improving on America (part 2)

In a prior article, I started to mention how we, as Americans, need to truly make America great again. Like it or not, but America has gone downhill in so many areas. It's not even funny how we've become a joke to the rest of the world. Most of the points I bring up should be controversial.....at least, I would think they shouldn't be. I hope to mention common sense stuff that any nation would do, with appropriate funding, to make their nation strong and prosperous.

I started off mentioning a few aspects of infrastructure, points that are needed for commerce, travel, and overall well being. I know I didn't finish that thought, so I'd like to add on to it. Stuff like this should does get long winded, so it may take me awhile to finish.

With that said, I'll continue with my next thought. I'll try to keep myself as clear as possible, due to drunkenness. That, and I often allow myself to be distracted.

Rail:
I'm keeping this a separate category from infrastructure for a reason. At one time, railroads were the backbone of the country. If you needed to travel any serious distance, this was one of the few options available. It was rail, ship, by foot, or horse/covered wagon. If you included freight, it was rail or ship.

For most purposes, rail has become obsolete. Most people can travel by car, plane, or ship in a reasonable time and price. This depends on how the time you've got available, as well as other factors. Freight, however, still has only a few options.

If you have a long enough distance and/or enough freight, many businesses find it better to send their goods on a train. Most of you understand the concepts, so I won't try to insult anyone's intelligence. Railroads, like any other business/industry, give favorable rates to others who can do business with them in large volume. Look at any large retailer to understand this concept.

Plus, if most material were shipped overland, it's generally accepted that roads would  be clogged all the time, just with semi-trailers. It's also understood, generally speaking, that trains can ship more then semi-trailers over longer distances with less fuel.

Since trains can handle large items with ease, generally speaking (such as automobiles), it just makes sense to keep our rail system in good shape. While I don't know the condition of our rail system, as a whole, I would think that keeping it maintained would be a priority. After all, a large amount of freight uses the rail system get from community to community.

I live in a city of 4,000+ that was founded by rail. Even now, BNSF has a small hub for freight purposes. It's no powerhouse in the region, by any means, but it still helps for local freight. Imagine a larger community, such as Boston or NYC. Communities like that benefit far more by rail then towns near me.

Speaking of larger communities, there are communities that benefit from things like light raid, subways, etc. Since this is a vital part of transportation, making sure everything can keep running smoothly is a necessity. If it means upgrading equipment, rail lines, hiring more staff, or whatever else should be key. Again, if new equipment is needed, use companies here in America to provide what we need. No excuse to outsource. We, as a nation, should be more then capable of doing the work.

When you get communities like NYC, Boston, San Francisco, and so on, getting around by car is a major pain in the backside, to say the least. I can't imagine having to deal with it on a daily basis. Even having something like bus service helps out. It helps me get around where I live, since I can't afford a car at the moment. Since family can't always be around to help me out, I rely on bus services to help me out when family just can't be there. I'm sure in larger communities, there are people that find it easier to use mass transit.

Regardless of why they use it, you'll need buses, trains/subway cars and engines, so on and so forth. Having new vehicles, when needed, is costly. I've been told that just in this area, buses can easily cost six figures. I don't recall the specific numbers. I just recall it's well into the six figure range. Maintenance of vehicles can't be much better.

Even with financial help on a state level, local government still has to pay a lot of money. I can't begin to imagine what a city like Seattle has to pay.

Having well trained employees can be difficult, as well. Budgeting enough money to get skilled help to work for a local transit system. Making sure workers want to work for the appropriate agencies isn't as easy as people would think. I've often been told that it depends partly on how strict the local agencies are. In many cases, pay and benefits factor in. If people feel they can make better money working for a regional shipping company offers better pay or benefits, they're more likely to work for the private company. Making sure people have incentive to work for the government agency should be considered.

AIRPORTS:
Like it or not, but much of our long distance travel happens with flights. I'm not going to suggest that air travel be owned/controlled by the government. Not by a longshot. All I want is for our airports to be kept updated. For those that are already up-to-date, nothing to worry about. For those that aren't getting proper attention, let's focus on that.

Obvious points to mention will be sufficient runway space for passenger & cargo planes to land. For large metro areas, making sure several planes can come and go during a short period of time. Proper de-icing equipment in the colder regions. Plenty of well trained staff, at all levels of employment. Air traffic control would have high priority, as well as security. With security, I'd like to make sure people can be adequately screened while avoiding problems with long delays or violating anyone's rights and/or dignity.

