Like Peas In A Pod

The AJC recently gave a good deal of ink to a local politician who had recently visited Finland, assumably on the taxpayer dime, returning with tales of educational equity and excellence that she believes we can apply right here in the ATL. Really? Equity in Finland, bearing in mind that the contemporary uses of "equity" are the same outcome. Regardless. 

Could there possible be two places, two communities, two societies, MORE dissimilar? We're mostly familiar with the ATL but lets take a look at Finland, demographics in particular. Finland has about 5.6 million people. The. Whole. Country. To quote Wikipedia, "Finland is a predominantly ethnically homogenous country with a dominant ethnicity of Finnish descent." We are a melting pot, though it appears the heat was turned off quite a bit back. Finland is also blessed with official languages, Finnish and Swedish, and we are not. Don't even try. The only thing more unfathomable than a politician spouting this nonsense is the AJC giving it a platform.

The only sensible explanation is that the politician left her guide dog at home.

Keine Stille Nacht

It is time for the annual "assimilation tango" with folks from other parts of the world imposing their customs on the land they've chosen to migrate to but have no intention of respecting. 

Particularly the laws.

As it so happens it is against the law in DeKalb County to shoot off fireworks after 9PM except for a very limited set of days which does not include Christmas Eve (see Division 4, Sec. 16-311). Virtue signalers contend we simply must respect these newcomers' customs and tolerate their openly breaking the law. Well, in some places guns are fired in celebration giving us the term "celebratory gunfire." Will the virtue signalers accept and support that? Where do they draw the line and who are they to draw it? By what authority do they decide who can and cannot break our laws with impunity? Will anyone support and enforce these laws in effect and respected by others? Probably not: think inflate-a-dino.

As politically correct as it may be, perhaps we should follow the lead the UK has set and limit immigration to numbers we can successfully assimilate.

Baffling Math

Math is cool. Has real world day-to-day application. What might that be you ask? Well, sussing out BS in mainstream media. Case in point: in a recent Maureen Downey opinion piece on math scores, to underscore the importance of STEM, we get this:

"Engineers earned the highest median salaries, with an average pay of $97,000..." 

You need to know almost nothing about statistics to smell this road apple. You see, when they change horses in mid stream, from median to average, they're mangling the data to support their viewpoint. You should stop reading the opinion piece at this point and disregard all you've read to this point. Instead you might want to rabbit-hole on the "flaws of the averages" because almost without fail when someone slings around average numbers they're slinging crap. Thought exercise: consider the average household income with two earners in the USA. Doesn't really tell you very much does it?

Talk To The Hand...

...the bureaucrats are busy.

A resident of Dunwoody has been trying to get the city to stop ignoring his requests for discussion. Topic? Stormwater issues. The matter at hand seems pretty straightforward and involves a drainage basin in need of an outlet and frankly the ownership of the basin itself should not result in the city ignoring a resident. And by city we mean the city manager, the mayor and a councilman. 

However, if you want to openly violate the sign ordinance with your inflate-a-dino this city will not only listen, they'll give you the key to the city and rewrite the code to suit your (currently in vogue) style of ticky-tacky. Does anyone we've elected not see what's wrong with this picture?

How Could Anyone Believe This?

A local journalist is suing the City of Dunwoody, and a few of its bureaucrats for failure to comply with an open records request around an alleged issue with a cop.

Who could possibly believe this? After all the chief wins awards.

Fine, so the cops did falsify their own police reports, but it was all for a good cause, right? But allegations of violating open records laws?

Who could possibly believe this? After all the chief wins awards.

OK, fine, there was the dick-pic fiasco, but that was just a harmless example of boys being boys, right. But lying about missing text messages?

Who could possibly believe this? After all the chief wins awards.

Yeah, yeah, quit yer bitchin about the fact DPD never enforces traffic violations in or near the Village. But suggesting they willfully lied?

Who could possibly believe this? After all the chief wins awards.

Even The Deer

The World Is All A'Twitter

You Might Be An Idiot If...

In a recent opinion piece Maureen Downey was pondering the impact of screens, specifically phones, and student achievement and overall wellbeing. The general consensus is these things are about as good for your kids as crack cocaine. Laced with fentanyl. And it does make you wonder if A.D.H.D really stands for "Another Damn Handheld Device." It seems most everyone agrees these things take tender young minds and turn them into complete mush. 

Well, everyone except some parents. This is where the idiots arrive on the scene. Apparently there exist parents who thought having a baby was a good idea but keeping the resulting child save from harm, well, not so much. They actually justify ensuring that their walking STDs have these devices at all times. So...

