I add as an afterthought a request that you consider our four Boomer presidents and the current sad representative of my own generation. Is this the best we can do out of a population of 320 million? Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison, coming from a population of 2 million, were incomparably better. Demonstrably smarter, and of vastly superior character.
When the General Secretary of the UN states that we have entered the period of "global boiling" you know the standards for such high office are very low, dumb and dumber.
I think Tedros is quite cunning. As an Ethiopian, he probably became skilled in political techniques during the Communist Party era. His "intent" is probably to maintain power and control information in order to maintain power in order to obtain money from politicians (government) and the general public who do not study much. I realize that I have been watching this since the early days of Covid19.
Tedros is trying to disguise the intent of the treaty which would give WHO total control in a pandemic. It's being sold as beneficial when in fact it is a means to undermine independence. As for the countries who agree to this, they can do as they wish and blame it on the WHO. During the phony Covid pandemic, many governments imposed draconian rules over the populace and got pushback from it. Under WHO edicts, they can simply say they're following orders. This is exactly what happens in Europe when the EU passes laws to impose draconian measures on farmers or health practitioners. The politicians simply say we are implementing EU directives, but it is what they want to do anyway.
Yes, farmers are the most independent people in the world. They grow the food so they have more freedom than the rest of us who are dependent on others to grow the food and to transport it to us. As we understand from the Holodomor, he who controls the food controls the population. It was Stalin's goal in the 20s and 30s to destroy the most successful peasants in Ukraine and to force people onto collective farms which ultimately failed. This is the EU ploy to restrict farming and thus control the modern peasants of Europe, those who think that food magically appears in the supermarkets.
If I remember correctly, I believe the German farmers have 70% support from the German people, while the German government which refuses to listen to the farmers has less than 30% support. The message so far from the German government to the farmers is "shut up, go home, and do as you are told." As a strategy to deal with unrest, that is not working. Last week, there was a national train strike, In Berlin, the union which operates the buses, trams, and subways are talking about a long strike. The truck drivers have gone on strike to support the farmers, but many ordinary Germans don't think that there is anything wrong.
That we are grower stupider, or, to be kind, at least much less well educated, than previous generations seems obvious.
The reported decline in reaction times as a sign of declining IQ certainly points to this.
There's a bar game you can play where someone holds up a dollar bill and you position your fingers over it to catch it when he releases it. If you do, then you can keep the dollar. If you can't, you have to pay him a dollar. Supposedly, it's impossible to catch the bill, but I can do it easily, and so can my brothers and, of course, my dad, who taught the game to us. Most naval aviators I've played the game with can catch the dollar; most others can't.
What I wonder is: if it's supposed to be impossible to catch the falling dollar, why did this ever become a game? At some point, enough people must have been able to catch the falling dollar that it made it a fun thing to try with your friends. Otherwise, why bother?
Is not this a sign of generally falling intelligence?
A while ago I wrote a blog post looking at the decline in the erudition of popular entertainment as a sign of our declining intellectual level or at least our educational level. If you are interested, here's the link:
I think the US government has been dumbing down the US population for years. It was once the ideal to educate everyone, but that changed in the sixties with the free speech movement and the rebellion against the Vietnam war. Now, I believe that they no longer teach critical thinking or any serious higher education. The point is to make the populace dumb enough to work and allow themselves to be entertained, but not smart enough to question the system.
I also see that it has gotten worse since I was in the university. We see the results of the dumbing of US college students in the latest anti-Semitic protests in both Britain and the US, something that appears to be completely unexpected by the ruling elite. These stupid Woke types were chanting from the river to the sea without even understanding what it meant. They are like parrots who have been taught to find grievances in every corner of their lives and to attack any established aspect of their lives without any serious thought process. The crowd that has been making a fuss about microaggressions and demanding safe spaces now openly chants a mantra which means genocide against Israel and the Jewish people.
The dollar bill test is real. Psychometricians have been studying reaction time for a century. Unlike questions on IQ tests, it does not change over time. See the review.
The pond behind our home is well-frozen, so the neighborhood kids cleared an area for ice hockey. As I've remarked before, I used to be irritated by the noise coming from the adolescents' parties disturbing the idyllic stillness. In truth, I never wanted a home by the water, a peculiar fixation to which it seems many Slavs are given. Yet here I am, and the sounds intruding on my peace have become welcome, as they are sounds of the proof of life. They remind me that this war, too, must pass.
