Greetings Readers,
I have not thought of Ted Kaczynski, the Unibomber, in decades until just the other day when the ‘flash in the pan’ terrorist kid bomber blew himself up in Texas. (For foreign readers the term refers to panning for gold when you quickly think you’ve found something of value and you didn’t) Well, am moving on to say, the black hooded Kaczynski was one of the most interesting men in American history and to me in the top thirty or so.
Kaczynski was a mathematics prodigy who entered Harvard University at age 16 and after professorships at Michigan and other universities withdrew from academics and began living a hermit life in the wilderness Montana where he built a shack, raised vegetables and hunted rabbits.
Along with his courses he developed an anti-government anti-production theory that current progress was destroying freedom and individualism. Over the years his letter bombs killed three and injured twenty-three. He was clever enough in his efforts it took several FBI task forces and 20 years, 20 to locate and apprehend him. The 23-year-old kid flash who killed himself near Round Rock, Texas lasted but three short weeks.
During the early 1990s my daughter mailed a copy to me in Indonesia of his 80+ page manifesto. At the time I thought Kaczynski theory of the rapidly coming future was drastically out of step, definitely uncertain, unpractical, and too distant from convention, But in the light of today’s present day findings the document now makes sense.
REGARDING official U. S. government holidays, Indonesia holidays, in connection to education and productivity I provide the following comments: The U. S. has eleven official holidays, Indonesia has twenty-one. This is an example of one of the major reasons Indonesia is not a leader in world affairs or in any memorable measure of excellence. These holiday and time off are only the tip of the iceberg. The educational system is smothered religion and poor teaching. Other factor are climate and tribal like traditions.
It is not that Indonesia has not made progress in recent times, in fact the nation of 260 million is significantly different from even fifteen years ago. I can easily see it on Batam island where I live near Singapore in a free trading zone. The prosperity is based on competitive cheap labor, influx of investments, generous tourism, and the exploiting of natural resources, a good thing if done and extracted properly, and easy, credit for consumers. So things are looking upward, although the ritualistic and confining Muslim religion is holding back the country’s genuine long-term progress.
LAST MONTH, as you may have read I was very concerned when I imported an attractive 16-year-old Boko Haram kidnapped girl from Nigeria. You know the one that was waiting in Singapore with an address tag around her neck? “What do I tell my wife, what will my wife say when I bring home? I was very worried and concerned.
Well it turned out pretty darn good. My wife likes her. She’s pleasant and handy around the house picking up things and doing chores.
For my next good deed I have addressed the huge, huge ongoing international crisis of 600,000 Rohingya refugees who fled ethnic cleansing in Myanmar to safer Bangladash while holding dear to their many destitute children. So to help out, I have ordered through an agency three kids ages six to ten. I will teach them to clean up around the yard.
And I always wanted, for convenience sake, to build a new brick outhouse in the back with running water and this time with a flush toilet. Come to think of it we need a paved road back there too.
FLASH NEWS: The young teenage girl who slapped the IDF soldier was extensively plea bargained into an eight month prison sentence. The brat deserves it. Didn’t her parents ever teach her practical, appropriate, manners? I would have consider giving the girl a hand grenade. (Sorry, pardon a little dark humor there)
All the Best to you.
Ron Miller