A simple fact of life is that one excuse is generally as good as another. Either you get a pass this time or you don’t. The good news is that people will generally give you a break and give you that pass this time. The bad news is that you can’t count on being excused, getting that pass. There is a point where excuses stop excusing. The real problem is that you can’t tell ahead of time if this is the day when your excuses stop working. If you want to know more about this little querk of life, please press play and listen in.

Do you ever get into a snit and quickly become upset and difficult to be around? Of course you do. If not, you definitely qualify for sainthood. Even if you don't occasionally get into a snit, please know that the rest of us certainly do. In this episode of the Audio Tidbits Podcast, I have a tip about snitting that you may want to adopt for yourself. I can pretty well guarantee that the people who have to live with you will appreciate your being that considerate.

Do you ever get into a snit and quickly become upset and difficult to be around? Of course you do. If not, you definitely qualify for sainthood. Even if you don't occasionally get into a snit, please know that the rest of us certainly do. In this episode of the Audio Tidbits Podcast, I have a tip about snitting that you may want to adopt for yourself. I can pretty well guarantee that the people who have to live with you will appreciate your being that considerate.

There is a point when you become too busy, too old, too tired, or perhaps too lazy, when success stops mattering. I sure hope you aren’t there yet. Please join me to explore the day when success stops mattering.

There is a point when you become too busy, too old, too tired, or perhaps too lazy, when success stops mattering. I sure hope you aren’t there yet. Please join me to explore the day when success stops mattering.

Alien 1: Greetings Earth Humans.

The news of our permanent departure from the Earth planet was not fake but simply insuficiently predictive. Based on our past Earth directed transmissions you Earth humans may have gotten the impression that the wise ones who sit on the Council back on our home planet are truly wise and would never find it advisable to reverse one of their directives. You would be wrong, again.

Alien 2: I think you just insulted the Earth humans who are listening to this transmission. It sounded like you are saying that they are frequently wrong. Whether it’s true or not that’s not a very nice way to talk to them, especially since we are just returning. You should be more careful about what you say and how you say it, at least until they get used to our being back.

Alien 1: You may have a point but what they don’t know is that even though we personally departed, the goal of the leaders in the home council to fully infiltrate the Earth planet has remained steadfast. We only gave the impression of departing to avoid further detection and to reinforce the notion that reports of potential infiltration by aliens were nothing but fake news. The wise ones in the home council are particularly keen on protecting the real identity of our leader in the capital city and others of our key infiltrators who have locked into important and influential positions. It is essential that the Earth humans don’t catch onto our strategy. …

Alien 1: Greetings Earth Humans.

The news of our permanent departure from the Earth planet was not fake but simply insuficiently predictive. Based on our past Earth directed transmissions you Earth humans may have gotten the impression that the wise ones who sit on the Council back on our home planet are truly wise and would never find it advisable to reverse one of their directives. You would be wrong, again.

Alien 2: I think you just insulted the Earth humans who are listening to this transmission. It sounded like you are saying that they are frequently wrong. Whether it’s true or not that’s not a very nice way to talk to them, especially since we are just returning. You should be more careful about what you say and how you say it, at least until they get used to our being back.

Alien 1: You may have a point but what they don’t know is that even though we personally departed, the goal of the leaders in the home council to fully infiltrate the Earth planet has remained steadfast. We only gave the impression of departing to avoid further detection and to reinforce the notion that reports of potential infiltration by aliens were nothing but fake news. The wise ones in the home council are particularly keen on protecting the real identity of our leader in the capital city and others of our key infiltrators who have locked into important and influential positions. It is essential that the Earth humans don’t catch onto our strategy. …

A1 Greetings Earth humans. I have opened our broadcast channel to comply with the new sunshine rules promulgated by the Central Council. It is no longer permissible for us to meet in secret or for us to develop plans and strategies without complete transparency. You are thus invited to listen in on our discussion preliminary to transmitting our status report back to the home planet.

 

A2 This feels a little awkward. Talking among ourselves is always comfortable but knowing that anyone can listen in is not so easy. I like to tell myself that I’m not going to say anything that can’t go public, but I’m not sure that’s totally true. Having everyone know what I’m really thinking is sure not the same as just talking among ourselves.

 

A3 What I don’t grock is why they did it. Why did the Central Council change the rules? What’s the deal with them thinking that everyone should know what we are thinking before we make our final decisions? It was working just fine for us to finalize our plans and then let them know what we decided.…

A1 It has been brewing for a while I think. They are alarmed by what they call hidden pockets of power. They were aware of the issue on the home planet and knew it has been operating on the Earth planet for many sun cycles and perhaps from the beginning. My sense is that the change in policy became more urgent recently. Specifically, trends in the America pod seem to be what brought it to a head.

