Wow, Guess We Ain't Going to Sweden

I knew Sweden was known for being one of the more advanced countries when it came to getting women into positions of power, but I had no idea how far and invasive the concept of "gender neutrality" has permeated the psyche over there. And I'm not talking about something legitimate like a "pay gap." I'm talking about things where people are complaining about playgrounds being sexist and girls being denied the right to wear pretty clothes when they're in gymnastics class because that would define gender.

It's an insightful and scary piece, but I have a simple question;

Where the hell are all the men in Sweden?????

Credentialism Killed the Radio Star

"Unfortunately, our society is becoming more and more obsessed with standardized credentials, even as there has been a broad devaluation of the credentials themselves"

I would only add to this one aspect nobody has thought of in the credentialism world;

Inbreeding.

In hiring the "perfect" candidates all the time, you hire essentially the genetically same, obedient, automotons you always do. This creates a problem in that like any organic creature, too much of the same type leaves them susceptible to disease, threats, predators or any change in their environment.

While applicable in terms of biological evolution and survival of the fittest, in having psychologically homogeneous employees (of a meek, obedient type), the corporate entity as a whole is;

1. Unable to identify external threats (or opportunities).
2. UnWILLING to inform superiors about threats or opportunities (as rocking the boat ist VERBOTEN!)
3. Too established in their corporate culture to be nimble enough to adapt quickly enough to a changing environment in order to survive.

Consider it this way. In today's American economy do we need another conformist, mass produced, obedient MBA, or Captain Jack Sparrow?

Of course we need revolutionary leaders like Captain Jack, but could you imagine HR EVER letting in somebody like that to their pristine, sterile corporate worlds?

Well, enjoy the decline people. Enjoy the decline.

Bypassing HR

I did a little research to see what the rule of thumb was on bypassing HR in terms of finding jobs and found it rather interesting.

Camp One - The "Golem HR Nazi Camp"

"NO!!! YOU NEEDS US!!! MY PRECIOUS!!!! THE POWER WE NEED!!! WE ARE IMPORTANT WE TELL US SO!!!! YOU NEEEEEEEEDS US!!!!!!"

"If you bypass us we'll kick your ass (even though we admit we're pretty useless)"

Camp Two - The Real world

All the hiring is done through networking and bypassing HR.

"Avoid HR like the plague"

"I receive more unqualified applicants from HR than qualified"

"HR can only tell you no."

"I'm from HR and even I'M telling you to avoid HR."


Ah, HR. Crushing deficits, high corporate taxes, frivolous lawsuits and over-burdensome regulation cannot hold a candle to your ability to keep the US economy from growing and booming.

The Canadian Drive By Media

Understand if there is a archetype "Crusader" it is a journalist. Whereas ideally people who become journalists would have the truth be their ultimate goal, most are crusaders who sadly just make themselves shills for a political crusade.

Why is it then journalists and media types are so prone to become crusaders?

Because they are predisposed to it. The type of person who goes and majors in journalism commits the "First Sin of Crusaderism" by majoring in something that doesn't take a lot of effort, doesn't really produce anything of value, yet expects society still provide them a living has a dishonest personality. They don't care about anything as noble as reporting the truth and being the fourth branch of government. They care only of themselves and shills whatever one political group or another tells them to go.

Recession Medicine

Whilst society and the economy collapses, take yourself a respite from the decline and enjoy some Louie Armstrong

The Youth Will Turn on the Left

I know this sounds impossibly optimistic of me, but when I was hastily putting together the Worthless Degree seminar, I saw a TON of YouTube videos on younger folk who are VERY angry about their degrees and how they just got scammed out of thousands of dollars. And although young and completely ignorant enough to be taken in by the "Hope and Change and Unicorns" bit, what they are experiencing is that ultimate crushing collapse that "has to happen" before people wake up and realize the reality of the situation we're in.

Conservatives and capitalists are quite familiar with this "collapse-requirement" simply because when we've argued with liberals and leftists in the past, especially the younger ones, it's impossible to reason with them. Facts and data don't even phase them. And what you realize in a very short time is that NOTHING you say will convince them otherwise and only a crushing, collapse of their well-being and reality will get them to start to think they may be wrong.

