Things are Better than You Think

[isisdave]

Where are Murrow, Cronkite, McLaughlin, etc when we most need them?

I was going to mention them. Fifty years ago, three somewhat-reliable, usually ethical networks had to come up with thirty minutes of news a day.

They used a communication system that was slow, expensive and primitive by today's standards, and had limited representation throughout the world.

Nowadays. a bazillion sources have to fill 24 hours every day, and the communications system looks like a huge funnel that anyone can use to promote any idea for no cost at all.

I think a lot of things could be improved by making things that are free cost one cent (to be donated to charity). If spam phone calls and texts cost one cent, many would stop. If it cost one cent to SEND a tweet, a lot would stop, and if it cost one cent PER RECIPIENT almost all would.

You're welcome....

 

[CaptTom]

Also, with someone like Cronkite as the source of news for everyone, who knows if we were getting all sides of the story?

I suspect that you'd find the same sort of biases we see in movies and print media from that era. Racial, gender, nationality, you name it.

But the key difference was that the journalists and news media outlets back then held themselves to a very specific standard. Limit emotionally-charged words. Keep to the facts. Present both sides of an issue. That last one was actually the law. It was a shock when a newscaster broke down and actually - gasp - showed emotion. My, how times have changed!

And, yes, there was some filtering. Personal lives of politicians were off-limits, so Kennedy did get away with more than Clinton ever could. I'm not sure that was always a bad thing. Even today most media outlets keep politicians' families out of the story, unless that relative has taken a public position.

 

[Koolau]

I don't trust any of those 'interviews'. How many people did they ask that gave good answers before they found someone who was clueless? And how many of those apparent' clueless' people just gave a stupid answer for a laugh, knowing it would get them on TV. With editing, anything goes.

But there are a lot of people who seem to have no idea what the three branches of government are about, how checks and balances are supposed to work, etc, and it upsets me that these people get to vote.

-ERD50

I've watched quite a number from different sources. I wondered the same thing. Do they just show the dummies? Well, according to most, they do not. In fact, they will typically show some guy or gal who get's 'em all right. I always do well on these as I sit at home and play along.

By the way, my kids are smart - very smart. They went to good schools - some would say the best in the region for HS. I quizzed them about US history, US gummint, etc. They were clueless. Clearly, they had never been taught at school. I think that's the real issue - not that people are dumb - but they ARE uneducated in areas that would help them make informed decisions about the direction of the country.

We have a system that CAN be very responsive to the electorate. But it's only responsive if the electorate is actually knowledgeable about their rights (and responsibilities.) I guess I better quit.

 

[rmcelwee]

I think a lot of things could be improved by making things that are free cost one cent (to be donated to charity). If spam phone calls and texts cost one cent, many would stop.

My wife and I sold email and later web access in the early days of what most people call the internet. There was a push in the early 90's from some people to charge $.01 to send an email and the money would be given to the person who received the email. So, get paid to receive spam.

FWIW, I know some here will remember 56K phone modems. I recall at one point our entire bandwidth, which we split up and distributed to our customers, was only 56K. I believe we paid around $5,000 a month for this.

 

[indiajust]

Ronald Bailey and Marian L Tupy, Ten Global Trends every smart person should know and many others you will find interesting

https://www.amazon.com/Global-Trends-Every-Smart-Person/dp/1948647737

 

[ls99]

Yes, things are better, more options for information sources than the various sanctioned talking heads and printed media.
Things got even better when years ago dumped TV. I decided that inviting the worlds troubles into my living space was highly detrimental to my well being, utter waste of time, especially having to sit and watch the endless pabulum, mayhem, drivel and advertising. Yecch!

Things that are worse, needing extremely high quality BS filter to sort thorough printed and internet sources, and finally settle on what seems valid factual information. And still have some doubts on the various motives. This includes even "scientific publications". Seems far too many research results published have been retracted.

On a personal level of things being better, have enough and some more to live comfortably and be able to do things that are pleasurable. And available time to do nothing. In my case fun stuff is among other things figure skating, kayaking, dancing, hanging out at my camp.
I may even get adventurous in the fall to stress test my brain with auditing some college classes.

 

[street]

The house is warm and dry. The boat is moored safely in the slip. The dogs are well. We have clothes suited for the weather. The fridge has food in it. All the appliances work.

Life is good -

Yep!!! I like that.

 

[Out of Steam]

I went down the rabbit hole and watched a ton of Peter Zeihan videos a few weeks ago. His major theme on most was "the world is crumbling except the US, France, Mexico, Canada".

I visited France for the first time last year and was very impressed with the country.

 

[Out of Steam]

Yes, things are better, more options for information sources than the various sanctioned talking heads and printed media.
Things got even better when years ago dumped TV.

I gave up cable TV news (of all agendas) in 2010 after watching too much of it with my mother while she was in declining health. Once in a while, I will watch local news, and look at the national 30 minute broadcasts on rare occasions.

The decision has improved my quality of life significantly.

 

[ncbill]

Where are Murrow, Cronkite, McLaughlin, etc when we most need them?

Keep 'em...life is so much better now.