EDUCATION:
Education, whether it be on a grade school level or if it's higher ed, we need to make some serious improvements. For as long as I can remember, all I ever seem to hear about our education system is that it's failing our kids horribly. Depending on what part of the country you live in, you're probably thinking "no shit, Sherlock. What was your first clue?" You'd be justified for thinking such a thing.

I'm not familiar with current stats, as it's too damned depressing to look at anymore. Things I'm frequently hearing about involves basics, like literacy, math, science, and other core areas. In school districts with large minority populations, these problems are often compounded with violence from gangs, drugs, so on and so forth.

To say there's going to be an easy fix would be a damned joke. Fixing these problems need to be done a local level, mostly since people on the local level have a better idea what the problems are. If it takes giving students things to do after school so they can avoid getting into trouble, then let's make sure the funding is there. Many districts have shortages of good teachers.

There are districts in this area that are putting more technology in the hands of the students, starting at a young age. This would make sense, since technology is going to be vital for their success.

Other areas of concern should be helping students who come from poor families. If a student has to worry about having old, worn out clothes that aren't keeping them warm, they certainly won't be putting all their attention on their studies. When our kids go to school, not knowing when their next meal is coming from, their attention is going to be on how hungry they are.

We need to put a lot of attention on making sure disadvantaged students get the help they need so they can focus on actually learning something.

When we have children that simply aren't learning as fast as they should, due to any number of learning disabilities, we need to pick up on this as soon as we can. Doesn't matter what the disability is. If our educators spot the problems early enough, we stand a better chance of doing something about this. Behavioral issues should really be added, as well.

Some points seem to get more attention then others, such as new buildings. If you schools are in horrible shape, aren't large enough, or there simply aren't enough schools, coming up with the money for new construction, expansion, or remodeling can be a pain in the ass. Making sure Federal and State governments put sufficient money in helping local school districts is vital for keeping our schools modernized.

I think one area that needs to be covered is basic life skills. You'd be surprised how ill-prepared people are once they graduate and have to deal with the real world. Instead of going to a class or extra curricular activity, they now have to worry about adult issues....such as getting an apartment, managing their money, balancing a checkbook, getting and keeping a job, and so on. For one reason or another, nobody stops to think about teaching the realities of life.

We're so worried about making sure our students understand Shakespeare's work, we don't stop to think that we're lacking in other areas. If it wasn't for my dad kicking me in the ass on some of these areas, I'd have no idea how to file my taxes. I probably would've been screwed for the first few years, as I probably wouldn't have filed at all.

Seriously, our students need to understand that budgeting their money is going to be a big damned deal, getting their taxes filed every year is going to be important, making sure they know how to behave appropriately on a job and whatnot.

Speaking of jobs, we also have to come to an understanding that not all of our students are going to have the same level of post K-12 education. If we're going to be honest with ourselves, there will be many students that will never see the inside of a college, university, trade school, or community college. In this politically correct world, everyone wants to believe that all our kids are precious and can do whatever they set their minds to.

Hate to break anyone's hearts, but that belief is bullshit. In any classroom in America, you're going to find a small group of students that are quite exceptional. These are the students that you know will be the bigshots. They'll be the leaders of industry, being the CEO's of Fortune 500 Companies. These are the students that will find the cure for major diseases. These are the students that will make major policy for the American Government.

In these classrooms, you'll see an equal number of students that you simply won't be able to help. No matter what you do, there's always going to be a few students that you just can't reach. Maybe they just don't give a damn. Some are going to have mental disabilities, keeping them from learning beyond a certain level. Like it or not, but we have plenty of students that can only be taught so much.

Students in the bottom percentile will likely end up being the dishwashers, hotel maids, janitors, or even wards of the state. There are some people that have mental or physical issues, stopping them from being succeeding. It's an unfortunate reality that needs to be accepted. While we want to let everyone feel like a winner, most people aren't winners. In life, there's usually more losers then winners.

In an average classroom, most students are considered "middle of the road". Quite simply, most of these students have nothing special about them that really stands out. They aren't stupid, by any means. They just don't have anything extraordinary about them.

Students like this often go into a wide range of work, upon graduating. Some work on the family farm. Some will take work as mechanics. Others will choose to work as cooks/chefs. There will be students that will take office work (clerks, bookkeeping, etc.). You name it. Most students will end up with ordinary jobs (plumbing, construction, manufacturing).

