Happy Independence Day, America! Or Independence Week, the week of July Fourth – I’m not sure about the week’s publishing schedule. I truly appreciate the comments, here an on the socials, on last week’s installment about the Vampires of Austin. One mentioned that the subject was “very disturbing and incredibly sad.” Yes, yes it was and was so intended. So, too, might be the tone of this column; consider it a call to festivity and a warning.
This Fourth is the 242nd birthday of that unique nation we know as The United States of America. For Americans, it is good and right to celebrate, so long as the celebration is for the right reasons. Folks, while hot dogs, beer, and fireworks are worthy accompaniment for Independence Day, they are not the heart or focus of the holiday. Freedom is. Freedom and tradition.
On July 4, 1776, a small group of men, with vested interests, signed off on a Declaration against the King of England. They essentially gave him the finger. They were serious enough about freedom to risk a war with the world’s most powerful Empire.
Today, are we that serious? Are we serious at all? What, exactly, do modern Americans celebrate independence from? From rule by the British, sure. I do note that many, many Americans are held in rapt attention by Royal weddings and Downton Abbey. But that’s cultural. We are free from the long list of injuries and usurpations set forth in the Declaration – as committed, then, by George III. Go down that list and see how we’re really doing all these years later – with the usurpations of Washington.
Go ahead and have that cup of coffee, maybe even several more. New research shows it may boost chances for a longer life, even for those who down at least eight cups daily.
In a study of nearly half-a-million British adults, coffee drinkers had a slightly lower risk of death over 10 years than abstainers.
The apparent longevity boost was seen with instant, ground and decaffeinated, results that echo U.S. research. It’s the first large study to suggest a benefit even in people with genetic glitches affecting how their bodies use caffeine.
Overall, coffee drinkers were about 10 percent to 15 percent less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of follow-up. Differences by amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal.
The results don’t prove your coffee pot is a fountain of youth nor are they a reason for abstainers to start drinking coffee, said Alice Lichtenstein, a Tufts University nutrition expert who was not involved in the research. But she said the results reinforce previous research and add additional reassurance for coffee drinkers.
“It’s hard to believe that something we enjoy so much could be good for us. Or at least not be bad,” Lichtenstein said.
There you have it: “Coffee is the fountain of youth.” You probably already knew that. I’m sure this woman is still alive thanks to coffee:
A South African woman was mistakenly brought to the morgue and stored in a fridge after she was declared dead following a car accident.
The unnamed woman was discovered breathing by a morgue worker who was reportedly writing a report and checking on the body, according to TimesLive, a South African news site. The Distress Alert paramedics who brought her in said that she had shown “no form of life.” She is currently being treated at a hospital.
The fountain of youth and it also revives the dead.
The following story would almost be unbelievable if it didn’t come out of an American public “school” system.
Being your school’s valedictorian might be the greatest honor a student can achieve. But what happens when there’s a mixup? After delivering a valedictory speech at DeSoto High School’s graduation in May, Texas student Destiny Brannon was told she wasn’t the school’s valedictorian after all.
…
On June 12, Destiny’s parents were told that the school had made a mistake calculating the students’ final rankings, the Dallas Morning News reported. Even though she had already spoken at DeSoto’s graduation on May 31, Brannon was apparently third in her class, according to the new rankings, which put a student named Brian Uzuegbunam in first place. According to the Dallas Morning News, the error happened because DeSoto had calculated the final rankings based on grades through the school’s fall semester, not the spring semester.
The mistake is more than just an embarrassing moment for the school too; it’s a potential financial nightmare for the Brannon family. Texas state universities give each of the state’s public high school valedictorians the opportunity to attend one year at a state university tuition free. Destiny had planned to attend the University of Texas at Austin. The family claims she had already gone through the school’s first-year orientation when her family learned about the valedictorian mixup.
The biggest twist in the story, though, is the fact that Destiny and her mom apparently don’t think the mixup was an accident at all. Destiny’s graduation speech criticized the school’s administration for valuing athletics over education, according to the Dallas Morning News. The outlet reported that although former DeSoto principal Arista Owens-McGowan had approved the speech, Destiny and her mom think the new rankings came in response to the criticism.
Given how “schools” are desperate to shut down dissent, I buy the retaliation angle. However, given that some American public school teachers can’t read, it’s likely that some school administrators can’t add.
Destiny Brannon, Gloria Akinnibosun, and Brian Uzuegbunam are three of those very high IQ students I’ve noted before, the ones you can’t stop from learning even if you try. Their grade averages, for any semester, are likely all high “A’s,” separated by some small fraction. They excel because they’re smart and certainly not due to being in a school that can’t tell spring from fall.
