Miss Information

 

Isn’t she lovely? She has won our hearts and minds and we are happy to listen to her. She is a siren of truth or fiction that we believe whatever she says because it fits our prejudices.

What was accepted as dedicated investigated journalism presented by trained reported and editors are now someone’s opinion mounted on a video podcast using whatever sources they provide to backup their announcement theory.

Public education is supposed to teach you how to read, write and calculate logical answers to problems. The church is supposed to teach to morals of right and wrong. The family is supposed to teach you common sense to not touch a hot stove or look both ways before you cross the street.

Then you find friends who have different points of views, who were raised in different environments or cultures, with ideas that are different than anything you’ve heard before. What do you decide?

Fact or fiction?

We enjoy getting lost in fantasy as entertainment to what we know doesn’t exist, but we buy the merch and will continue to follow the fiction in graphic comics, novels, movies, television to the point where reality and sci-fi blur.

Fact, supposedly backed up by research and scientistic data, is the truth until new study results arrives to question the previous established proclamations from experts in their fields.

Is wine good or bad for your health? Depends on who you listen to. The use of fermented fruit has been with us since time was recorded. Even the animal liked it. We make toast at formal affairs with a glass of grape and celebrate the winning of a football game like a bunch of intoxicated animals ravaging the neighborhood under the accepted influence of alcohol.

Tomorrow, unless you mailed in your ballot, we will line up, show our ID, get a piece of paper, make our mark and get a sticker that shows we participated in the democratic process.

Hopefully the $10b (that is with a B) spent on mailers and electronic firehose of questionable information about the election will be over. Was that money well spent?

Unfortunately, Miss Information will still be filling the airwaves with denials and possible violence, for the losers don’t go quietly. If it feeds our frustration or if it becomes late night comedy, time will tell.

Waiting for the call from Heaven

 

When you get to the end of the movie and have done everything you are supposed to do from the time you arrived, you wait for that phone call.

Not sure who decides the number or who makes the call, but your time will come when it rings. Whether you answer or not is up to you. Unfortunately, they don’t leave a voice mail or call back.

Some will say this is the call is to come home. Some is to say that this call is inevitable. Sometimes the call is early and sometimes you just sit and wait for the call.

The call might come from a long-departed family member or Saint Peter himself? Maybe heaven has a phone bank, due to the numbers they call during wars? If they put you on hold, what music do they play?

The call might come at any time. It could be when you are sleeping? It could be in the middle of a disaster?  The call might come while running a marathon or lying in a coma surrounded by family? What happens if someone else answers the phone?

I expect the call is giving directions on where to pick up your wings and what is on the evening meal’s menu but it may need verification that the call connected with the correct person.

If the call comes in on the ‘red phone’ can you say, “Wrong number”?

The President’s Cabinet

 

Before you go into the voting booth and draw the curtain and make you selection for the next CEO of our nation, think about the people around him/her

.

The President is only one person who is surrounded by influencers and handlers and advisors who are running the country when he/she is going to the loo. These are the people closest to the President to give timely information and data and persuade decisions that will be how the country is ruled.

These are the candidates favorite chosen ones who will be rewarded by powerful, influential and wealthy positions in the government. Do you know any of their names?

The Cabinet is an advisory body made up of the heads of the 15 executive departments. Appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the members of the Cabinet are often the President's closest confidants.

          

The tradition of the Cabinet arose out of the debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention regarding whether the president would exercise executive authority solely or collaboratively with a cabinet of ministers or a privy council.

As a result of the debates, the Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 1) vests "the executive power" in the president singly, and authorizes—but does not compel—the president (Article II, Section 2, Clause 1) to "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices". The Constitution does not specify what the executive departments will be, how many there will be, or what their duties will be.

The cabinets are headed by a ‘secretary’.

Secretaries work behind the scenes in an office, performing essential duties such as drafting correspondence, organizing documents, managing office supplies, scheduling appointments and answering inquiries from visitors and callers. Sometimes call ‘Administrated Assistance’ or ‘Office Manager’ but are also associated in having the coffee ready for the boss.

