By luck, on some tour in Eastern Europe, I became acquainted with Mary, a woman who lives in Honolulu. Both of us were traveling alone in a group tour, sort of hooked up. She was a 90 country been there traveler, and I was a 60 country been there. Mary was very impressed at where I had been. She had done mostly 1st and 2nd world, I had delved into 3rd word. A lot.

We went on 3 or 4 trips together, had a blast each time, and I adopted her slogan/mantra: "With travel, it's always something."

Lost luggage, flight delays, kerfuffles among the tour group.

With driving trips, it is road construction and GPS that directs you to cattle trails. Seriously.

So, as I write this, I am in a Friday night packing mode, prepping for a 9 hour drive from East Texas to somewhere in Missouri headed, sleepover, then drive to the final destination in Illinois. Response to comments will show up about 8 pm Saturday, more or less.

Packing is a project. 20 degrees difference from here to there. Layers. Shorts and tees, fleece lounge wear, everything in between.

Wish me luck! Not sandals for Texas, but hiking boots for Illinois, so I was informed!

Gaah! There are some very interesting parks, and also historic sites and museums from the Civil War era.

Is there any doubt now?

The media controls the masses, especially television. I've written many times in the past about the war on our minds. The events from the past few weeks have brought the media's techniques front and center. It's on full display.

It's amazing how Joe Biden went from the greatest president ever to persona non grata overnight and Kamala Harris went from a ditzy air head to a media darling as they hang on every word she says much like Ernest T. Bass' crush on Miss Crump, the school teacher, on The Andy Griffith Show.

The average working stiff doesn't have the time to be well informed like we political junkies. They go to work in the morning, come home in the early evening and maybe have enough time to watch the evening news before dinner. That's not to mention the subtle political and social nudging proliferated on regular television programming. Ditto that for the written media and internet as well. The Bernays of the world recognize that situation and use it to its fullest extent and it obviously works. It seems rather easy to corral a mind when it's fenced in by short spurts of a short attention span. They are easy targets.

The human mind is malleable like a clump of clay longing to be formed into a useful piece of pottery. The media is the potter's wheel and the propagandist is the potter.

1 August 2024 - This is Why!

The Lever recently published an article, called 'The Toxic Harvest', which examines a new study, amongst others, about agricultural chemicals, basically pesticides (and herbicides), and how exposure to them may be as bad for a human as smoking in terms of health consequences.

Applying Pesticides. Image from The Lever article.

Good morning Free Rangers.
Well I'm back from Lost Wages a bit lighter on coinage. Well, a little more than a bit. While I only lost $18 at the one armed bandits, we spent a lot on shows and entertainment.
We went to the Tournament of Kings show and had dinner sans utensils (we be Dragons) and the next night saw the show WOW, which was a good time.