial or sensitive issues. In general, however, on most of those issues I personally believe it’s better for kids to have a fuller knowledge of the lives of their peers, lives of those with a different race, gender or sexual orientation. What harm can it do? They’re going to be around other people not like themselves the rest of  their lives. (Who knew there were gays and Black people in college and the Air Force!) 

Likewise, our state and nation’s history should be honest as well. We have a great history and it neither needs to, nor should, be whitewashed by myths and omissions. Systemic racism does exist here as it does virtually everywhere else - as well as sexism and ageism. It’s also a fact that there was genocide of the indigenous people. Sadly, also common around the world - and often encouraged by the governments. We're humans, we make mistakes so denying them by banning books and education about it is wrong and foolhardy.

Mass hanging 38 Indians - Mankato 1862

Also, most of us would acknowledge that our classes in civics – if we even had them - really left us with no idea how the government actually functions. Kids need to know more about our government, the good and the bad e.g. the power of political parties, special interest groups and money. And the mistakes that it has made. (A few extraneous wars come to mind). 

These are just some of the “truths” we need to share them, things we learn as we grow older anyway. Perhaps that's why so many people become disillusioned or bitter later; they feel they’ve been lied to all their life. But these things need not define us, real patriotism (a much-abused term) can handle the truth. Sure, it’s tough stuff and must be handled sensitively and age-appropriately but kids are smart and tough themselves - and probably already know or intuit a lot of this anyway.

I am a huge supporter of education at all levels but I am also a taxpayer and we spend vast amounts of money on education in this country with generally awful results. This is bad for everyone, especially the kids. Clearly, we all need to do better: teachers, administrators, kids – and parents. Maybe especially parents.  

Of course there’s a place for private and charter schools. (I suppose home schooling is an option too but I believe does a great disservice to kids.) Nothing, however, can replace public education for the vast majority of kids. It bears the brunt of our society's issues and problems but also offers the most hope for them. We can’t afford to lose it now. If we don’t resolve this then what’s left? Just homeschool every kid - so they can be protected from things their parents fear?

Okay,  special question for Dougie: will you give us an overview of quantum mechanics? 

 

For 150 years public education has been a foundation of our country and our democracy. I think it's the only defense against the further fracturing that is destroying it today. If we fail I suspect the nation is probably doomed as a going concern.

"It is only the ignorant who despise education."

  Publilius Syrus

"Education is our only political safety. Outside of this ark all is deluge."

  Horace Mann

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."

  Aristotle

 "The weekend at the college didn't turn out like you planned

 The things that pass for knowledge I can't understand."

                                    Famous Philosopher Steely Dan

Oh well, who cares, this is just an old guy's mutterings - and as usual offering very few answers. So excuse me now, I must get back to my care giving duties.

Educational Music

Education    Pearl Jam

Another Brick in the Wall    Pink Floyd

Beware the Ides of January

 

 

And a Bored Dear Leader 

 

Why, you ask? Because I am stuck at home in the cold staring at this 

                              (Rhetorically speaking this year . . .)

Ah, the joys of winter - &%$##!

                              . . . Rather than this

Walking on the beach in Charleston SC (and wasting good money on golf .) 

Yup, we're still here. Mrs DL selfishly wanted to go there with two good knees - can you believe it?! So she will be having surgery this month with a devoted Dear Leader by her side. (Well, not by her side during the surgery but, you know, later.) Anyway, if one has to be stuck here better this year than last.

So as I look outside with my nose pressed up against the window it occurs to me that this is the perfect time to clean up some loose ends i.e. ideas that I thought I would write about but kept getting interrupted by myself with other things that seemed more important at the time.

Since we're all bundled up and have nothing better to do, let us begin.

"Everthing is Crap"

Theodore Sturgeon

Sturgeon's Law. Are you familiar with it? It’s a very a simple and concise explanation of modern life (in his opinion): 

“90% of everything is crap.” 

It was uttered by Ted Sturgeon, sci fi novelist, in 1950's. And boy, was he ahead of his time (in my opinion.) At first he was just describing books but he – and others – expanded it to apply to pretty much everything. You know, as one looks around today he was probably right. Think of politics. 90% crap? At least. News? Check. Streaming stuff? Check. Music? Check. Professional sports? Check. Haircuts? Check. Tatoos? Check. Craft beer? Check. (Sorry, just being a contrarian jerk) Movies? Check. Bloggers? Check - no, wait! 

You can make your own list but the point is (I think) that there are really only so many things in life that are truly worth our attention. Unfortunately, like the little girl looking for a pony at her birthday party we have to dig through lot of horseshit to find it.

Ped's Postulate

After a great deal of thought (over 20 minutes) and research I have developed a postulate that I believe enhances Sturgeon's law and takes better account of our actual experience in life:

90% of everything you think you know is wrong.

No matter the topic or subject matter, when confronted with the full information and facts you will find that you were originally at least 90% wrong. 

