JUST SOME POSTS

Swiss Ban Germans From Nude Hiking in Alpine Town Monday, February 02, 2009 A Swiss village is trying to ban an army of nude German hikers who invaded their picturesque corner of the Alps. Officials in the town of Appenzell introduced a fixed fine for people found hiking in just a pair of boots and a backpack after a German nudist organization promoted “nature” walks for its members. What is this world coming to when a German can't take a nude hike in Switzerland?

For background to this - see an earlier post - "Birth of Fear" from last August http://justsomeposts.blogspot.com/2008/08/birth-of-fear.html . Forgive this - it rambles - Most of the villages, if you could call the gatherings of huts, tents, and such a village, in Og's time had a Chief that ran things. The villages had many ways of determining who would have that important role. Selecting the oldest, considered to be the wisest, was one way. Giving the position to the smartest, considered to be the most likely to find solutions to problems, was a similar tact. Later, as society developed, there was the son (typically the eldest) of the prior chief, considered sometimes divinely selected. Considering the original family member probably became leader based on one of these other ways at some point in the past, I always wondered how many folks questioned this idea of royalty - and family right to rule (but I digress). Another way of becoming chief, especially in early ci...

Some random thoughts - ( I started this three days ago and have gone back to it now - so it may be a bit disjointed; but, I want to get it out) 1) Although I do not wish anyone else to be unemployed; I have a tip for all CEOs . If you look at your company, evaluate your staffing, check your productivity, etc - and find that there are THOUSANDS of people that you could let go and still remain in business - DO IT! Again, I don't wish to add anyone to the ranks of the unemployed - but I am amazed at the companies that keep announcing layoffs of 5,000 here and 10,000 there. I know I have worked mostly for smaller companies, but in most cases if someone was/is out sick - we all have trouble getting a bathroom break! I have worked for some companies with thousands of employees; but in the divisions I was in - if someone took a long lunch - we had trouble covering. So, again - all CEOs and such - take stock of your employees. If there are enough to cover lunch and three people ou...

Imagine you are out for a drive. You are motoring along. Occasionally you stop to get a bite to eat or to enjoy some of the sites. But mostly you are cruising and taking in the ride. Suddenly you realize your vehicle is going on it's own. Not too fast, not too slow, but ever moving whether you want it to or not. You realize you are not really even steering the car or choosing the exact direction you are travelling any longer. You run red lights and stop signs. You pass in no passing zones and are passed in others. But, you continue relentlessly forward. There is no reverse. You would love to just STOP, to pull in somewhere and sit and take in the local flavor. You know, however, the only stopping you will be doing is by crashing or just running out of gas somewhere you don't want to be. But, maybe moving towards SOMETHING is better than stopping at NOTHING. Welcome to our life.

I am writing this from Las Vegas. As I was burning through a $100 bill today in about 20 minutes, I was thinking about how Vegas is known as "Sin City". You know, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". The only thing I am sure that stays in Vegas is about 90% of all the money that people bring in here. I was thinking about how we (at least the people I know) don't discuss much of what is really important, complicated, and/or controversial in life. (yeah, I think about stuff like that when pushing the "Bet Max" button over, and over, and over) I have never had an intelligent unbiased discussion with anyone about really deep, important stuff. Now, I know some of you are thinking - "I have"; and maybe you really have, but I wonder. We don't discuss death. (It is only in my lifetime that we discuss pregnancy, so maybe it is coming) One of the few unifying parts of humanity is death. Yet we all avoid discussions of it in specific terms. (s...

To get even more on this, as well as some background - see earlier posts like "Back in the USSA " and others. I am getting worried about the economy. Not for the same reasons as a lot of people, but worried none the less. As stated above, previously I let you know how I feel about these government "bailouts" that keep being thrown around like chicken feed. This is getting ridiculous! We (and yes it is WE!) are giving money to every industry and company that is having trouble. This cannot stand. There are constitutional reasons that should prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of contitutionalist politicos or even voters around to recognize it or care about it. We won't go there (one of my first posts over a year ago addressed this). I will just keep this to the economic side of the argument. The first rule to remember is - THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT MONEY!! All together now - THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT MONEY. When you hear about a "sti...

Well I have just experienced my 55 th Christmas. I cannot claim I remember them all, especially the first ones; but this seemed to be a good one. Of course, nothing compares to Christmas as a kid. The only thing that comes close is Christmas with your own kids. (warning - Santa buster ahead) To an extent anyway. I have told many people that I quit enjoying Christmas as much when Santa started leaving me the bill. I also remember the WORK he left me. With six kids, my Santa building experiences top a lot of folks, I am sure. I have built a lot of bicycles, wagons, and other riding contraptions. I have set up train sets of different sizes and configurations. I have unwrapped, assembled, and set up enough toys and vehicles to start up a small toy shop. Going back to my post about building the bird houses and how every time I go to build something, I never have the right tools and/or supplies. This was also true almost every time I went to build the contraptions that "Santa" ...