My brother floated around a few kitchens, working as a dishwasher, before settling with a light manufacturing job. I was one of the students that never had a clue what to do with life, so I ended up with a variety of kitchen work. I tried my hand at accounting, but I got in over my head. I was one of those ill-prepared students, during my youth.

With that in mind, it's time we stop trying to turn every student into know-it-alls. It's time we realize that not all of our students will be scientists. Not all of our students will practice medicine. We have to realize that we need trash collectors, diesel engine repairmen, small engine repairmen, and so many other trades.

For those that are going into different trades, we should start teaching students with those talents or interests to be great at those professions. We need to teach them at an early age, partially to give them a clue what to expect. The more education they get in their respective fields will give them a better chance at commanding better wages and benefits.

If a student is showing interest and/or potential as an office worker (payroll clerk, sales rep, bookkeeper, etc.), again, we need to make sure they know what to expect. Writing skills will be must, considering many office workers will need to write business letters, memos, or other documents. The slightest mistake, such as adding a coma where it's not needed, can make a huge difference in what you're actually communicating. Having a properly written resume will make the world of good, as well.

For those students that are more likely to work low-wage jobs, at least make sure their education is tailored so they can have a fighting chance in society. Even if you've got students who'll end up being hotel maids, at least give them enough knowledge and skills so they won't have to rely on the welfare system.

When you think of it, there are businesses out there that specialize in things, such as janitorial services. If you have a student that knows what they're doing in janitorial work, they could take those skills and make a business out of it. Google such companies in your area. You might be surprised at how many services are out there that specialize in doing crap nobody else wants to deal with.

Those that end up taking on a post-high school education will be better prepared for life if they start early enough in life. Earning capacities increase for those that are ready for certain aspects of reality.

By the time you make it to higher education, whether it be a 4-year college, a community college, or whatever you may choose, you should be able to go straight into the courses you might still need. There shouldn't be a need to take classes on literature if your goal is to be in the medical field. Theoretically, you should already have a basic understanding of how to behave a job. Shouldn't need to learn this sort of thing by the time you become an adult.

If you're going to be an accountant, basic math skills should be an absolute must well before getting into a college. Speaking of colleges, I would think that certain fields of study could be done just as easily at a community school, trade school, or technical college. Not everything needs a 4-year degree. Why do we need to send our students to expensive colleges/universities when that same education can be achieved at a junior college?

Realistically, this would save a lot of money on loans, keeping more money in the pockets of the American public. I can see where the problems come from when you need a 4 year degree, or more. Medical work would be one such field. Internships/residencies can be a financial burden. I'm not sure of what kind of pay scale, if any, exists for those that eventually have to do their residencies. There's so much you have to learn to practice medicine. The more complex your degree, the bigger the debt.

Those trying to become heart surgeons or cancer specialists obviously need more specialized learning general medical doctors. For those taking on certain crucial degrees, medical as an example, incentives could be offered. Debt forgiveness after so much time in the field of choice, would be one such option.

Maybe some of this is just a case of reforming attitudes about education. There are a variety of solutions that should be looked into.

I'll continue this train wreck of a thought in later postings. I'm rambling enough, as it is.

how to make America great again (infrastructure)

Since the elections have been rather disappointing this year, to put it mildly, I'm going to try and focus on something else. Though, I have to paraphrase Donald Trump when I say we need to make America truly great. As much as I love America, we do need some massive improvements. What improvements we make will be obvious. Other improvements will vary greatly from person to person.

I'll start by working category by category. I'll help keep my thoughts a bit clearer, I hope. Since infrastructure includes a wide variety of issues, I doubt I'll be able to cover them all. I'll cover what I can, though.

Infrastructure:
A key component to any plans should be infrastructure. No nation succeeds without a solid infrastructure. Strong, sturdy bridges. Good roads. Reliable power grid. Safe drinking water. Proper disposal of sewage and trash. You get the idea. Without stuff like this, a lot of stuff I plan on mentioning will be irrelevant.

Safe drinking water will be key. Anyone with basic knowledge knows what happens if you lack safe drinking water, so I'll save everyone the speech.

In many communities, many water facilities are outdated. Many water lines need serious updating, as well. I can only imagine how much it would cost to get most communities updated on larger, improved treatment facilities or water pipes. Flint, Michigan gained a lot of attention in the not so recent past over inadequate drinking water.

