The Frustration Factor

Rod is back with another transmission intercept from the aliens among us. They are progressing with their infiltration of Earth and particularly with their infiltration of what they call the America pod. In this transmission, they are especially bewildered by how their leader in the capital city is handling transgender humans in the military. They have an unusual perspective. The aliens are also still reporting on the efforts to repeal or modify Obamacare. Please listen and consider their report. It raises a red flag for all of us.

In this episode of the Audio Tidbits Podcast, Peter shares his perspective on character and virtue. Our choice boils down to a commitment to doing right or to doing wrong. As Peter concludes, when you get down to it, it’s not much of a choice. The key is consistently sticking to our choice. Please listen and see if you come to the same conclusion. I think you will.

Rod has intercepted another transmission by the aliens among us back to their home planet. They find our system of countries rather strange and report about what they call pods and sub pods. They also report on what they see as the world's ongoing war and how nations and groups war over power, control and exchange tokens. They also continue to update the folks at home about their leader who has infiltrated the power elite in the capital city. This report is interesting and very frightening. Listen and come to your own conclusion.

Rod has intercepted another transmission from the aliens among us. This time they are reporting to their home planet. The report includes info about their activities in the capital city including focus on health care and the distribution of exchange tokens. Rod will continue to update you whenever he is successful with intercepting their communications.

Rod returns to the Audio Tidbits Podcast with a shocking discovery. He has intercepted an alien communication that appears to validate his speculation about the aliens among us. This is a must listen if you care about the future of humans on Earth.

 

I checked with Rod and he assures me that this is hardly the last update he expects on the aliens. He is pretty sure that he has a strategy to detect their communications without detection. If so, he is commited to keeping you updated. Stay tuned.

Hey folks, there is something I think needs clarified. Since it is going to become an issue sooner or later, we might as well get it out in the open today.

 

World UFO day was a while back and knowing that got me to thinking. If aliens are smart enough to get from wherever they were to where we are, they are also probably smart enough to do that without our knowing about it. They could easily be among us without our having a clue.

 

Would they look like aliens? Of course not. They would simply materialize in ways that let them blend in transparently. We might never know that there were aliens among us.

 

Our only hope is that there are tells that we can detect and then correctly interpret. Tells are little behavioral clues that let us know that all is not what it purports to be. Gamblers talk about poker players showing tells that give away what is going on behind that poker face. Some people claim to be able to read the tells that let them know when someone is lying. It seems likely that aliens would have inadvertent tells that let us know that they are among us but not one of us.

 

The first issue is just how we can be sure who is and who is not an alien. Try glancing around when you are near other people. Do you notice anything strange or peculiar about them or their behavior? Concentrate on picking up on any tells. Is there anything that gives you second thought?

 

As a place to start, limit your investigation to people you know well. Those are the people with whom you are the most familiar and in whom you are most likely to recognize alien tells. You are aware of all of their human traits, their universally human behavior. What you are looking for is anything that causes you to wonder if they are actually human.

 

I don’t know for sure what an alien tell might be but suspect it looks like a momentary disconnect, an instance of weirdness, a since that the other person is not quite with us, is not quite one of us. I’m pretty sure you know what I mean. What’s more, I think it is highly likely that you have picked up on these little tells slipping out with people you know but have not yet classified them as alien. You have just wondered if that person is for real.

 

They may be for real but maybe not. The unsettling truth is that they may be an alien trying to pass as human. The alien among us may be in the room with us right now or merely an image on TV or YouTube. He or she may be sleeping on the street or pretending to lead a nation. There is no way to know with certainty who is for real and who is only posing. Our only hope is to learn to spot the tells.

 

I wish I had an answer to the pressing question. I know I am human but are you? My challenge is to figure out the answer to that simple question. In turn, the challenge is yours as well. How can you know if I am human or simply posing.

“Children are our most important resource.” I picked up a book about #ChildWelfare practice today that started with this interesting assertion. It was simply presented as a given, with no further justification or explanation. That is not surprising since I have heard it so many times that it is nearly a cliché.

 

I would like to be able to say that I questioned the assertion the first time I heard it but unfortunately I did not. It sounded right so I took it for granted that it was right. For some reason I don’t understand, the concept struck me as very odd when I read it today. Instead of glossing over the assertion and getting to the real content of the book, I was stuck. I could not get past the idea that children are a resource and especially the notion that they are our most important resource.

 

In this episode of the Audio Tidbits Podcast, I explore this generally held belief and question whether it is true. Spoiler: I don’t think it is. Please listen and see what you think.

Hey Dad, I made this little episode for you a while back but it still holds today. I miss you.

This episode focuses on child welfare practice and is a deviation from the usual content of the Audio Tidbits Podcast. I was recently discussing child protection practice with some friends who are still practicing. Although I have not practiced for a few years, I was struck by their commitment to family centered practice.

 

When I retired from practice, I was convinced that a child centered model best served the interest of abused and neglected children. Even then that was a minority point of view. In the conversation with my friends, their perspective was still not persuasive for me.

 

I have thus retrieved a paper I wrote about ten years ago and am sharing it here. As I reconsider the paper, I continue to think that all things considered, a child centered approach to protecting abused and neglected children is still preferable to the family centered model as I understand it.

 

If you find this type of discussion interesting, I leave it to you to come to your own conclusion. If it is not of interest to you, be assured that the next episode of the Audio Tidbits Podcast will return to the type of content you have come to enjoy.

A friend of James asked him what the Audio Tidbits Podcast is about and what the point is. That caused James to pause and think but he finally came up with the answer. Please listen to hear the conclusion and to see if you agree.