Painted over

 

Issue 5,441 

It's just weather: 

 

Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow so be prepared for an early spring. Or should we refer back to statistics say that say the Woodchuck is wrong 61% of the time. So, I'm just sayin’, restrain your enthusiasm. We live in an Analytics world, Just ask Dan Campbell. 

 

Of course, the best way to know Spring is near is to watch teh Major League Baseball Equipment Trucks begin their trip south. The Red Sox Truck leaves Monday. Let's hope they have a truck full of players who know how to use it.  

 

The drum beat for the super Bowl is well underway. Unfortunately, even today there are a lot of people who think the Super Bowl is a toilet that cleans itself. 

 

 

The Question: 

When did the Punxsutawney ground hog first come out of his hole to predict the weather? Bonus: Where is Punxsutawney? 

 

The Headlines: 

--Markets Continue Upward Following Jobs Reports and Meta, Amazon Earning's Success; New Job Addition of 353K Trounce Estimates of 168K; Average Wage Increase Also Higher.  

--US Launches Retaliatory Attacks Against Iran Sponsored Targets in Iraq and Syria.  

--Judge Formally Postpones Trump Trial on Changes of Attempting to Overthrow the Election. 

--Former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein Back in Town as Part Owner. ` 

--NY Times Issues Report on Maine’s Problems Handling Troubled Youth. 

--Carl Weathers, former NFL Player who was Apollo Creed in the Rocky Films, Dies at 76. 

 

Some people think that these surveys about the positive or negative direction of the country relate mainly to economics. But for many it’s the decline of culture and character that make up a great society. Much of it is small things that can go unnoticed but when accumulated become corrosive to once solid foundations. It is often the general acceptability of lowered standards that diminishes the core ethics of a larger community. The new community looks for unacceptable behavior to be enabled and irresponsibility to be bailed out. Just an accumulation of adverse small things that become normalized. Just today I heard that schools across America are changing Valentine's Day to “Friends Day (Thank God for our Department of Education, right?) And I got a note from a friend this morning informing me of “Situationships” replacing relationships. And that small idea in Cosmo 7 years ago is now mainstream and growing rapidly in acceptances. That means basically no commitment to another person. Yes, it means that, and romance are being replaced by “convenance, variety and disposability.” That’s what is being reported. But i have a problem believing that people are that cold now. Maybe it is just editors and writers who are cold and unfeeling are cold. 

 

When a washing machine, for instance, broke down in years past, you called a mechanic and he or she fixed it. Now the digital signal panel indicates a failure mode. So, instead of a toolbox full of screw drivers, wrenches and plyers, the mechanic must bring along a psychoanalyst who understands the emotions of the digital circuitry. I can see in the future my computer at work getting angry at my typos signaling n my dryer to crap out just at that time when I have huge wet load of laundry on my hands.  

 

Caitlin Clark is a joy to watch. In case you aren't up on Caitlin she is a super basketball player for the U of Iowa women's basketball team. In about a week or two she will become the all-time NCAA Women's scoring leader. Yes, she is a joy to watch shoot from any distance and move effortlessly around the court.  

 

Oops, I made a tenfold error the other day. I said teh Ohio State Athletic Department had revenue of $257 Billion last year. That was $257 Million, still plenty of dough to reduce the tuition.  

 

It's interesting: The kids who go to college for the reason there are colleges are trying to figure out how to pay for it while the kids who go there mainly to play sports want to be paid to go there. 

 

BTW, now that college athletes seem to prefer getting piles of cash to play, maybe the schools could redistribute that huge benefit to a student body who would appreciate them.  

 

Hey, It’s Friday.  

 

Kids who live all year long in beautiful shoreline Maine get caught on the wrong side of the law just like kids in cities across the country. Worn out industrial towns sitting upon pristine coves and bays in places like New England are no different than the derelict buildings in the rust belt. People, once part of thriving communities, now try to survive beneath the glitz. This problem is on top of the mind of Maine Governor Janet Mills and was reported yesterday by yesterday’s NY Times in a pretty riveting story, “Shame on Us”. It featured two boys who got into serious trouble, but with help, a rational awakening of a just legal system, and through their own determination, found a way to positively impact their society. Yes, these towns painted as Shangri-La in travel magazines and in tourism ads have real people too, people working their ass off just eat and pay the rent. And sometimes their kids wonder what is going to become of us.  

 

A polar bear walks into a bar and says to the Bartender, “I'll have rum .................... and a coke. The bartender says, “What’s with the big pause?” The bear says, “I was born with them” 

 

The Answer: 

The earliest Phil first made predictions in 1887. He has predicted a long winter 100 times. It has now become a typical American phenomenon as 14,000 tourists show up in the 6,000 population Punxsutawney Pa to watch a somewhat bleary-eyed groundhog do basically nothing. Bonus: The little town is in the pretty Allegheny River region about 79 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. 

 

Have a great weekend, E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!!