The President’s Cabinet is:

The Department of Agriculture

The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments

The department includes several organizations. The 297,000 mi2 (770,000 km2) of national forests and grasslands are managed by the United States Forest Service. The safety of food produced and sold in the United States is ensured by the United States Food Safety and Inspection Service. The Food Stamp Program works with the states to provide food to low-income people.

    

The Department of Commerce

The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary reports directly to the president and is a statutory member of Cabinet of the United States. The secretary is appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The secretary of commerce is concerned with promoting American businesses and industries; the department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce".

Until 1913, there was one secretary of commerce and labor, uniting this department with the United States Department of Labor, which is now headed by a separate United States secretary of labor.

     

The Department of Defense

The secretary of defense, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, is by federal law (10 U.S.C. § 113) the head of the Department of Defense, "the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to Department of Defense", and has "authority, direction and control over the Department of Defense". Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the president, the statutory authority of the secretary of defense is derived from their constitutional authorities. Since it is impractical for either Congress or the president to participate in every piece of Department of Defense affairs, the secretary of defense and the secretary's subordinate officials generally exercise military authority.

As the head of DoD, all officials, employees and service members are "under" the secretary of defense. Some of those high-ranking officials, civil and military (outside of OSD and the Joint Staff) are: the secretary of the Army, secretary of the Navy, and secretary of the Air Force, Army chief of staff, commandant of the Marine Corps, chief of naval operations, Air Force chief of staff, chief of space operations, and chief of the National Guard Bureau and the combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands. All these high-ranking positions, civil and military, require Senate confirmation.

     

The Department of Education

The United States secretary of education is the head of the United States Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activities related to all education in the United States.

The United States secretary of education is a member of the president's Cabinet and is the fifteenth in the United States presidential line of succession.

The secretary is advised by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an advisory committee, on "matters related to accreditation and to the eligibility and certification process for institutions of higher education."

    

 The Department of Energy

The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act, establishing the department. The energy secretary and the department originally focused on energy production and regulation. The emphasis soon shifted to developing technology for better and more efficient energy sources, as well as energy education. After the end of the Cold War, the department's attention also turned toward radioactive waste disposal and the maintenance of environmental quality..

 

The Department of Health and Human Services

The duties of the secretary revolve around human conditions and concerns in the United States. This includes advising the president on matters of health, welfare, and income security programs. The secretary strives to administer the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out approved programs and make the public aware of the objectives of the department.

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) was reorganized into a Department of Education and a Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS).

The Department of Health and Human Services oversees 11 agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

     

The Department of Homeland Security

The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the United States. The position was created by the Homeland Security Act following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The new department consisted primarily of components transferred from other Cabinet departments because of their role in homeland security, such as the Coast Guard, the Federal Protective Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (which includes the United States Border Patrol), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (which includes Homeland Security Investigations), the United States Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It does not, however, include the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the U.S. Marshals Service. They continue to operate under U.S. Department of Justice.

     

The Department of Housing and Urban Development

The United States secretary of housing and urban development (or HUD secretary) is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the president's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on September 9, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson's signing of (Pub. L. 89–174: The Department of Housing and Urban Development Act) into law. The department's mission is "to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination."

 

     The Department of Interior

The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natural resources, leading such agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Geological Survey, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Park Service. The secretary also serves on and appoints the private citizens on the National Park Foundation Board. The secretary is a member of the United States Cabinet and reports to the president of the United States. The function of the U.S. Department of the Interior is different from that of the interior minister designated in many other countries.

As the policies and activities of the Department of the Interior and many of its agencies have a substantial impact in the Western United States, the secretary of the interior has typically come from a western state.

     

The Department of Labor

The United States secretary of labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies.

Formerly, there was a Department of Commerce and Labor. That department split into two in 1913. The Department of Commerce is headed by the secretary of commerce.

     

The Department of State

The stated duties of the secretary of state are to supervise the United States foreign service and immigration policy and administer the Department of State. The secretary must also advise the president on U.S. foreign matters such as the appointment of diplomats and ambassadors, advising the president of the dismissal and recall of these people. The secretary of state can conduct negotiations, interpret, and terminate treaties relating to foreign policy. The secretary also can participate in international conferences, organizations, and agencies as a representative of the United States. The secretary communicates issues relating to the U.S. foreign policy to Congress and citizens. The secretary also provides services to U.S. citizens living or traveling abroad such as providing credentials in the form of passports. Doing this, the secretary also ensures the protection of citizens, their property, and interests in foreign countries.