When Murrow was on the air a middle-class family would be lucky to have one (change the oil every month or you throw a rod) vehicle.

And it would almost certainly be a sedan, not something as versatile as a SUV.

Small homes like something out of "A Christmas Story" were the norm.

At best you'd have a balky coal furnace as in that movie as well, not instant heat as with my gas furnace, not to mention central A/C.

If you wanted to cool off back then you had to head to your town's one movie theater...hope you like at least one of the two movies playing.

 

[Freedom56]

The drive through line at In-N-Out was moving reasonable fast today. Things are better today.

 

[folivier]

Not SUV's but we had a station wagon.

 

[indiajust]

The Case for Nukes: How We Can Beat Global Warming and Create a Free, Open, and Magnificent Future

https://www.amazon.com/Case-Nukes-Global-Warming-Magnificent/dp/1736386069

Civilian nuke power reactor designs were chosen by Adm. Rickover, to better support the mandatory design for military ship and sub use.

This book is the opposite of that decision. Instead of opposing current practice evolved from military decisions, it shows how the opposing view of more and better power might greatly reduce the need for military nukes, and all the questionable regulatory gamesmanship around that decision.

It might even be too optimistic for some folks. It covers a bit of politics, environment, energy, foreign policy, and social structure. Lots of ways to earn an infraction with these ideas.

 

[Koolau]

The Case for Nukes: How We Can Beat Global Warming and Create a Free, Open, and Magnificent Future

https://www.amazon.com/Case-Nukes-Global-Warming-Magnificent/dp/1736386069

Civilian nuke power reactor designs were chosen by Adm. Rickover, to better support the mandatory design for military ship and sub use.

This book is the opposite of that decision. Instead of opposing current practice evolved from military decisions, it shows how the opposing view of more and better power might greatly reduce the need for military nukes, and all the questionable regulatory gamesmanship around that decision.

It might even be too optimistic for some folks. It covers a bit of politics, environment, energy, foreign policy, and social structure. Lots of ways to earn an infraction with these ideas.

Yeah, as much fun as it would be to discuss here, I'm gonna just let it go. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a very interesting read.

 

[NW-Bound]

There are plenty of good things going around, mainly advances in science, engineering, and medicine, and I partake in plenty of these.

It does not mean that I am not worrying about things or areas that appear to get worse.

The house is warm and dry. The boat is moored safely in the slip. The dogs are well. We have clothes suited for the weather. The fridge has food in it. All the appliances work.

Life is good -

Be sure to secure a source of electricity to keep your appliances humming. I am adding more solar panels and lithium batteries to my DIY system. Heh heh heh... These hardware components cost a lot 10 years ago, but are more affordable now. Progresses abound, but not everyone can or knows how to benefit from them.

 

[ncbill]

Be sure to secure a source of electricity to keep your appliances humming. I am adding more solar panels and lithium batteries to my DIY system. Heh heh heh... These hardware components cost a lot 10 years ago, but are more affordable now.

Signature Solar has added those mini-splits which can use DC solar panel output directly I mentioned earlier:

https://signaturesolar.com/promotions

That 12kW kit with 30kWh of battery looks good too.

 

[NW-Bound]

The PV-powered mini-splits are useful for people who just want to reduce their cooling cost a bit. It's because the power produced by the panels and the power needed by the AC cannot stay matched through the day. When you have more power from the panels than the AC needs, it goes to waste because there's no battery storage. Then, when the AC needs more, it draws from the grid. In other words, the PV panel output will definitely reduce the energy drawn from the grid, but the economic advantage is going to be hard to quantify.

On the other hand, the $11,678 kit with 13 kW of inverters coupled with a rack-mounted 30.72-kWh LFP battery looks like a heck of a deal. If this were available 4 years ago when I first built my system, I would have bought it and saved myself a lot of work.

So, yes, some things are better. A heck of a lot better.

 

[indiajust]

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Res...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584413749746783&psc=1

The Ultimate Resource 2. Original came out in the early 80's as a refutation of Ehrlich, population bomb publication. This is a revision from late 90's.

The gist is that human creativity and motivation in a proper context is the greatest resource of all. Considered radically optimistic with first publication, much of the predictions came to fruition.

A narrow historical look at strictly environmental news from 50 years of Reason magazine: https://reason.com/2023/04/21/happy-earth-day-reason-recycles-5-decades-of-environmental-coverage/

This gives context to just how difficult it can be to see an arc of progress in news. But quite a bit is rather dull.