I believe that collapse is here.

Not that the entire US economy is collapsing and we'll all be Mad Maxing it next week, but in terms of their lives and perspectives and ESPECIALLY their futures, the youth cannot view it as anything but a collapse. And the culprit?

The left's most powerful institution;

Education.

Understand education is how the left survives. Shamelessly by targeting young, ignorant and uneducated children and brainwashing them into believing in socialism. But now with the recession continuing on into Obama's 3rd year and no turn around or promises coming true or being delivered upon, the youth I believe will turn against the left faster than most of us could hope.

Why?

The one thing the youth had that we didn't have as youth;

The Internet.

It's not like you can't look up tax rates. It's not like you can't look up budgets. It's not like you can't look up any factual data out there and (if you are intellectually driven to do so) find out the truth.

And it is these two things that is going to turn arguably the left's most reliable voting bloc against them.

Just watch some of the videos below and you'll see what I'm talking about;

Domino Sugar

More proof there's a sucker born every minute.

On a side note, if you're interested about telling Domino Sugar about how you like being proselytized and lectured to about going green, you can tell them here.

Because after all, you are all are a bunch of fascist anti-environmental nazis unless you buy "green" Domino sugar.

Adios "Red Headed Eskimo"

Sadly Richard Winters has passed away.

Hopefully Nix and Spiers can finally get him to drink.

Is My Degree Worthless?

That is an outstanding question. And hopefully if you've searched it on the internet, you landed here.

In short, most of you youth have been lied to about education. The lies are many and varied, but the key ones are;

1. Any education is good education (ie-it doesn't matter what you major in)
2. Follow your heart, the money will follow (or some variant thereof)
3. Employers just want to see that you can get a degree. What you do with it afterwards, is up to you.
4. Education is a great investment
5. You should go to grad school

Behind this is a genuine conspiracy to separate you from your tuition money as quickly as possible as generations of worthless-degreed people before you try to recoup the money they pissed away on worthless degrees via the educational system.

But all hope is not lost. YOu are probably 22 or 23 and think your life is over, but in reality since every school requires so many damn "pre-requisites" you've only wasted half your education.

However, before you return to college or trade school, I would strongly recommend dropping the money ($5 on Kindle, $12.95 for the paperback) on the book "Worthless."

This book was specifically written for young people like you in mind. Kids who either had no guidance in terms of choosing a major or kids who were misled into forfeiting $50,000 and 4 years of their youth on some worthless degree.

Buy it. Read it. Tell your friends about it.

It will be money much better spent on your "masters in sociology" or whatever.

Let Me Explain to You My Step Father

So I get an e-mail from my step father (which is a miracle unto itself because my step-dad LITERALLY just got a computer 3 years ago and a freaking answering machine 5 years ago, but has yet to buy himself a freaking CELL PHONE! but this is all an aside).

So he asks me

"I was stationed in Germany and one of my favorite songs was from Louie Armstrong. It was played back in 1959. I don't remember the lyrics and I can't remember the song, but can you find it for me?"

I do the typity type in the ole Bing and find a group of songs from an album Ole Sachtamo created in BELGIUM in 1959.

We find out the song is title "Ole Sachtmo's Lullaby"



So why am I writing this?

So you schmoes appreciate my step dad! The only REAL purpose of this post is to honor my ole stepfather AND for two things.

1. He WILLINGLY did 4 tours in Vietnam and retired as a senior master sergeant (which now explains to all of you why I am the way I am on account I had a reverend for a father and a drill sergeant for a step father). Regardless, Americans owe him a pound of thanks and gratitude.

2. At a very young age (8 I estimate) he instilled in me the seed of independent thought. He was pointing out some program at some college where they provided free child care for single moms whilst the moms went and pursued their degrees in whatever worthless pursuits they were pursuing. He said and I distinctly remember;

"Isn't that nice they pay for the child care of all those mothers?"

I said in a very 8 year old innocent way, "yes, it is!"

"I wonder who pays for that all." he said.