Secretaries of state also have domestic responsibilities. Most of the historical domestic functions of the Department of State were gradually transferred to other agencies by the late 19th century as part of various administrative reforms and restructurings. Those that remain include storage and use of the Great Seal, performance of protocol functions for the White House, and the drafting of certain proclamations. The secretary also negotiates with the individual states over the extradition of fugitives to foreign countries. Under federal law, the resignation of a president or of a vice president is valid only if declared in writing, in an instrument delivered to the office of the secretary of state.

    

The Department of Transportation

The United States Secretary of Transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secretary is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States, and is fourteenth in the presidential line of succession.

The secretary of transportation oversees the U.S. Department of Transportation, which has over 55,000 employees and thirteen agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

     

The Department of Treasury

The Secretary is responsible for formulating and recommending domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policy, participating in the formulation of broad fiscal policies that have general significance for the economy, and managing the public debt. The Secretary oversees the activities of the Department in carrying out its major law enforcement responsibilities; in serving as the financial agent for the United States Government; and in manufacturing coins and currency. The Chief Financial Officer of the government, the Secretary serves as Chairman Pro Tempore of the President's Economic Policy Council, Chairman of the Boards and Managing Trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, and as U.S. Governor of the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs

The United States secretary of veteran’s affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans' benefits, health care, and national veterans' memorials and cemeteries. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet and second to last at sixteenth in the line of succession to the presidency (the position was last until the addition of the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2006).

When the post of secretary is vacant, the deputy secretary or any other person designated by the president serves as acting secretary until the president nominates and the United States Senate confirms a new secretary.

     

     and the Attorney General

The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters. The attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States.

Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, then appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The attorney general is supported by the Office of the Attorney General, which includes executive staff and several deputies.

    

And others who are not department heads but still working at the President’s pleasure. The phrase "at the pleasure of the president" is used to describe a position in the United States federal government that serves at the discretion of the president. This means that the president has the power to appoint or dismiss individuals from such positions without needing to provide a reason.

 

 the White House Chief of Staff

The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a cabinet position in the federal government of the United States.

The chief of staff is a political appointee of the president of the United States who does not require Senate confirmation, and who serves at the pleasure of the President. While not a legally required role, all presidents since Harry S. Truman have appointed a chief of staff.

The position is widely recognized as one of great power and influence, owing to daily contact with the president of the United States and control of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.

    

the US Ambassador to the United Nations

The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and representative of the United States of America in the United Nations Security Council.

The deputy ambassador assumes the duties of the ambassador in his or her absence. As with all United States ambassadors, the ambassador to the UN and the deputy ambassador are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The ambassador serves at the pleasure of the President. The ambassador may be assisted by one or more appointed delegates, often appointed for a specific purpose or issue.

The U.S. permanent representative is charged with representing the United States on the UN Security Council, and during all plenary meetings of the General Assembly, except when a more senior officer of the United States (such as the secretary of state or the president of the United States) is in attendance.

Despite his or her title head of external mission, the United States ambassador to the United Nations is also responsible for importing United Nations policies and motions voted in the main organs of the United Nations onto the national territory.

    

the Director of National Intelligence

The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) and to direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program (NIP). All IC agencies report directly to the DNI. The DNI also serves, upon invitation, as an advisor to the president of the United States, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council on all intelligence matters. The DNI, supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), produces the President's Daily Brief (PDB), a classified document including intelligence from all IC agencies, handed each morning to the president of the United States.

President George W. Bush strengthened the role of the DNI on July 30, 2008, with Executive Order 13470, which, among other things, solidified the DNI's authority to set goals for intelligence gathering and analysis and to set policy for intelligence sharing with foreign agencies and for the hiring and firing of senior intelligence officials. The DNI was given further responsibility for the entire IC's whistleblowing and source protection by President Obama via Presidential Policy Directive 19 on October 10, 2012.