Do I think of it as being cynical or pessimistic? Nope, just being honest. As a famous book (to which Sturgeon’s law may or may not apply to) said, “The truth will set you free.”

Do We Have Too Much Democracy?

Yeah I know he'd be perfect but would this Dear Leader guy ever be dumb enough to accept the nomination?

With the Iowa caucus upon us the political fun really starts and it brings to mind fond memories of an earlier time. The party bosses would sit around and listen to all the caucuses and primaries stuff, nod sagely - then ignore all that and decide which candidate the party would support. They would try to figure out which one had the most electability while generally supporting the party's platform. Far from perfect but they seldom gave us demented criminals or nursing home residents for candidates. But noooo, now all this democracy is killing us! These caucuses and primary elections are picking dopes (at all levels) who usually represent the most extreme/dumb elements of their party, no matter which party it is. Then, because we only have two viable parties (unlike most modern countries which have more) we are stuck with voting for the one we hate least. That's no way to run a country.

We have too damn much democracy!

On the Other Hand . . .

We have little shitbird less populated states like Rhode Island, Delaware, North Dakota and many others with 2 senators each just like New York, Texas and California which have many times their population. Yeah, yeah, yeah it was a deal made to get those twerps to go along with the Constitution but look what it's turned into. Today the Senate is split 51/49 but Democrat senators represent 186 million of us and the Republicans 145 million. Add the famed "filibuster" - 60 votes needed to pass almost anything - and you've got a REAL undemocratic goat rope. (Not to mention the poor Democrat senators are "working" 30% harder than the other yohos.)

Okay, and as if that's not bad enough.

But the Electoral College wouldn't let me 

The silly electoral college takes the vote away from millions of people as well. In California and New York millions of Republican votes don't count because they are blue states so all the elector votes go the Democrat. The reverse is true in Texas and Florida - the stupid EC is a winner-take-all proposition. Ha - and the whole thing is not at all what was intended in the first place by the Einsteins that thought this goofy idea up 236 years ago! Anyway, that's how we ended up with 2 of last 4 presidents elected (and what beauties they were) despite losing the popular vote - and way too close to happening in the last election even though the winner won by 7 million freaking votes! Even better, if there's a tie each state gets one vote to decide the election - no matter their population. Oh boy, what could go wrong?

I tell you, we need more democracy!

 

(Too much or not enough, let's just pray there isn't a tie this year.)

Deep breath . . .

Sorry, obviously staying home this winter has made me a little churlish so I want to end on a positive note.

The Happy Place!

"Nostaa lampoa, Eino! "*

Let's talk about the happiest country in the world. Would you care to guess which one it is? (no cheating!) No, it's not the good old US of A and no we're not number 2 or 5 or 10.  USA! USA! We're #15! We're #15! Right after Ireland and before Germany (Take that you oompah playing putzes!) Not bad considering how screwed up we seem right now.

So who is the lucky winner? Well, the common impression of the people of the top country is that they are quiet, introverted, like their privacy and Sahti beer. (hint) So what makes these folks so happy? 

 

1) They have a deep connection to nature. (Just like me. What? Golf counts!)

2) They have many friends (real friends, not FB ones) and a strong relationship with their communities. (Check - sorta.)

3) They seek simplicity: the simpler the life, the better; less is more and not consumed by consumerism. (Well that seems kinda unreasonable.)

It doesn’t hurt that like most Scandinavian countries they have good government-provided healthcare for all, free excellent education, great work-life balance and a strong safety net. (Can you believe trading all that freedom just for happiness?!)

So, number one - for the 4th year in a row is . . . Finland!

They are not noted for smiling or boasting about how great they are or how much stuff they have. In the end, I guess Finns have a different definition of what happiness is than most of us. You could say that they are a poster child for being happy with what you have and who you are. That comes from having a realistic understanding that life can be unpredictable, difficult and unfair so they match their expectations to that reality and thus they are happy.  Simply stated, they seem to practice the ancient philosophy of Stoicism. (Which would make a Stoic neighbor of mine almost want to move to Finland.)

I know we will never be like the Finns and I am pretty certain the US will never be number one in happiness i. It's just not a priority. Maybe the best we can do is to hug our kids, try not to be a jerk and hope for the best. (Yeah, I'm probably projecting here.) 

* "Crank up the heat, Eino" in Finnish

Time to Go.

It's okay, don't worry, I have a whole bunch more ideas to foist off on you share soon so stay calm and carry on. 

I think I can tackle the rest of the winter now. The worst must be over, right, it's already up to -10 outside. The days are getting longer, nights are getting shorter - soon it will be time to get out the leopard print speedo! I feel better, don't you?

Anyway stay warm, my friends, it’s only 5 months until the summer solstice. (Oh crap, that just ruined the good vibe!)

PS

Do NOT watch "You Are What You Eat-Twins Experiment" on Netflix if you ever want to enjoy a meal again!  (It is fabulous nonetheless.)

Some Appropriate Winter Music

White Winter Hymnal Pentatonix

Hazy Shade of Winter Simon and Garfunkel