If we're going to be honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that this is a bigger problem then we realized.

On a related note is our sewage treatment facilities. Considering how much junk gets dumped into our sewage systems, such as old prescriptions and God knows what else. Many systems have trouble filtering out stuff as caffeine and various medications that get dumped down toilets. Honestly, there's probably more junk going into our sewer systems then we realize.

Good roads are certain a necessity. For this discussion, I'll include highways, interstates, as well as city streets. Depending on where you live, many roads are in serious disrepair. Part of the problem is that many local governments have limited funds. Some have been cash strapped since the economy went down the crapper in late 2007 (roughly). Many state governments played hell with their budgets for years because of the economy.

Roads have suffered as a result of this. I know most of the roads where I live aren't in too bad of shape, largely because most local governments were a bit smarter with their money. Some of them could be better, but I won't complain too hard on this.

It should be a no brainer why we need to keep our roads safe. Between transporting goods, daily activities (school, work, shopping, etc), and other reasons I'm probably neglecting, there should be no excuse to let our roads deteriorate.

Speaking of deteriorating, our bridges need to be a high point. If you need an example of this, just think back to August 2007 with the I-35W bridge collapse. Thirteen people died as a result of it's collapse. It happened with evening rush hour traffic taking place. A Wikipedia article says that undersized gusset plates were considered the primary cause of the collapse.

I seem to recall governments some time later admitting that many bridges weren't inspected as often as they needed to be. Many bridges, at the time, need major repair and/or replacing. As of recent years, I don't know how much work as actually been done to correct the problem. I don't want this to be an issue again. We shouldn't take any chances with this happening again.

Putting the money into something like this would be a strong boost to the economy. Not only would it require construction crews, but we would need steel companies to put out a massive amount of steel. If we're serious about building up our economy, we'd need American steel companies to produce the steel needed. American made products in all aspects of the work would be needed if we truly care about strengthening the American economy and industry. With people gaining good paying jobs, tax benefits could be huge (I would think).

Since recycling of old steel (appliances, cars, etc.) is usually the cheaper and quicker then mining for it, scrap yards throughout the country would be able to make some serious money as a side benefit. Scrappers would make more money, as well, since the scrap yards would likely pay better money for more material. This could have some long term benefits if we got started on projects like this.

A major source of concern is the electric grid. It's generally agreed upon by experts, including those anti-terrorist, that our electric grid is highly vulnerable. If one thing goes wrong, through terrorism, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), or anything else, we could see chaos pretty quickly.

Back in 2003, a blackout occurred in parts of the American Northeast and Ontario. In this case, a software bug in a control room was to blame. Didn't help that operators were unaware of the problem due to a lack of alarm. This likely would've been more localized if everything was in place, to begin with.

This leads me to ask what would happen if a power substation were to have problems. What happens if a lack of maintenance, or improper maintenance, caused a substation to go out? Could other substations take over the workload until it's fixed or replaced? What if a substation, for any number of reasons, needed to be replaced. I can't fathom how long it would take, let alone how much money it would take.

Heck. All that needs to happen is a natural disaster to create problems. Depending on where you live, it could be an earthquake that causes widespread issues. Other parts of the country could get a hurricane. Many areas frequently have issues with tornados.

How old are parts of the power grid, anyway? Can parts of the grid handle the current capacities?

Hopefully, the rest of you can see why I want this to be a high priority. We simply can't take chances of the power grid going down for any length of time.

This is as far as I go, for now. I'll pick this up at a later time (I hope).

Member Berries

Over the last few years, I can't help but realize a sad, unfortunate truth. I'm suffering from Member Berries. Don't know what Member Berries are? For those that don't watch South Park, Member Berries is a metaphor for nostalgia. At least, that's the easiest way I can think of it.

You know how the routine works. You could be doing something simple. For the sake of argument, let's assume you're at the store picking up a few quick items you need. Over the speaker system, a song plays that you haven't heard in several years. In an instant, you start remembering things that you haven't thought about in years. Depending on your mood that day, this might last for 30 seconds. Or, you spend several days remembering "the good 'ole days".

In my case, I'm noticing that I've been doing this more and more lately. In some cases, I think about the music from my generation. Other times, it's television. I frequently think about movies from my youth, as well. Then there are times where I miss the "simpler days", where we didn't have such rapid changes in social norms, not as much technology interfering with our lives, so on and so forth.