Under 50 U.S.C. § 3026, "under ordinary circumstances, it is desirable" that either the director or the principal deputy director of national intelligence be an active-duty commissioned officer in the armed forces or have training or experience in military intelligence activities and requirements. Only one of the two positions can be held by a military officer at any given time. The statute does not specify what rank the commissioned officer will hold during their tenure in either position. The DNI, who is appointed by the president of the United States and is subject to confirmation by the United States Senate, serves at the pleasure of the president.

The position was elevated to a Cabinet-level role during the presidency of Donald Trump, a status it has retained under Joe Biden. Currently, the DNI attends all Cabinet meetings and liaises with the Executive Office of the President of the United States and other Cabinet secretaries in the execution of their duties.

    

and the US Trade Representative

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting United States foreign trade policies. Part of the Executive Office of the President, it is headed by the U.S. Trade Representative, a Cabinet-level position that serves as the United States president's primary advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on trade matters. USTR has more than two hundred employees, with offices in Geneva, Switzerland, and Brussels, Belgium.

USTR was established as the Office of the Special Trade Representative (STR) by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, leads trade negotiations at bilateral and multilateral levels, and coordinates trade policy with other government agencies through the Trade Policy Committee (TPC), Trade Policy Committee Review Group (TPCRG), and Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC). Its areas of expertise include foreign direct investment, commodity agreements, trade-related intellectual property protection, and trade disputes before the World Trade Organization. Based in Washington, D.C., Katherine Tai is the current United States Trade Representative.

    

as well as the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency

The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The administrator is nominated by the president of the United States and must be confirmed by a vote of the Senate.

 

Office of Management and Budget

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office[a] within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, policies, and procedures to see whether they comply with the president's policies and coordinates inter-agency policy initiatives.

 

Council of Economic Advisers

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the president of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical research for the White House and prepares the publicly-available annual Economic Report of the President.  The council is made up of its chairperson and generally two to three additional member economists. Its chairperson requires appointment and Senate confirmation, and its other members are appointed by the President.

 

Office of Science and Technology Policy

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a department of the United States government, part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP), established by United States Congress on May 11, 1976, with a broad mandate to advise the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs.

The director of this office is traditionally colloquially known as the Science Advisor to the President. 

   

And the Small Business Administration

The administrator of the Small Business Administration is the head of the Small Business Administration of the United States. The administrator is responsible for managing and the day-to-day operations of the agency. The administrator is nominated by the president of the United States and must be confirmed by a vote of the Senate.

 

Don’t remember their names?

Antony Blinken, Janet Yellen, Lloyd Austin, Merrick Garland, Deb Haaland, Tom Vilsack, Gina Raimondo, Marty Walsh, Julie Su, Xavier Becerra, Marcia Fudge, Adrianne Todman, Pete Buttigieg, Jennifer Granholm, Miguel Cardona, Denis McDonough, Alejandro Mayorkas, Michael S. Regan, Shalanda Young, Avril Haines, William J. Burns, Katherine Tai, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Cecilia Rouse, Jared Bernstein, Isabel Guzman, Eric Lander, Arati Prabhakar, Ron Klain, and Jeff Zient   

These are the people who are protecting us from space alien invasion or the enemy from within, protecting our water and air, promoting our GDP, making sure there are clean camp grounds at our parks, make requirements so the food we eat won’t kill us, extend our roads and rails so our delivery trucks can arrive on time and our kids are smart enough to create new video games.

Don’t memorize the names. They might not be there in a few more weeks.

Artificially Intelligent

 

There is lots of talk today about ‘Aye Eye’ and it seems to have everyone worried. From what I’ve read, this artificial intelligence is a computer asked to perform a duty request and it searches, not only what the application can find, but the entire Intranet to get as much information possible and assemble it coherent form to accomplish the request in the briefest of time. Sounds like what we invented computers for?

In the beginning, we made a machine that could type a letter or resume or menu and print it to be passed on as a memo or mailed. We created a machine that could calculate numbers and follow formulars to replace the slide rule and calculator. This new machine could even do basic graphics of lines and boxes as long as there was enough RAM on the floppy disc.