I said, "I don't know. Who!?"

He said, "Oh, you do kid. You do!"

And (I'm being serious here) that planted the seeds of independent thought in me to inevitably question the reality and logic of everything I heard ever since and made me who I am today (in terms of my political and ideological economic thought). In short he is responsible for bringing you the monster known as Cappy Cap.

For you see, the Ole Sergeant Major certainly did more than his fair share fighting commies and Charlie back in Vietnam. And the Ole Sergeant Major fought valiantly for the freedom of the Southern Vietnamese not to mention the rest of the world from the greatest evil to plague this planet. But I often wonder if he realizes the old adage;

"The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword"

I often wonder with the estimated 50,000 weekly readers I have here if he realizes he did more to advance the causes of liberty, freedom and independence than he might have realized he would back when he dispensed his fatherly wisdom in 1984. I do often wonder if he really truly genuinely realizes just how much he achieved by being man enough to instill independent thought upon a young child and what would happen with the technology of the internet.

Regardless, play the youtube video above and appreciate what the ole Sergeant Major did for all of us.

Going Green Fad Continues!

Six Sigma.

HOw far you have fallen.

Worthless Degree Seminar

I cannot emphasis enough how important this seminar is. Not so much for us readers of the Capposphere, but more importantly for the youth that are about to embark on a college path.

Ideally, this video will be watched, IN ITS ENTIRETY by kids from the ages of roughly 13-18 BEFORE they decide what they want to go to college for. The left are masters at indoctrinating the youth, this is simply a countermeasure to give the poor youth of this country a dose of reality and GENUINE hope of a future productive career and life. Not general pleasantries about them all being winners and somehow good thoughts and going green is going to get them jobs that will put food on the table.

Regardless, here's the first video and subsequent links below. Please force any children, nieces, nephews, etc., to watch this on account it really is about the best thing you can do for them;



Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

This Was Not Made By a Sociology Major

But don't worry.

Again, our salvation is in education, ANY education and recycling and going green.

In the meantime I would love to see how many sociology majors there are in China.

Brilliant Romance Advice From the Captain

Flowers are a waste of time, however, if you insist on buying your girl flowers, do so on a day it is not to be.

For example, Tuesdays are great days to get your lovely some flowers.

She will say, "Why did I get flowers?"

And you will say, "Because it's Tuesday, babe."

And for a fraction of the cost it would cost you on Valentines Day, you've impressed her 100x's more than when you were "supposed" to buy her flowers.

This has been a public service announcement by the Captain

Why I Don't Contribute to Retirement Accounts Anymore

And won't until I have complete faith that it won't be confiscated to pay for failing socialist programs.

ht

Hogans Heroes vs. Housewives of OC

So twas the night before Christmas and whilst Natasha was away visiting her folks, your Captain had a much needed Cappy-Cap-Time which consisted of a bottle o' Rumpleminze, Borderlands for the 360 and a roaring fire to heat up his little man cave. Nobody was around. It was all 100% Cappy Time. Just me, some strong booze, an awesome video game, and my man cave and a nice long night of slumber.

The routine I've perfected over the years as a bachelor maximizes one's waking hours wherein I do the majority of the physical labor during the day and then lesser-physically demanding activities at night, scaling it down to activities that barely require any physical effort. So I usually work out in the morning (which for me is noon-1PM), take class, teach a class, go dance and then retire at home. The last two stages of this routine however is;

Stage T-1 - Play video games
Stage T - Watch TV
Liftoff - Sleepy bye

My favorite show is Hogans heroes and so what I do when I can no longer play video games effectively is I fire up the laptop, go to TV Land and watch old episodes of Hogan's Heroes and drift off to sleep.

However, this Christmas Eve I was shocked to find out that TV Land no longer broadcasts Hogan's Heroes in the internet anymore.

Which made it a cold and horrible Christmas.

Of course, I can watch the "Housewives of OC" or "Housewives of Atlanta" or the "Housewives of Arkon." Because, well, you know, THAT'S CULTURE. You know Hogan's Heroes, that just dumb stupid guy stuff. But Housewives of Duluth! Now we're talking.