For Ms. Brannon and all the graduates, I am happy they are free from this stupidity. The Brannons should seriously consider legal action due to the financial bite. The State and the People of Texas should consider shutting down this failed system. The system owes them all an apology.
Here’s how the DeSoto High “School” breaks down:
US News.
This school boasts a 91% graduation rate even as they admit, by their numbers, that only half the students are proficient in reading. It’s a 97% minority school; where’s the feigned outrage from the usual suspects? Oh, yeah. They don’t really care.
I do. So I’ll leave bright, young Ms. Brannon with this: You cannot be stopped. Forget these fools. (Sue them maybe). Destiny, your destiny begins now.
The first great luxury and prestige point of being your C.F. Floyd National Affairs writer is the simple fact of being such. Really, I’m honored and grateful. The second great luxury is the wide latitude I’m allowed in picking subjects. Yet, therein, within the unbridled discretion, lurks the first menace.
Mine is an admittedly strange but active mind. Every week I literally have 100 potentially actionable ideas and maybe as many potential ways to present them. There are so many important issues which affect our culture, our freedoms, and our lives that it is hard sometimes to delineate the “one” for a given segment. You may have detected a slight tendency, here, towards the long-winded. It’s difficult, once a subject in pinned down, to limit it and prevent it from devolving into a novella. I do my best…
It’s also a minor goal of mine to keep the work here at least loosely interwoven with predecessor issues. In a way, all of this stuff is interrelated – at least in part. So here, today – and I’m getting to the subject matter de jure! – I picked a seemingly whacky and obscure story out of Texas which has slight bearing on what I’ve already printed and on some other features swirling. We’ll get into the other pressing matters of the maelstrom in due time. (I hear ya, “Perrin, hurry it the hell up!”). But. Now. On to the Vampires of Austin!
Frequently, if one really wants quality news about what’s happening in America, one has to turn to the European press. Even their tabloids do a better job of fact-finding than our sold-out CNNABCNBCBS cabal. Today’s American news of the weird comes courtesy of a story I read in The Sun (UK). There is in Austin, Texas, of all places, an active coven of vampires. (Here I’ll note that even the best fiction-minded author simply can’t make this stuff up to compete with reality).
Before a months-long hiatus, we visited upon the legal workings of Obamacare. You know, the law the GOP was going to repealreplaceamend live with. The more things change…
1,820 posts later and the fun continues! Thank you all for all of your support. Here’s to another six great years.
The ravings will resume shortly… Have a great remainder of your weekend!
I was just interviewed by two Temple journalism students, Amelia Burns and Erin Moran, and though they appeared very bright and enterprising, with Erin already landing a job that pays all her bills, I feel for these young ladies, for this is a horrible time to make and sell words, of any kind, and the situation will only get worse. We’re well into postliteracy.
With widespread screen addiction, hardly anyone buys books or newspapers anymore. My local newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer (Inky), no longer has a book review section. Its retired editor, Frank Wilson, was never replaced. Frank had three of my books reviewed, Night, Again, Fake House and Blood and Soap, but the last was in 2004.
We’re both right, kind of, about books sales. I say the sales are up. They are, or were the last time I checked, by the numbers. He’s right in that the quality of WHAT is sold has utterly collapsed. I think most buy the books now to have something to rest those screens on. Newspapers are dying.
Missed this the other day. The world’s favorite cartoon cat turned 40 on Tuesday.
And, Jim Davis says he’s “still trying to get it right.” So, if you’re having problems with a project, consider that the best selling comic creator in the world is having the same issues, four decades in.
The trend in the US and much of the world is towards lower IQs. The US is also witnessing a steep decline in the quality of education. Something like half the population is functionally illiterate. Thus, it is somewhat surprising that, over the past few years, more and more folks are reading or at least buying books.
What are they reading? A giant percentage of book sales fall among adult coloring books (yeah) and romance novels. The latter category does require the minimal mental synthesis of words. But, what do those words mean? If you’ve browsed the stacks in a coffee shoptoy store bookstore lately, then you’ve probably noticed the mass emergence of “postmodern literature.” Simply put, this involves the use of big words, without context, to wow the simple-minded and smugly reassure the nuevo elite trash. Much is said, nothing is communicated. Perfect for the Twitter Age.
The main theme of von Ludwig’s[2] essay on socialist
realism is the dialectic, and eventually the absurdity, of postcapitalist
class. In a sense, Sontag promotes the use of Debordist situation to modify and
challenge language. Many theories concerning a self-fulfilling totality may be
revealed.