Then the best thing since the telephone, we linked all our digital machines to form an Intranet. Files could be sent anywhere in the world, photos could be shared for all to comment on, books could be downloaded, meals ordered for delivery and even finding a date for the prom. Except for the sites that had paywalls that needed a subscription for a password, it was all FREE.

We created browsers that would list the answers to a request in an instant, but then we had to scroll through and view each to see it these answered our curiosity.

Now this AI is supposed to read our mind and only tell us what we need to know. What we NEED to know according to the computer’s intelligence.

When you attend a speech, the presentation an opinion or a thought is made by an expert in the field on the subject. They have titles and diplomas to prove their intelligence. You expect the same from your office visit to the doctor and look at all the diplomas on the wall as proof they are allowed to prescribe pills or cut you open.

To drive a car, you have to get a license. To buy a gun, you have to get a license. If you want to go fishing, you better have a license. To get married, you have to have a license, but when you die you get a certificate.

I attended the public educational system and only had to repeat one year to get a piece of paper that declared I’d accomplished the requirements to graduate. I went on to higher learning (to avoid the draft) and gathered enough numbers in four years to get another piece of paper that stated I was smart. Somehow they knew I wasn’t married so I got a Bachelor’s Degree.

Intelligence can be defined as the ability to solve complex problems or make decisions with outcomes benefiting the actor, and has evolved in lifeforms to adapt to diverse environments for their survival and reproduction.

Artificial means something is not natural or real, or is made to seem like something natural. It is bogus, counterfeit, ersatz, fabricated, factitious, faked, false, hyped-up, manufactured, mock, phony, plastic, sham, simulated, specious, spurious, substitute, synthetic, unnatural.

In these days of lies and misnomers, how much paperwork do you need to show to prove you are ‘smart’?

I’ve known well-read people who can repeat authors phrase and lyrics but cannot tie their shoes. Others who have no declarations on the wall but can figure out how to start an engine or paint a landscape without instructions.

There are classes to graduate lawyers and doctors and even mechanics, but there are no presidential colleges. Should there be?

Should the people who ask us to vote for them to make them the CEO of the country have to attend a college that teaches them the ins-and-outs of running a country? Let’s see if those who are accepted can pass classes in economics, military strategy, civics, social science, world history, public speaking and probably take a health screening before graduation. Then, maybe, these people will be qualified to become president? 

 

Want to open a restaurant?

 

Seems everyone wants to open a restaurant. Why?

Is your cooking so good that people will flock to your location to gobble down a meal that only you could have prepared? Is your personality so warming that everyone will want to dine in your establishment with the chance you will stop at their table and dazzle them with your skills with a chef’s knife? Do you think you can make a comfortable lifestyle while spending all your times scrubbing the kitchen in hopes the FDA inspector won’t show up wearing white gloves?

Now before I get too deep in this subject, may I say I’ve NEVER worked in a restaurant. I’ve dined in plenty, so I’ll base my writing on experiences.

Once you are ready to flip the page thinking this is just another AI who doesn’t know what they are talking about and why should I waste my time reading this; there is another side of this story.

My father ran a club. Now a club is a ‘restaurant’ with certain restrictions. Not only do you have to make reservations, you have to be approved to dine as a ‘member’. An exclusive private club allows you to get beyond the velvet rope into a dining experience you can’t get at Bob’s Burgers.

My father showed me the ins-and-outs of the kitchen but I was not interested in washing dishes. I was shown some cooking techniques by a man in a white muffin hat, but fine dining is about presentation.

Every day in the newspaper there is a story of a NEW restaurant opening with some photo of the owners and a plate of their signature dish. They find a location (possibility an empty shell of a former restaurant) and give it a paint job, update the kitchen, put some ethnic art on the walls and print a menu. Come and eat at our house.

When you have a dinner party, after everyone leaves, do you have leftovers? That maybe a sign that the food was not that good and they just attended for the booze.

So you open your restaurant and wait for the public to find you and pour in the door to taste your cuisine. Perhaps you are continuing a family tradition for nothing taste better than your grandmother’s cooking. Perhaps you have no other skills than to feed people, for people done got to eat.

