THE BEST JOBS IN THE WORLD

WHAT WOULD YOU SUPPOSE WOULD BE THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD? I have a couple or three in mind. Well, maybe two, and I will lump sports jobs in to one of those. I am thinking of professional sports players. You know. Those that get paid unimaginable amounts of money to PLAY. A basketball player is paid to play basketball. He shoots the ball at a hoop, and it goes in 50% of the time, more or less, depending on the player and the day. Or they are paid to guard a player of the opposite team and keep him from putting the ball in the hoop, and they get it in any way. Since I am not a foot ball fan, I will only say that football players are paid to score points and keep the other team from scoring points. And they succeed some of the time. Yes, I know that if they are really bad, they will be fired, or traded or whatever they do to get rid of a player, but still; well I'll get into the still in a bit. And baseball. a baseball player who is considered a good hitter if he hits the ball and reaches base a third of the time, for a batting average of .333. If he is able to hit 400, he is considered great and paid a huge salary. But what does that mean. At a 333 average, that means he hits the ball and safely reaches base 333 times out of 1000 times at bat. 400 times out of 1000 times at bat. That means that he doesn't make it 777 times or 600 times at bat.
Now, how about a weather man, or woman. They never have to be right. They predict that something MAY happen. "There's a chance" it may rain or snow or blow. It may be a certain temperature today, or tonight. If it happens, then he says well, I said it could happen. If it don't, then he says, well I said it was a chance. Now, what does all this mean? Lets discuss this in a sentence or two.
When I was working for an airline, many decades ago, as a station agent, I figured weight and balance on the airplane before it left the airport. The balance had to be right every time. Not just 33% of the time, or just a chance that it is right. But every time. Thousands of airplanes leave the ground every day, commercial and private, with the balance figured in so it will fly correctly. Every time. When I was working in the mining industry, I ran a shovel, the one in the picture at the start of this blog. I had to load 200 tons of material on a huge haul truck about 200 times a day. And not tear up any equipment or hurt any one. And if I didn't, I heard about it. If I succeeded in doing this 33 to 40 % of the time, I wonder if I would be retired now, after working there for 40 years. I think not.
Of course I realize the weather predictions and the sporting teams are not really good examples of what I am saying, but it made a good blog, didn't it? And they are paid very high salaries for what they do, or don't do, compared to myself and millions of other people who have to be right every time, all the time. Can you imagine a Dr. being right just a a third of the time. His, or hers insurance would sky rocket, and they would lose their license in a short period of time, I think. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

MONEY: We all want some. Some more than others. As in; some have more than others. Some want more than others. I was going to blog about the movie Hunger Games, and the money, as in millions spent for tickets to see a movie about teenagers killing each other, but have decided to take a little different tack. I have not read the books, nor seen the movie. I don't intend to do either. Not saying I won't, but I don't intend to. However, having talked to some who have done both, I will say this. the books are set in a future time, and it seems that there are a number of folks, teenagers, who are rebelling against the government and the dictatorial ways that have came about. There is also a lot of dialog in the mind of the female lead character about the process that is going on. This is in the book. A lot of that is eliminated in the movie. At least that is what I understand from what I have been told. I still don't want to read the books or see the movie. I'm old, and I just don't understand why otherwise sane people would want to stand in line for hours, paint up and dress up to fit the theme of the movie, and pay huge amounts of money to see this movie. To me, there are just so many better things to see and read and do. Still, I do understand, just a glimmer, the theme of the books. Perhaps not so much the movie.
On a little different note, people spent a huge amount of money buying a lottery ticket this past week. Well, maybe not so much on an individual basis, but collectively a huge amount of money. The view from the ditch bank is that if all the ticket money for the Hunger Games and all the money from the lottery ticket sales, were combined, and put in the proper hands, how much hunger in the world could be alleviated. Not all, by any means, but it would be a great start, and much more beneficial on the larger scheme of things. Just saying. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.