If I were to live in a country where the preservation of marriages and the rearing of children in a two-parent home were important societal values, and where divorce courts did not regularly destroy men - and where societal institutions fostered, rather than hindered, the process of boys becoming men, and girls becoming women, with males taking the more or less dominant role, at least outside the kitchen - I'd be married and have children. I've seen too many people who never became adults, both male and female, and too many feminized males, here in the US. The last thing I'd do is expose male children to this environment. My measured IQ was 142 in 1979, 95th percentile on GRE in 1983, 96th percentile on LSAT in 1997 - all sufficient to get into MENSA. All grandparents were college grads, roughly around 1910-1914 - that includes grandmothers. Scots/English and German heritage.
IQ is an interesting question. Eddie asked, and I told him he could find test-yourself sites on the Internet. They are not too well calibrated, but they give you an idea.
My parents went to California public schools back in the days of "Terman's termites," when they saw no harm in testing everybody and telling them the scores. By the time they tested me they had grown somewhat circumspect. They told my parents, who never told me.
I maxed the Armed Forces Qualifying Test in 1963. Not a big deal - their interest isn't "how smart is this kid?" but "is he smart enough for us to use?"
The question is not what you are capable of, but how well you apply it to get things done.
I recall that aptitude test. When they scored it they were quite aware of what I had done. High marks except in Admin and Morse where they noted I worked hard to get the lowest possible marks. Eventually that got me into an highly technical intel field in an organization of 2000 or so spread worldwide. We monitored compliance with the Nuclear Test Ban but years before the ban.
Today to join the AF or Navy you nearly must have completed HS. The Army accepted a GED if you can pass the test and many can not on the first try. Don't know if they have continued those policies given how few wish to serve. Also way too many have drug issues along with obesity and poor health so can't begin to qualify. Wonder how the qualification scores are today compared to the past?
I add as an afterthought a request that you consider our four Boomer presidents and the current sad representative of my own generation. Is this the best we can do out of a population of 320 million? Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison, coming from a population of 2 million, were incomparably better. Demonstrably smarter, and of vastly superior character.
Absolutely correct.
When the General Secretary of the UN states that we have entered the period of "global boiling" you know the standards for such high office are very low, dumb and dumber.
I think Tedros is quite cunning. As an Ethiopian, he probably became skilled in political techniques during the Communist Party era. His "intent" is probably to maintain power and control information in order to maintain power in order to obtain money from politicians (government) and the general public who do not study much. I realize that I have been watching this since the early days of Covid19.
Tedros is trying to disguise the intent of the treaty which would give WHO total control in a pandemic. It's being sold as beneficial when in fact it is a means to undermine independence. As for the countries who agree to this, they can do as they wish and blame it on the WHO. During the phony Covid pandemic, many governments imposed draconian rules over the populace and got pushback from it. Under WHO edicts, they can simply say they're following orders. This is exactly what happens in Europe when the EU passes laws to impose draconian measures on farmers or health practitioners. The politicians simply say we are implementing EU directives, but it is what they want to do anyway.
For which they are getting some populist pushback. May it grow!
Yes, farmers are the most independent people in the world. They grow the food so they have more freedom than the rest of us who are dependent on others to grow the food and to transport it to us. As we understand from the Holodomor, he who controls the food controls the population. It was Stalin's goal in the 20s and 30s to destroy the most successful peasants in Ukraine and to force people onto collective farms which ultimately failed. This is the EU ploy to restrict farming and thus control the modern peasants of Europe, those who think that food magically appears in the supermarkets.
If I remember correctly, I believe the German farmers have 70% support from the German people, while the German government which refuses to listen to the farmers has less than 30% support. The message so far from the German government to the farmers is "shut up, go home, and do as you are told." As a strategy to deal with unrest, that is not working. Last week, there was a national train strike, In Berlin, the union which operates the buses, trams, and subways are talking about a long strike. The truck drivers have gone on strike to support the farmers, but many ordinary Germans don't think that there is anything wrong.
Amen. Likewise the puppet at the WHO. Among many others.
You mean Tedros, who the CCP bought a mansion for in Ethiopia?
Right!
Hello, Graham,
That we are grower stupider, or, to be kind, at least much less well educated, than previous generations seems obvious.