If you think your kid should have a smartphone for emergency communications, then you might be an idiot. Only an idiot would think it reasonable for a child in an active shooter situation to think "well, I better text mom right away--it turns out I won't be taking Sally to the prom because she just got shot." 

Or, if you think your little darling needs a phone so you can reach out regarding their requests for tonight's dinner menu, pasta or pizza, it doesn't matter, then you probably are an idiot. Wrong. On so many levels. About time you started adulting, maybe even parenting. She's gonna eat what you fix and if she doesn't like it, well, then don't eat anything. We have a youth obesity crisis partly because they're eating too much, most of it crap, but mostly because they're flopped on the sofa with their eyes glued to a smartphone screen. 

Or, if you think a smartphone is some kind of educational asset in a child's hands, then you really are an idiot. Do you really think keeping up on the latest Taylor Swift dating drama or breakup lyrics is not what they are really doing when they are supposed to working? They do call it "school work" for a reason. 

Finally, if you think anyone in High Tech that makes this technology lets their children anywhere near it, then you are not just an idiot, you're a clueless idiot, who probably spends way too much time making eye-love to your smartphone even when the real person you bred with is in the same room. 

Skid Marks

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Who keeps taking out these signs? Are they doing it on purpose or are they just they typical incompetent driver that seems to dominate the village? What would have happened if it were a pedestrian rather than a sign? After all, folks in daVille actually do walk even without an interstate lane underneath their feet. 

And does it even matter? Dunwoody bureaucrats, including the much ballyhooed CoP have state most loudly by their [in]actions that they're not inclined to enforce any traffic laws in these areas. None. Nada. 

So the only question remaining is: will they have to float a bond to pay for the repair?

Make It A Drinking Game

We've been suffering through a prolonged period of linguistic entropy. Some would blame it on social media, others on the pandemic, and some others on just increased general ignorance. Folks are misusing some words, abusing others, and making some up. There is an upside. You can make commonly abused words into "triggers," in a good way. You see one online in click-bait? Don't click. You hear the abuse on TV? Change the channel. Trip over one in something you're reading. Stop. Just stop. You can't make them stop, but you can stop yourself. 

Even better, if you have the time and inclination, then when confronted with an odious affront to intellect, take a sip. Preferably an adult libation. Let's look at a few shot-worthy nuggets.

Bussing or busses. This one you've got to see in print, but if they're not talking about getting some face time and making wet noises, fully clothed, then take a shot. Given spell checkers routinely flag this, seemingly not artificially intelligent enough to know the other meaning, it is an unconscionable infraction. Maybe two fingers. 

Physicality. While this does pass the spell checker it is still wrong, more than mildly unpleasant to the ear. It seems to have originated with jocks-turned-sportscasters trying to sound like they learned something during their college years. Certainly deserves taking a sip and will help soothe the pain of a losing game. 

Athleticism. Often used in the near occasion of physicality which accelerates the listener towards a solid buzz. Depending on the banter and color commentary you could be in the "just don't care" zone before the end of the first quarter. Even with the new clock rules. 

Hack. If something isn't getting chopped up or the reference isn't to a watch movement just close your eyes and take a long, deep sip. This usually is found in writing, almost always on the interweb finding its way into the clickable headline. Do. Not. Click. There is nothing on the other end of that link but unadulterated crap. Take that solid gulp and stay safe.

These are just a few examples, and surely there are many, many more. Plus, they are making them faster than you can gag on them. Thankfully you can vaccinate yourself against this brain rot with a healthy dose of brain bleach. Remember: thirst is a dangerous thing.

End RoR

If the city really wants to make the village pedestrian friendly there are a few things they can do. 

They could start enforcing traffic laws. Dunwoody apparently has such a widespread reputation for non-enforcement that speeding is more the rule than the exception and red lights are frequently run with drivers sometimes flooring it ten yards before the crosswalk. Heaven forbid a pedestrian thought red means red and began to cross. Enforcement has never been even a bottom-of-the-list priority and that is not going to change. Apparently actual public safety does not garner awards. 

Something other jurisdictions are trying is eliminating Right-on-Red (RoR) as drivers never look to their right and will flatten any pedestrian trying to cross, even though the pedestrian has the walk-man light right of way. This change could make a significant improvement in pedestrian safety, much more so than banning drive through windows which the city seems hell-bent on doing. Could the mayor still be miffed about those trash cans at Burger King?

Of course outlawing RoR won't actually work because this city manager is never going to enforce traffic laws even though it is his top priority job. And yet...he keeps that job.