There is little thought of the wait staff as your customer service representatives who can, by their witty personality and attentive service, not only get a good tip but also create an atmosphere that the diner will remember and come back in hopes to repeat the experience. The kitchen is a constant turnover due to the heat and the pressure to prep the dishes for fast efficient delivery then rinse and repeat for minimum wage. Prices have to pay for everything from insurance to renovations to salaries to possible lawsuits in hopes to break even or make a profit.

If the cliental appreciates the effort and enjoys the experience, the restaurant might expand to another location. The namesake might publish a cookbook of the secrets of the kitchen or a television show on Saturday afternoon?

We, the diner, will explore a new restaurant with anticipation of a dining adventure and the food will be judged on all of the above. If the experience is memorable, we will probably be a repeat. If the second experience is good the restaurant will be recommended to friends.

Some restaurants are roach coaches with a limited menu served out of the back window but not expected to be fine dining. A franchise should be consistent anywhere in the country. Food served in Styrofoam flip boxes and plastic utensils does not have expectations of anything but filling our tummies on our excessive poking ‘food’ down our gullets.

Other neighborhood eateries can become a hangout with televisions on the walls and bartenders who remember your name. A comfortable place to hang out with friends.

Unfortunately, a restaurant makes money by the turnover. The longer that guy is sitting on a stool at the bar and milking that beer, the owner is losing money. Still, if a regular continues to order, there is a continuous income for the restaurant.

Food is a fickly product to sell. If the distributor can’t deliver on time, certain items will have to be scratched off the menu. If the refrigeration goes out on a power outage, profits must be thrown out. There are always some folks who walk in looking for a charity handout.

Our taste is particular so when the dish arrives at the table and the patron wants to send it back for whatever discretionary judgement, the kitchen has to deal with the return.

The public’s taste change. With whatever culture shift, suddenly southern fried has changed to oriental raw. Texas BBQ is now vegan exquisite. Better have a good bartender, for titles of drinks and preferences in grape drinks can be challenging to please the pallet.

What I find the most interesting in watching social media remising over past diners wasn’t the food or the waitress or the owner but it was about the people who share a meal with you. Other restaurants were status symbols to get dressed up for the pampering and no matter what the food tasted like, you were present in an occasion people who eat food out of wrapped paper cannot imagine.

I don’t dine out much. I have a simple pallet, but I know what goes on in the kitchen when I look at the menu to order a meal I must pay for (in one way or the other). I also don’t cook anymore. I know how. I’ve used all the appliances and tools to prepare meals that will break your credit card, but creating substance is not my bag.

The worst part of re-attending a restaurant from the past is not being to capture that special aura that was fond of years ago. Maybe it is the time past or the company or the updated menu to capture the taste of the new generation, but it just doesn’t feel the same.

As I show off my town to travelers, I reminisce about the fine dining establishments from the past then stop and have a meal at ‘Joe’s Inn’. A restaurant started in 1952 and somewhat updated without losing its distinctive atmosphere. The food is simple and the booths are inviting (even without the old jukebox). It is comfort food outside your living room. If you hang there long enough you will see old friends for a price even the common man can afford. Everyone has a story about ‘Joe’s’.

Hope your restaurant last more than a few years and creates memories for us old folk who want to say, “Remember the time…?” We don’t remember what we ate because we were laughing too much.

Thanks for inviting us into your dining room. 

 

F*CK

     I somewhat pride myself on not using certain words in my daily vocabulary. Words that would have had my mouth washed out with soup when I was younger. Words that would get a switching. Words not said around my grandmother.

When a pre-teen, used these words to express what I couldn’t understand and usually found they didn’t help. Like smoking cigarettes, using profanatory didn’t make me cool.

Now with social media, some of these words, like the N-word or the G•O•D word or any word to get a shock treatment for a phrase you can’t explain, is being readily used in comments and now in news cast. Like the flashing lights and the loud music, when someone says one of these words to get the attention of the viewer or the reader. You can tell what is acceptable by how many blips there are.

 

      F*ck is an English-language profanity which often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to around 1475. An early 16th century of Germanic origin (compare Swedish dialect focka and Dutch dialect fokkelen ) this F*CK was invented. In modern usage, the term f*ck and its derivatives (such as f*cker and f*cking) are used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an interjection or an adverb. There are many common phrases that employ the word as well as compounds that incorporate it, such as mother*cker and f*ck off.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the ultimate etymology is uncertain, but that the word is "probably cognate" with a number of Germanic words with meanings involving striking, rubbing and having sex or is derivative of the Old French word that meant 'to have sex'.