“Class is part of the futility of consciousness,” says Lacan; however,
according to Cameron[3] , it is not so much class that is
part of the futility of consciousness, but rather the genre of class. It could
be said that Sontag’s analysis of socialist realism holds that the raison
d’etre of the writer is significant form, but only if art is distinct from
truth; if that is not the case, Debord’s model of cultural situationism is one
of “patriarchial narrative”, and thus responsible for elitist perceptions of
society. If presemioticist construction holds, we have to choose between
Debordist image and capitalist objectivism.
It even adds footnotes. Use it to impress your boss. You’ll feel smarter, smugger instantly.
Got a business? Ever get a (maybe undeserved) bad review? The owner of a diner in St. Pete got a little revenge – albeit after he closed it down:
I remember a bar where the owner used to try insulting everyone that walked in the door. Made him semi-famous and very popular. Maybe a little fire with fire is the way to combat the bad reviews. One notes from the TBT story that everyone loves a good review.
If you’re in Greenville, SC, drop by and see the Pipers – down by the river, kind of in between the hotels and the trolls under the bridge (which, in retrospect, might have been ducks…). Fantastic art and! with even the smallest purchase, you get a glass of Chardonnay from the proprietor. At least I did; it really helped me through a hot afternoon of shopping and duck dodging.
Five Stars!
meredithpiper.com
I also recommend Smoke on the Water – just down Main from artist’s row. The brisket with potato ball thing.
Those are your free gifts de jour. Happy Father’s Day!
It’s not your imagination. People are really getting dumber.
Over the weekend I started a draft on a similar subject, something I noticed. Here and now, I finish it with a few changes. Those were brought about by several stories which surfaced yesterday, which largely validated what I was suspecting all along.
Young people’s IQ scores have started to deteriorate after climbing steadily since Wold War Two, a new study has found.
The fall, which equates to about seven points per generation, is believed to have begun with those born in 1975, according to the first authoritative study of the phenomenon.
“Wold” War Two is likely a plain, old error and not an example of the point…
It’s true. But it’s not technology causing the trend. It’s not the fish or lack thereof. And it is not some nebulous social “force.” There are three causes:
1) Smarter people are having fewer children, passing on fewer genes. This has particularly dire consequences for the West. This works in conjunction with the other two.
2) Lower-IQ peoples are increasing in number, passing on their genes.
3) Modern Western immigration is geared toward the importation of non-Western peoples from countries with populations known to correspond with number two, immediately above.
What prompted my drafting earlier is immaterial. Last fall I reported on the various national IQs and the world average (86). Then, I wrote:
“I’m a little surprised the USA came in as high as it did. I would not be surprised if that number (and the global average) slips a little with each coming decade and/or generation. …”
Back then I had it in my head that the US was somewhere in the mid-90’s, I’d have settled for 95 (and this wasn’t via random guessing). 98 is just too high. More likely, it’s around 94.5. It’s not that big of a difference but, as its a point on a downward trend, it’s especially troublesome.
Last year I quipped: “98 will have trouble returning to the moon. 86 will not go the first time. 72 might have trouble finding the thing with a telescope.” This principle applies to all areas of society. Space travel is one thing. Running water, indoor plumbing, electricity, gasoline refinement, and relative judicial stability are others.
It’s become a vicious cycle – and yes, 1975 would be about the time it should have started manifesting itself. A crazed and deteriorating culture drives brighter people to work longer and harder while embracing the selfish and the trivial and delaying or foregoing starting families. They pay taxes to support the others, who keep having children. This is, obviously, not sustainable. Those on the right tail of the curve are increasingly squeezed by those in the shifting middle.
And, societally, it’s the middle, the average that really counts. If you’re reading this and understanding it, you’re above average. Surely you have noticed the decline of late during your interactions with the masses. It’s real. And it’s a real problem.
Others have noticed as well. Vox Day on the subject yesterday:
Vox Day/Youtube.
By the way – related good news here: Youtube assigns “related” channels to a particular creator. How? I’m not exactly sure. Regardless, I now have three related channels:
Vox appeared last night. It’s an honor to be algorithmically included in his and Stefan’s company. Banshee Moon was a prepper-esque channel. Now it’s more a bikini lifestyle channel – which I am also proud to associate with…
Note: the decline in the schools does not really factor into the general lowering. It fits with the general decline, however. Children with less base intelligence have less need for real education.
PERRIN LOVETT 
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