hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

Somewhere in my education as an engineer, a professor said the title of this post.  And its true in life these days.

Every day, we see news that is worse than the day before.  The lies. The gaslighting.  The The stupidity of it all.  It's kind of astounding how it's happening, mostly unchecked. It's hard to focus on any single thing, or even a couple of issues, because it just keeps going. 

Things may look bad.  But, I try to be a little philosophical and channel my inner Yoda on this and remind myself that the future is uncertain.

Remain hopeful that tomorrow will be better.  And take small actions to make that a reality in our lives.

But bigger picture,  I think its important to turn off the constant news, and stay off of social media as much as possible (doom scrolling is never a good thing!)

Be a true skeptic of everything you consume. Remember that often "influencers" whether on TV, the radio, or on the interwebs are in it for clicks, fame, or money.

But with that said, the "plan for the worst part" is that we should all have options in our lives. If things were to go wildly wrong, and "we" felt the need to leave, where would we go? This is the time to be considering that eventuality. 

If you're considering leaving the country, there are places that offer citizenship by investment, have a golden visa of some kind, have a residency program, offer some kind of option for retirees to live there, etc. 

Or you could look at citizenship requirements for a place you like, maybe thriugh residency or a work visa. Or maybe you have an ancester (like a grandparent) who came to the US, and that country of origin offers citizenship.

Step one is to come up with a list of some options for yourself and people you care about. And do a little research (haha the irony!) on citizenship or residency in those places. 

It never hurts to have options. Even if things suddenly look better (I can dream!)

Job hunting, ageism, and the world of automation

Companies (large and small) tend to outsource their HR front end, relying on third parties to handle the voluminous applications that come into a job (in some cases it could literally be tens of thousands of applicants for a single job). 

But these third parties may not be playing fair. 

I read an article about a lawsuit against the "Workday company," who offer this service. The suit alleges that workday use some kind of automation (they refer to as AI, but I'm skeptical) to immediately (like within seconds) weed out candidates who the system determines are over 40 (based on years worked or degree dates or whatever).

The company defends itself by saying that it's legitimate automation and it's looking at skills and experience for a job, and the kicker is that since there's no human involved it can't be age discrimination! 

And in today's world, who knows? They may be "correct" in that assessment. 

But the bigger picture is that the companies that use these services (which is pretty much all of them) are complicit in their discrimnatory hiring practices.  The suit is about age, but the HR company builds their automation around what the hiring company wants, which may include other things beyond age.  And because they're just a front end, it leaves the hiring company's "hands clean." 

But that means that for the average person - especially an older worker looking for a job - it's literally impossible that any application they submit would EVER be considered.

The only real options to stand a chance are to network or use a headhunter.  But then, of course, you have little control over the situation, or type of job that may be available.  "The man" has control over all of it, and you have no choices.

Its all an elaborate illusion of work.

That's totally screwed up. 

Teen scientist makes stunning breakthrough that could slash costs of lifesaving drugs: 'I cannot describe this feeling'

This young guy came up with a way to use corn husks to simplify the early part of the drug manufacturing and was able to reduce the cost of this step from $75 to $12.50. 

Without the ability to scale. The and result is that it should be cheaper to make drugs in the future. 

Now let's see if the drug companies actually use it AND reduce prices - or if they simply just enhance their profits. 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/teen-scientist-makes-stunning-breakthrough-214500834.html

USA Today predicts ….

Scientists unveil bioplastic that degrades at room temperature, and outperforms petroplastics

How clever of them! Using cellulose so it degrades easily at room temperature is a good answer. 

WashU's chemical engineers decided to introduce cellulose nanofibers to the design of bioplastics.

"We created this multilayer structure where cellulose is in the middle and the bioplastics are on two sides,"

And thus you have something that may help with some of our plastic problems. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250803011823.htm

Almond production

Almonds are very particular plants.  They require a fair amount of attention, and very large amounts of water to grow.  One might argue that their overproduction in places like California is to the detriment of the environment.  

But I recently learned about tropical almonds, which grow throughout the Caribbean.  They are a different species of plant, but produce a nut that is very similar to an almond in size and taste.  They grow along the beaches, without much care, and need almost no water, other than natural rainfall.

Given that they taste similar, it certainly seems to me that this version of the almond could be grown and harvested for use in almond butter and almond milk - at a much lower cost to the environment.  Maybe these couldn't replace almonds that are sold whole, but maybe they could be introduced as an alternative product.

Just my thought on the matter.

Lets Do Nukes On The Moon (Update with Directive)

For some dumb reason, the unqualified shmoke who is the acting head of nasa has announced that America needs to claim the moon and build a nuclear reactor there. 

I don't even know what to say anymore. 

https://nasawatch.com/artemis/lets-do-nukes-on-the-moon/