Not sure if this is just a normal part of getting older. There are days where I feel like a grandpa. I'm finding myself yelling at neighborhood kids to stop playing in my yard. I've been catching myself starting conversations with "Back in my day....."

Depressing. Down right depressing many days. Back in October, I finally had my 40th birthday. As I was talking to my younger brother, he mentioned that it's amazing how time manages to sneak up on a person. Can't help but think how true that statement is.

Mentally/emotionally speaking, it doesn't feel like that long ago where I graduated high school. Yet, I can't help but realize just how long it's been since I stepped into a high school. Feels like yesterday when I had my first video game consol. I don't remember the specific year. I remember it was approaching Christmas. Mom bought the NES. This was something I was expected to share with my brother. Since we were a poor family, stuff like this was considered the greatest shit ever.

Parents, I have to admit, usually put us before themselves. Once in awhile, the parents would make the decision to give themselves something, even if it meant telling me or my bro to fuck off. They hated telling us to go to hell on stuff. Once in awhile, they had to give themselves a few things that would bring them some entertainment.

Can't say I blame them, either. They didn't give themselves enough gratification in this area, either. Some would argue that they were being awesome parents. I think they could've gotten away with being a bit more self centered and still manage to be great parents.

Guess they made up for it by usually buying stuff that we could all enjoy. When mom picked up the NES, it was generally understood that bro and I wouldn't be the only ones using it. Mom wasn't into video games so much, herself. Dad, on the other hand, managed to find a few that sparked his interest. It was usually the sports games. Super Techmo Bowl and Bases Loaded II were the games I frequently played with him.

Since I had more knowledge and experience with video games, dad would ask me to slow the pace down a little bit so he could learn what he was doing. He seemed to learn  some of the games in a decent speed. I had to stop going easy on him after a short amount of time passed.

When we were finally able to get a Sega Genesis, dad was always impressed with how well things were improving. This would happen when finally getting PlayStation years later. Mom didn't even bother trying to figure it out. By her own admission, video games were just one thing that she couldn't figure out.

Though, when DVDs were first becoming the next big thing, she was able to figure that out a lot easier. She realized that it wasn't much different then figuring out a VCR, for the most part.

I think the one thing that helps me to deal with the Member Berries is modern technology. I want to listen to music I enjoyed in my youth? It's often as easy as listening to an internet radio station, such as Pandora or going onto YouTube. I can usually get my fix of my old favorites with those two options.

I want to play an old video game? If you can find someone that fixes old systems, great. For some, it's buying a re-released game system. I believe Nintendo is releasing a variation of the old NES, with several old school games saved on the systems' hard drive, or some such thing. If I recall correctly, it's perfectly capable of playing the old school Nintendo cartridges.

For me, I have a copy cat system that allows me to play both NES and SNES. I also have a system that plays just the NES. I think it's under the Retro Dud name, or something similar. Different design then the original game systems. Software allows them to play the old games. I'm sure there's something in the trademark laws that probably allows companies to do this. Not sure what the legalities are.

All I know, these systems appear to be legit as they've apparently been selling for quite awhile. I believe it was only a couple years ago I even realized this was an option. I live in an area where this is more of a specialty market, so items like this are sold in limited stores. Come to think of it, I can only name one area store that sells stuff like this.

Doesn't matter. I have a game system that allows me to play some old school NES games. I'm slowly stocking up on some old SNES games, as well. Got a second system that allows me to play old school Sega Genesis games, which is also awesome. I think this was a novelty thing sold at some Walgreens stores, several years back.

Want to watch movies or TV shows I used to love? DVDs have been a great way of doing that for me. If I had more time for internet use, I could probably subscribe to a few online services, such as Hulu.

I know I'll never be able to completely relive everything from my past (fortunately), I can at least relive some of the best parts. I can still relive the parts that allowed me to have good memories, like playing a few video games with dad or watching certain TV shows and/or movies with the parents.

I think it makes my life more enjoyable, at least for me, when I can still relive parts of my past while still being able to keep my eyes on the future. If I'm going to be honest with myself, I need to realize that there needs to be a balance. it's fine to remember the past as long as I'm still capable of looking toward the future.

With that said, I'm going to enjoy some classic rock while I goof off on the web.