Is it real if you can't see it??

Look at that blackjack table over there.  It's four in the morning and the five people sitting at the table have been playing all night.  Four of them are tourists in Las Vegas, having a great time and the fifth is a gambling addict.  He got more money from the ATM at midnight when the next day's limit was available and now he's trying to "get to even" since he was playing with the rent money.

Does he look any different?  Can we see his disease on his face?  Maybe.  Maybe the desperation is there and doesn't fit in with the drunk enjoyment of the other four people.  But if the desperation wasn't visible, could you tell this person had a disease?  No.  So is it real if you can't see it?

I used to spend a lot of time at a particular restaurant that had a bar off the dining room.  There were a few tables known as "round-tops".  One of those tables was the home of a small group of people, every single day of the year.  Maybe one might not be there on a specific day, but day in, day out the group was there and they were drinking to excess.  Can you tell which of them are the alcoholics and which are people who drink too much and can stop if they wanted to?  No.

If a man cheats on his wife and she never finds out about it, did it really happen?

Sometimes we can't really grasp what's going on because it isn't right there, in plain view.  We see signs but we don't see the stark reality. 

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Today's ponderings include:

Sex scandals in the Air Force continue to be probed and investigated.  I suppose I was a very fortunate person that the female lieutenant who was Training Officer for my unit in Basic Training didn't sexually harass me.  Then again, if she'd asked, I'd have consented.  She was kind of cute.  I'd spent weeks in a situation where I couldn't even hold hands with a woman, let alone get 'busy' with one.  But on a serious note, it's time for real solutions in the military's problems with sexual issues.

If the police can't track down the people who are engaging in this trend of 'swatting', what good will new laws making it a more serious crime do?  You could make it a mandatory ten years in prison for swatting where someone is injured, but if you can't catch the caller, there's no point to the law.

Why is it when people do what they're asked to do, they get into trouble anyway?  Someone who is sick tells their family not to call or visit, and then gets upset that after they finally convince the family to leave them alone, they do what they were asked. 

How come you can gain five pounds from a one pound box of chocolates?  Why can you gain five pounds in a week of really bad eating, but it takes several weeks of really good eating to lose them back?

When we're younger we can get by on less sleep.  At one time I used to work a full day for the Air Force, go home for a couple of hours and then work all night at the radio station as an "FM jock", go home to shower and do the same all over again the next day.  Aside from cat naps here and there I only slept one night a week.  Now I crave sleep.  I need sleep.  I can't function without a minimum amount of sleep.  Does aging make you more sleep dependent?

This Date in History:

On this date in 41, Roman Emperor Caligula is assassinated by his Praetorian guards.
On this date in 1848, gold was found at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.
On this date in 1862, Bucharest is named the capital of Romania.
On this date in 1916, the U.S. Supreme Court issues its ruling in Brushaber v Union Pacific Railroad, confirming the constitutionality of the income tax.
On this date in 1972, a sergeant in the Japanese Imperial Army is found hiding in a Guam jungle where he had been since the end of World War II.
On this date in 1984, the first Apple Macintosh is sold.