Smart Things for Dumb Days

 First word of advice is that things can be worth what you pay for them, or not. Here are a few things that I found worthy of retelling here:

 • Political races have little relationship to what is going to happen during the year(s) the candidate will be in office. The information given is often more hype than substance. Then, a lot of people don't even bother to vote so we often get what someone else tells us we deserve. 

• Investing is a form of risk. The higher the risk, the higher the return or not. There is no such thing as fair or always in investing. The rules of investing often change and many people don't pay attention. Do you remember when buying a house was the answer to building a life estate and the basic for doubling your money? The latest information I saw said that over 40% of the value of the housing market is gone with the latest bubble burst. A bunch of people are living in a house that is not worth what they paid for it and live there because they have no other alternative.

 • Based on all the self help books I see in the book store, there are a bunch of people willing to pay a lot of money to find the secret of happiness. I have looked at the list of things worth buying out there and so far I haven't found a hell of a lot of things that bring happiness in an equal value for the cost. One time I bought a really nice electronic watch with a bonus I go on a job. You know what? It had cost me almost as much as I paid for it to have it repaired. I am pretty sure that for about 1/10th of the cost, I could have bought a simple Timex watch that I would have thrown away when it quit. What it did for me to spend all that money was to give me something that told me what time it is. My mother had a poster on the wall of her bathroom that said, "Happiness is not getting what you want, but wanting what you have."

 • In spite of how witty or pithy I make this treatise, the young people will not read it and save themselves a lot of misery. I have found that you learn by doing not just reading and the worse the outcome the more you often learn. If you are good (or lucky) you will remember these life lessons the next time, or not.

 • Clothes are really good to keep you from being naked. They won't make you popular, cute, or make people love you. I have clothes bought from the fancy stores and some from Good Will. For working in the yard, I find the stuff from Tractor Supply is often the stuff that wears the best and I don't really care what I look like when I know I'm going to get dirty.

 • Once upon a time, I made the decision that instead of paying big money to have someone do things for me, I would buy the tools to do the job and learn how to do the job through On The Job Training (OJT). You know what it has done for me? I now have a hell of a lot of tools that I can't find when I need to fix the next thing. I wish I could tell you which way is the best. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

 • There is a law in Physics that says for every action there is most often an equal and opposite reaction. I don't have a clue if this is what causes the Law of Unintended Consequences (LUC), but here are just a couple of things that I find funny caused by LUC. - The whole Country has been resisting having some kind of National Identity Card. Then they herald the Passing of the Affordable Health Act without thinking for even a minute that the only way this could work is for everyone to have some kind of a national health card. Hum? I guess as a Soldier the fact I had to carry and ID card at all times isn't fair to those of you that stand around and enjoy the fruits of Liberty the Military provides. Throw in some medical care and they will stand in line to get the Benefits (and a card) 

- Somewhere the rules got mixed up and we have let the first thing that crosses our mind rule our hearts. The Constitution, or more correctly the second amendment says that the Congress shall pass no laws that inhibit the right to bear arms. OK, I know there are a lot of other things in there about Militia and such in there but we have all sorts of things tried and changed. We felt that there are some people that are really trustworthy and good people and will let the carry a c concealed weapon. Then we have let people put up that little sign of no guns allowed in certain places. When a gunman shoots a lot of people and there is no one armed to shoot back we then argue that we should ban guns altogether. I would pass a national "You Have to carry Law" and make everyone have a concealed weapon card. Wouldn't that drive the people nuts?

 - Do you know what the difference between the AK-47 and the AR 47 is? The AK is a fully automatic rifle that can fire a magazine with only one pull of the trigger. The AR-47 is semi automatic and you have to pull the trigger each time. When the Government passed the Assault Weapons ban a few years ago, they said the 100 round magazine for the AK or AR 47 should be outlawed. That magazine seldom works and often jambs and you have to stop and take out all the bullets to make the rifle work. Instead of banning the magazine, they should have made it mandatory and that alone would keep people from shooting 100 time without reloading

 • Have you ever noticed that men want their children to grow up and leave home? I think we all feel that the better job we have done, the longer the kids will stay on their own. Mothers have this instinct that wants to protect her children forever and provide a place for them to come back to. You figure out that one.

 • There is a City in Nevada where the whole reason for going there is to Gamble. You know why they call it gambling? Because a lot of the time you lose and people wouldn't go there if they called it Losing. Yes, I know there are a lot of people that go there and pretend they are in it for the entertainment, food, shows and free drinks. They lie. They go there because they think they are capable of winning a lot of money and it is easy to do so.

 • When I am out and about, I see a lot of old guys wearing Vietnam Veteran Hats. I didn't go to war with a lot of old farts, we were young, full of piss and vinegar and ready to do battle. What happened? Yes, I really know we got older. I wish we had all gotten smarter in our old age but the result of time passing is that we get older. Then a lot of us die. Wait, we all will die sometime, it is only the when part that eludes most of us.

 MUD