Amongst the news-worthy items: TSA fees will increase, a good bit of sequestration is being unwound, and Federal workers are going to have to pay more for their pensions going forward. Not sure exactly what that means, but it particularly sucks for my friends who’re still in the military. I feel for them, but then again, it’s also the way the whole world is headed, and that sucks, too. Bottom line, we might want to take care of you when you’re sick, but no one wants to pay for your care. By the same token, we want you to have enough money to pay your bills when you’re too old to work, but no one wants to be on the hook to provide the money. And no one wants you to actually retire, we’re all just supposed to work until we die.
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| I give Paul Ryan a lot of credit for compromising on the budget. |
This is 21st Century.
My opinion? This is why birth rates are declining across the developed world. There’s no optimism for the future, and folks just aren’t buying in. They don’t see the point, don’t want to play the game. Except that it’s not a game, it’s the future. It’s not just governmental policies, either. It’s the whole attitude: if we can get you to work for $10/hour, then that’s what you’re gonna work for. And if we can push it down to $8, that’s even better. As a result, a whole generation is losing buy-in. They’d just as soon sit at home by themselves, playing video games.
I worry for my kids. But as I said, things are tough all over, and at least my kids are smart.
2. Donut Family.
With all of that said, my kids and my wife are the best things in my life.
My daughter Hannah has recently become something of an amateur film-maker. Her most recent film, Donut Family, was so bizarre and yet so oddly entertaining that I feel like it hits something of a new level, and that’s why I’m sharing it. Sally and I were both mesmerized.
I don’t know what else to say about the film, but your mileage may vary. By all means, let me know what you think. But be nice; my daughter is ten, and anyway, I’ll delete any mean comments before she sees them.
3. Godzilla!
There’s a new Godzilla movie coming next year. So…
And if you haven't seen it yet, here's the comparison. Because bigger is always better.
And, or course...
Everybody always wants to destroy New York. Am I the only one who notices that? I mean, come on! Can't we at least have Godzilla take on another city? Like Tokyo? Or maybe Witchita?
You’ve probably seen this by now. I thought the best coverage came via the LA Times.
“A defense psychologist called it “affluenza,” a syndrome that keeps someone from a wealthy background from learning that bad behavior has consequences. That explanation helped a North Texas teenager get a sentence of probation after he drove while drunk and killed four pedestrians…
“[T]he teen … doesn't link bad behavior with consequences because his parents taught him that wealth buys privilege, [his] psychologist said in court, according to media reports.
That [same] psychologist cited one instance when the boy, then 15, was caught in a parked pickup with a naked 14-year-old girl who was passed out. He was never punished, the psychologist said, noting to the court that the teenager was allowed to drink at a very young age, and even began driving at 13.”
So… this sounds like sexual assault, followed by vehicular manslaughter a year late. And the answer is probation, with a stay at an in-patient $450,000/year treatment facility, paid for by the kid’s parents.
5. The Desolation of Smaug comes out today.
My daughter Emma thoroughly enjoyed the first one and really wants to see the new one. I suppose that I personally don’t mind going, but I’ve read The Hobbit at least a half-dozen times, and I feel pretty good about saying that you could tell the whole story in three hours and do it justice, easily. I’ll never understand why Peter Jackson decided to break this movie up into a trilogy of three hour movies, but there you go.
I guess after you make The Lord of the Rings and make it work, you get to do whatever you want.
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