 

[skipro33]

My contribution is a little more on the personal level than the global. It has to deal with our youth. I have 6 grand kids, all straight A students and well versed in extra activities from music to sports to social volunteer programs. The eldest is turning 18 and graduating from high school this year. He's been accepted to Annapolis, Naval Acadamy and a full ROTC scholarship to USC (University of Southern California) My hope was that he takes the USC scholarship over the academy simply for the diversity of the education not being strictly military. I think it would serve him better if he decides that a military career is not something he wishes later on in life. Like, when he wants to start a family and actually be there for his kids while they grow up for example. (My experience while in the Air Force, so I do have some knowledge of the lifestyle). He called to let me know he accepted USC and will start this fall. That got me looking at YouTube videos of USC by faculty, staff and students. WoW! I had no idea that research universities like this existed! The range of studies! The number of schools within the USC system even. It's not just one USC, is broken down into a dozen specialized schools. His major is international relations and will minor in some sort of Chinese language I think. He'll spend some weekends and a few weeks in summer with the ROTC program getting his military experience and owe them back 4 years after graduation. But along with the tuition and books, he gets a $600 a month stipend. BTW, tuiton at USC is $65,000 a year. He's still unsure if he'll go Navy or Marines, they are both the same for the Naval Acadamy and the NROTC program.
Those YouTube videos have me feeling a lot better about where we are headed as a nation and as a civilization after watching these bright young minds attending.
We all know the news is sensational and seems never on the positive, but rather focused on the negative enough to overwhelm to the point of tuning out. If only there was a news station that focused on the positive and especially where our youth are heading and not the evil and bad things many think they all are.

 

[Markola]

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Res...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584413749746783&psc=1

The Ultimate Resource 2. Original came out in the early 80's as a refutation of Ehrlich, population bomb publication. This is a revision from late 90's.

The gist is that human creativity and motivation in a proper context is the greatest resource of all. Considered radically optimistic with first publication, much of the predictions came to fruition.

A narrow historical look at strictly environmental news from 50 years of Reason magazine: https://reason.com/2023/04/21/happy-earth-day-reason-recycles-5-decades-of-environmental-coverage/

This gives context to just how difficult it can be to see an arc of progress in news. But quite a bit is rather dull.

I earned a masters of environmental studies degree in the 1980s and we read Julian Simon’s “The Ultimate Resource.” I would say that our entire class and all but one professor rushed to dismiss Simon’s thesis. It was just too radically optimistic to be trusted and it was counter to every other thing we read and the opposite of the societal alarm narrative that drew us into the field of study.

Three decades later, having lived a while in the digital age, I can no longer dismiss it, however. I find it very disorienting to see the undeniable progress humans are making, as reflected in this thread, compared with the solid, wall to wall doom and gloom in my daily New York Times, hunted out and magnified by reporters and editors, yet almost none of which I experience in my real life. The NYT readers’ comments on any article having to do with the environment, economics or energy are even worse, often laughable in their parroting of the papers’ utterly negative bias.

 

[marko]

Three decades later, having lived a while in the digital age, I can no longer dismiss it, however. I find it very disorienting to see the undeniable progress humans are making, as reflected in this thread, compared with the solid, wall to wall doom and gloom in my daily New York Times, hunted out and magnified by reporters and editors, yet almost none of which I experience in my real life. The NYT readers’ comments on any article having to do with the environment, economics or energy are even worse, often laughable in their parroting of the papers’ utterly negative bias.

It IS disorienting to be aware of your personal world and observations and trying to align them with what you're being told by the media. I try to go with my own reality which tends to serve me better. (Why does the "snowstorm of the century" always only drop 6 inches in my driveway?)

Lots of needless negativity and anger out there of late it seems.

 

[NW-Bound]

Why does the "snowstorm of the century" always only drop 6 inches in my driveway?

Because you are lucky.

Where we are, we get enough precipitation in the form of rain to refill the reservoirs to end the drought. And with the snowmelt coming, they are releasing water downstream to let it soak into the desert to refill the aquifer.

Nothing bad from the weather so far. No bad flood yet. Knock on wood.

Lots of needless negativity and anger out there of late it seems.

Well, some people with different circumstances may be justified in feeling so.

 

[marko]

Lots of needless negativity and anger out there of late it seems.

Well, some people with different circumstances may be justified in feeling so.

Gee. I was really hoping my use of the word "needless" would have underlined my point that there was a lot of unnecessary negativity and anger while at the same time excluding those with different, more challenging circumstances.

My snow comment was lightheartedly intended figuratively not literally. Another miss, obviously.

I'll try to do better.

 

[CaptTom]

I won't quibble with the term "unnecessary."

It's sort of like the warnings on products. Yeah, we all know not to put our fingers in the blades of a lawnmower, etc. But somewhere, someone didn't figure it out in time. For those people, maybe the warnings aren't unnecessary.

It's the same for the news reports of impending or actual severe weather. Most of us know what to do, most of us are prepared. But there's always someone who won't take it seriously. Like looking at the sun during an eclipse. There's gonna be some idiot who does it anyway. So I suppose you can argue that all the dire language is "necessary." Personally, I'd be OK letting Darwin sort it out.

 

[NW-Bound]

My snow comment was lightheartedly intended figuratively not literally. Another miss, obviously...

No, I knew your post was light hearted.

And I wanted to share that the above-normal precipitation, while dreadful elsewhere, worked out for us in this prolonged drought.

On the other hand, some places in California go directly from a bone-dry condition to swimming in a flood. Have you read the news about the 687-sq.mi. Tulare dry lake getting refilled from the rain and snowmelt to come? That's a heck of a lot of acreage. Holly Molly!

Life is never fair. I read the news, and shudder thinking what if it were me in the news. Now, I have been through some hardship in life, but at this old age, I just want some peace and quiet before I croak.