Quotation -- Knowledge

 

Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson

"One of the great challenges in this world is: 

Knowing enough about a subject 

to know that you are right ... 

but, not enough about a subject 

to know that you are wrong."

Why Schools Pass Students but Fail Society

 

Have you heard about the crazy situation in our public schools?  It’s like, one in five Americans can’t even read their own diplomas!  Despite spending a whopping $16,000 per student every year, we’re still struggling with this literacy crisis.

Take Alaysha Ortiz, for example.  She graduated from Hartford Public Schools in the spring of 2024 with honours!  She even got a scholarship to the University of Connecticut to study public policy.  But note this:  when she was in high school, she had to use speech-to-text apps to help her read and write essays.

Alaysha’s story is heartbreaking, but sadly, it’s not an isolated incident.  In Illinois alone, at 24 public schools, not a single student can read at grade level.  And nationwide, a whopping 54 percent of American adults read at or below a sixth-grade level.  That’s like, only 46 percent of American adults could even manage to read a middle-school level of literacy, let alone high school or college.

We spend so much money on education, and yet, we’re still falling behind.  Functional literacy is super important.  It’s about being able to read and understand all sorts of texts, like forms, instructions, job applications, and more.  It’s not just about being a skilled reader; it’s also about understanding what the text means.  You need to be able to decipher the words and make sense of the information being presented.

Have you ever wondered about the fascinating world of American historical texts from the Colonial Era? They’re absolutely captivating!

One of the most popular books of that time was John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress.’  It was a massive hit, selling millions of copies!  Benjamin Franklin even said it was found in almost every colonial home.

Harriet Beecher Stowe later wrote that ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ was the second most read book by the common people, after only the Bible.  It’s a true classic.

Now, here’s something interesting: we spend a whopping $16,000 per student every year on our public K-12 education.  And we’re spending a whopping $857.2 billion annually on public K-12 schools across the nation.

Have you ever noticed how we often skip the sounding-out part when reading?  You’re probably reading this sentence without even thinking about how each word sounds.  But if we skip that step and don’t learn to sound out words we don’t know or write them phonetically, we’re basically building a shaky foundation for real literacy.  Many public school classrooms have been doing this for decades, and it’s not a good idea.  It puts students at risk of not being able to read and write properly. 

Developed with a kind of AI and apologies to Hannah F. Hood from the Epoch Times

Zhuangzi (莊子) 369 -- 286 BC

"Everyone in the world knows how to seek for knowledge 

that they do not know, 

but do not know how to find what they already know."

Zhuang Zhou commonly known as Zhuangzi Chinese: 莊子; literally "Master Zhuang"; was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States period, a period of great development in Chinese philosophy, the Hundred Schools of Thought. He is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name, the Zhuangzi, which is one of two foundational texts of Taoism, alongside the Tao Te Ching.

Zhuangzi Dreaming of a Butterfly, by 18th-century Japanese painter Ike no Taiga

The Saab Gripen upsets F-35 supporters in NATO

 On April 6, 2025, Micael Johansson, the CEO of Swedish aerospace giant Saab, confirmed that the company is engaged in talks with Portugal to potentially supply JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

Photo by Sgt Müller Marin

This event comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions in Europe and a broader debate about the continent’s reliance on American-made military hardware. As Portugal weighs its options, the Gripen emerges as a cost-effective and versatile alternative to pricier platforms like the Lockheed Martin F-35, raising questions about NATO’s future procurement trends and the strategic implications for transatlantic defense cooperation.

SAAB is, reportedly, in talks with Canada and Portugal over potential Gripen procurement, after both countries expressed unease in recent weeks with their programs to acquire US-produced F-35s.

Compared to its competitors, the Gripen E/F offers distinct advantages for a nation like Portugal. The Lockheed Martin F-35A, while unmatched in stealth and sensor fusion, comes with a per-unit cost exceeding $80 million and annual maintenance expenses that can strain smaller defense budgets.

Incidentally a 2023 U.S. Government Accountability Office report noted that only 55 percent of U.S. F-35s were mission-capable at any given time, highlighting the platform’s logistical complexity. 

The Gripen, by contrast, strikes a balance between advanced technology and affordability, with a flyaway cost of around $40 million per unit and a design that reduces maintenance downtime. Its ability to conduct air-to-air, air-to-ground, and reconnaissance missions makes it a changing-role platform well-suited to Portugal’s multifaceted defense requirements.

Could this deal mark the beginning of a broader European pivot away from U.S. systems, or will it remain an outlier in a market still dominated by powerful American companies? Only time will tell, but the conversation itself underscores a critical juncture in the evolution of global air power.

I would put my money on the Saab Gripen. 

Selfish Or Blind

Without any doubt, this extensive article requires that you secure a comfortable chair, be prepared to read until the final sentence and, regardless of which side of the aisle you inhabit, inherit enormous enrichment.  

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jordan-peterson-are-older-liberal-voting-canadians-selfish-or-blind

Or click here:  selfish or blind

                                                        Acknowledgments to National Post and Dr. J. Peterson

2025 and The Future

 Just visualize the following scenario;

1- We know Trump and Putin met together during Trump 1 presidency;

2- They held secret talks for an afternoon which have never been disclosed;

3- Putin wants Ukraine and more countries in Europe, while Trump wants Canada, Greenland, Panama, and probably parts of Mexico or even Cuba;

4- Xi Jinping wants Taiwan no later than 2050 and probably other countries in Asia even Australia;

5- Early in the Trump 2 presidency he gives Ukraine to Putin who will keep NATO out of North America while Trump takes Canada;

6-  Putin and Trump green-light China to take Taiwan on condition it stays out of Europe and North America.

7- Under the new world order, everyone is happy and there is peace until one of them wants the whole thing for himself.

I know many other people think something like this will happen, too.

John Outram - Valued Contributor