 

A4 From what I have picked up on the chatter channels, you are very much on target. In sun cycles past, there were factions holding opposing views on most issues. This caused a lot of conflict and controversy; but it was still possible to work through differences in ways that allowed resolution and progress on most all issues. Society in general and government in particular continued to function calmly and relatively smoothly. There were occasional eruptions related to issues like discrimination, excessive police actions, civil rights abuses, and so on; but it was still possible for those in positions of power and authority to come together to work on constructive change and mutually accepted solutions. The pockets of power were there but mostly ready to support the common good.

 

A2 I heard a talk by one of the gurus back home who tried to explain what the Central Council finds so alarming. She reviewed in more detail the kinds of things you mentioned. I thought her conclusion got to the essence of it. She concluded that the critical change has been an increasing unwillingness to even discuss compromise or ways to find the middle ground. She believes that the art of politics has rather suddenly disappeared. Instead of coming together, the politicians and others in power are digging in, refusing to budge on their positions.

 

A5 I’m not sure I grock how alarm about pockets of power and what is probably the death of politics as we know it has to do with the new sunshine rules. What does any of that have to do with requiring that we open all of our discussions up to anyone who happens to want to listen in?

 

A1 Let me at least take a pass at responding to your question. In other Earth pods but in the America pod specifically, there is a long-standing belief that there is a political action process that is available to every America human. If he or she wants the government to do or not do something, it is only necessary to convince a substantial group of America humans to support the idea. They then become an advocacy group, committed to the idea. The group can then lobby politicians and try to work up wider support for their idea. They likely will not get exactly what they want but will move the outcome closer to their view. The political shift gets us back to the power pocke...

A1 Greetings Earth humans. I have opened our broadcast channel to comply with the new sunshine rules promulgated by the Central Council. It is no longer permissible for us to meet in secret or for us to develop plans and strategies without complete transparency. You are thus invited to listen in on our discussion preliminary to transmitting our status report back to the home planet.

 

A2 This feels a little awkward. Talking among ourselves is always comfortable but knowing that anyone can listen in is not so easy. I like to tell myself that I’m not going to say anything that can’t go public, but I’m not sure that’s totally true. Having everyone know what I’m really thinking is sure not the same as just talking among ourselves.

 

A3 What I don’t grock is why they did it. Why did the Central Council change the rules? What’s the deal with them thinking that everyone should know what we are thinking before we make our final decisions? It was working just fine for us to finalize our plans and then let them know what we decided.…

A1 It has been brewing for a while I think. They are alarmed by what they call hidden pockets of power. They were aware of the issue on the home planet and knew it has been operating on the Earth planet for many sun cycles and perhaps from the beginning. My sense is that the change in policy became more urgent recently. Specifically, trends in the America pod seem to be what brought it to a head.

 

A4 From what I have picked up on the chatter channels, you are very much on target. In sun cycles past, there were factions holding opposing views on most issues. This caused a lot of conflict and controversy; but it was still possible to work through differences in ways that allowed resolution and progress on most all issues. Society in general and government in particular continued to function calmly and relatively smoothly. There were occasional eruptions related to issues like discrimination, excessive police actions, civil rights abuses, and so on; but it was still possible for those in positions of power and authority to come together to work on constructive change and mutually accepted solutions. The pockets of power were there but mostly ready to support the common good.

 

A2 I heard a talk by one of the gurus back home who tried to explain what the Central Council finds so alarming. She reviewed in more detail the kinds of things you mentioned. I thought her conclusion got to the essence of it. She concluded that the critical change has been an increasing unwillingness to even discuss compromise or ways to find the middle ground. She believes that the art of politics has rather suddenly disappeared. Instead of coming together, the politicians and others in power are digging in, refusing to budge on their positions.

 

A5 I’m not sure I grock how alarm about pockets of power and what is probably the death of politics as we know it has to do with the new sunshine rules. What does any of that have to do with requiring that we open all of our discussions up to anyone who happens to want to listen in?

 

A1 Let me at least take a pass at responding to your question. In other Earth pods but in the America pod specifically, there is a long-standing belief that there is a political action process that is available to every America human. If he or she wants the government to do or not do something, it is only necessary to convince a substantial group of America humans to support the idea. They then become an advocacy group, committed to the idea. The group can then lobby politicians and try to work up wider support for their idea. They likely will not get exactly what they want but will move the outcome closer to their view. The political shift gets us back to the power pocke...

Greetings my friend. I had not expected to be back so soon, but our intrepid hunters just happened across the Great Mouse as they were in the midst of a routine training mission in a remote jungle venue. It was just good luck that they were armed and ready for the unexpected confrontation. I think the Great Mouse was as surprised as were our intrepid hunters. Let's check in to learn how the impromptu battle resolved itself.