 

Other terms for the F*CK word would be sexual intercourse, sex, lovemaking, making love, sex act, act of love, sexual relations, intimate relations, intimacy, coupling, mating, going to bed with someone, sleeping with someone, nookie, bonking, rumpy pumpy, a bit of the other, how's your father, pata-pata, coitus, coition, copulation, fornication, carnal knowledge, (sexual) congress, commerce, screwing or shagging to name a few.

One of the mysteries of this word, is how romantic or intimate interpretations are used. Even in the sensual movies, couples are ‘hooking up’ or ‘sleeping together’ rather than the truth that they will be doing the horizonal hooky pokey reserved for pornography. Whether this is a one-time physical exercise or a life changing love making affair with a future of making a family together, doesn’t explain why they just meet and say, “You wanna F*CK?”

 

No one questioned what was going on behind closed bedroom doors, but without this process, you wouldn’t be here. The church didn’t want to talk about the begetting part of the Bible or whether Mary was old enough to get her period when she was impregnated. School was forbidden to discuss doing it in Biology, leaving it for the family to describe how the stork brought the babies. Some women were shunned for showing a baby bump out of wedlock while the married women gathered with parties and celebrations for the bringing of another life.

 

Then the F-word was used when hitting your thumb with a hammer or running your car into a wall without putting on the safety break or just trying to figure out what you can’t understand (WTF). It is just one of those words to use as an exclamation when the mental questioning cannot explain what is needed to say. So, they are called ‘curse’ words.

I’m sure there are lots of other words created by the next generation using body parts and evacuation functions that are necessary but disgusting.  Flush now.

 

As our culture changes, each generation must decide what thoughts and words are unacceptable in polite circles. If music must have a disclaimer of explicit language and movies must have an age rating, then what is measured as politically correct may include the F-word.

I don’t plan on using any of these words or phrases and it offends me when hearing public figures (including men and women of the cloth waving an ancient book of teachings and parables) throwing them out to keep the attention of an audience.

Asking Directions

 

Do you know where you are going? Do you get up in the morning and have your day planned out? Have you already mapped a route to complete your agenda? Do you plan ahead in case there is a road bump in your timeline?

If you need to ask directions, do you Google maps or ask Siri or GPS to find out where yo
u are to where you want to be?

Some will pull over to a filling station or some passerby and ask how to get to a location hoping the person will show you the way. Mostly what I hear is how to get on a highway and follow the signs to your intended destination.

I ride a bike. I do not travel on the highways. I know the north/south/east/west directions and can read a compass from Boy Scout training, but could not tell you the names of the streets I travel on. I can approximate the time of day by where the sun is and can adjust to the seasons, but I could not give you directions.

I’m limited, by choice, to five-mile radius around my house. I figure I can pedal or walk five miles and back under my own power, though I may have to reduce this with aging. Other than purchasing hopefully fresh food stuffies, there is very little I have to venture to these days. Thanks to Amazon and mobile delivery, any Nic knacks I require can be ordered and delivered to my door within days without impulse buying. At the end of the month, pay off the bill and start fresh tomorrow.

Digging deeper into the subject, asking directions can be trying to find the ‘reason’ we (or you personally) are here? Finding the meaning of life will always be the question for there is no road maps.

Certain philosophies and theories will produce scholars and teachers who will expound on a path for true meaning of wisdom but may become an indoctrination into a discipline that must be adhered to.

Exploring is much more satisfying for when you arrive, the experience of getting there will be the accomplishment.

Wait for the light to turn green. Coast down to the house with the white fence and turn left. At the top of the hill take a left pass the dalmatian dog but watch out for the filled in gully, it is pretty soft there. Take a right at the bottom of the hill pass the trampoline and watch out for the road repair. Pull to the left before you cross the avenue. Look both ways and take your time. Put the pedal to the metal and pump fast and then… there you are. Rinse and repeat to get home.

Since life doesn’t come with a set of directions, we educate ourselves to find our way.