The reported decline in reaction times as a sign of declining IQ certainly points to this.
There's a bar game you can play where someone holds up a dollar bill and you position your fingers over it to catch it when he releases it. If you do, then you can keep the dollar. If you can't, you have to pay him a dollar. Supposedly, it's impossible to catch the bill, but I can do it easily, and so can my brothers and, of course, my dad, who taught the game to us. Most naval aviators I've played the game with can catch the dollar; most others can't.
What I wonder is: if it's supposed to be impossible to catch the falling dollar, why did this ever become a game? At some point, enough people must have been able to catch the falling dollar that it made it a fun thing to try with your friends. Otherwise, why bother?
Is not this a sign of generally falling intelligence?
A while ago I wrote a blog post looking at the decline in the erudition of popular entertainment as a sign of our declining intellectual level or at least our educational level. If you are interested, here's the link:
https://walkwithyou2919.blogspot.com/2021/10/we-used-to-be-smarter-or-at-least.html
I think the US government has been dumbing down the US population for years. It was once the ideal to educate everyone, but that changed in the sixties with the free speech movement and the rebellion against the Vietnam war. Now, I believe that they no longer teach critical thinking or any serious higher education. The point is to make the populace dumb enough to work and allow themselves to be entertained, but not smart enough to question the system.
I also see that it has gotten worse since I was in the university. We see the results of the dumbing of US college students in the latest anti-Semitic protests in both Britain and the US, something that appears to be completely unexpected by the ruling elite. These stupid Woke types were chanting from the river to the sea without even understanding what it meant. They are like parrots who have been taught to find grievances in every corner of their lives and to attack any established aspect of their lives without any serious thought process. The crowd that has been making a fuss about microaggressions and demanding safe spaces now openly chants a mantra which means genocide against Israel and the Jewish people.
The dollar bill test is real. Psychometricians have been studying reaction time for a century. Unlike questions on IQ tests, it does not change over time. See the review.
http://www.grahamseibert.com/Reviews/Psychometric/The%20Neuroscience%20of%20Intelligence.pdf
The pond behind our home is well-frozen, so the neighborhood kids cleared an area for ice hockey. As I've remarked before, I used to be irritated by the noise coming from the adolescents' parties disturbing the idyllic stillness. In truth, I never wanted a home by the water, a peculiar fixation to which it seems many Slavs are given. Yet here I am, and the sounds intruding on my peace have become welcome, as they are sounds of the proof of life. They remind me that this war, too, must pass.
If I were to live in a country where the preservation of marriages and the rearing of children in a two-parent home were important societal values, and where divorce courts did not regularly destroy men - and where societal institutions fostered, rather than hindered, the process of boys becoming men, and girls becoming women, with males taking the more or less dominant role, at least outside the kitchen - I'd be married and have children. I've seen too many people who never became adults, both male and female, and too many feminized males, here in the US. The last thing I'd do is expose male children to this environment. My measured IQ was 142 in 1979, 95th percentile on GRE in 1983, 96th percentile on LSAT in 1997 - all sufficient to get into MENSA. All grandparents were college grads, roughly around 1910-1914 - that includes grandmothers. Scots/English and German heritage.
Thanks! That's why I live where I do.
IQ is an interesting question. Eddie asked, and I told him he could find test-yourself sites on the Internet. They are not too well calibrated, but they give you an idea.
My parents went to California public schools back in the days of "Terman's termites," when they saw no harm in testing everybody and telling them the scores. By the time they tested me they had grown somewhat circumspect. They told my parents, who never told me.
I maxed the Armed Forces Qualifying Test in 1963. Not a big deal - their interest isn't "how smart is this kid?" but "is he smart enough for us to use?"
The question is not what you are capable of, but how well you apply it to get things done.
I recall that aptitude test. When they scored it they were quite aware of what I had done. High marks except in Admin and Morse where they noted I worked hard to get the lowest possible marks. Eventually that got me into an highly technical intel field in an organization of 2000 or so spread worldwide. We monitored compliance with the Nuclear Test Ban but years before the ban.
Today to join the AF or Navy you nearly must have completed HS. The Army accepted a GED if you can pass the test and many can not on the first try. Don't know if they have continued those policies given how few wish to serve. Also way too many have drug issues along with obesity and poor health so can't begin to qualify. Wonder how the qualification scores are today compared to the past?