Of course this is just more empirical proof that America is in decline when the free market prefers "Housewives of Milwaukee" over "Hogan's Heroes." Sadly, what irks me most about this, is it impairs my ability to enjoy the decline!

Who Villanized "Woman's Work?"

Part, if not, a majority of my super awesome economic/political insight comes from the fact my profession requires many miles and many hours on the road. It gives you time to think when you get outside the range of talk radio and are too tired to sift through the country and Jesus stations out in the boonies to pick it up again. Of course my contemporaries and competitors do not have this advantage. Matter of fact they're disadvantaged being couped up in cubicles and offices, forced to study what their employers or grad school uberkommandants tell them to study and not what their brains might genuinely be curious about and things that might actually be interesting. And thus their brains decompose into automotonic (albeit highly mathematically inclined) mush.

So once again time for something that will be more interesting (and much more brief, pointed and useful) than anything you'll read out of the Journal of American Politcal Economy.

I was driving with Natasha during the Christmas season and of the many things she was saying, one piqued my interest - the amount of money she saved using coupons. I'm not talking about 30 cents here or there, but she managed to find sushi for two for $15. And it was good sushi.

This rekindled an observation I had in the never-to-be-solved arena of courting, marriage and men and women. And that observation is despite being villianized, degraded and shamed, activities that were traditionally considered "woman's work" were and still are vitally important to the family and society. Ergo, why were they villianized in the first place? Why were women "shamed" for being "housewives" or "stay at home moms?" And more importantly, WHO DETERMINED THEY WERE TO BE SHAMED IN THE FIRST PLACE?

First, look at what "traditional woman's work" entailed. For the most part it boiled down to three things;

1. Child rearing.
2. House keeping
3. (and this is where Natasha really made it interesting) increasing standards of living by becoming the procurer of consumables for the family.

These things are "trivial" compared to "man's work?" These things are "inferior" compared to "man's work?"

Second, if you look at them they are VITAL, just as vital as brining home the bacon. Rearing children is what prepares them for the real world and makes them productive functioning members of society. Not criminals. Just look at broken families and the correlation with crime, divorce, and other societal ailments.

Housekeeping is what supports the children, the wife and the husband (though men could do with just a cave and a hammock).

And clipping coupons, finding great deals, and making the most of the money increases the standards of living for the whole family. It's economically just as important to spend the money wisely as it was to earn it (making "woman's work" just as important as "men's work" as it is two sides of the same economic earning/consumption coin).

And third, it is arguably the simplest and most important example of the division of labor. If you want to be a DINK (double income, no kids), fine, then both people can work, enjoy life, drink martini's and go to town at Fredericks of Hollywood, but once you bring children into the equation,it behooves SOMEBODY (husband or wife) stay at home and do the "womanly duties." Not because the person who stays home is the lesser of the spouses, but because it just plain makes economic sense to.

Of course today we simply outsource the upbrining of children so that both spouses needn't be bothered with that nasty childrearing. You can kennel the kid at day care or school and afterschool activities and never have to suffer the inconvenience of spending any time with them. And (in an ironic sense) many women seem to pursue careers in industries where they simply seem to be taking care of other people's children, while ironically they have to work in the first place so they can pay the taxes and private sector child-caring services where essentially they're paying other women to take care of their kids (instead of just staying home to take care of their own children in the first place - which I plan on writing about in the future once I refine the thought a bit and pull some economic data).

Regardless, the larger point (and my sarcasm and cynicism aside), why did something so important and vital to society such as "traditional woman's work," regardless of who does it, get disregarded and villianized by society in the first place? And it leads me to a theory that is a bit black-helicopterish, but I am permitted one of those every once in a while.

Ergo, it's time to play Guess the Captain's Helicopter Conspiracy Theory!

I shall give you a couple clues and see if your line of reasoning doesn't come up with the same (thereby showing you I'm not completely insane).

1. The main drive to criminalize and minimize the vital importance of "woman's work" occurred during the 1960's, the peak of the cold war.

2. It mainly came from feminists quartered in the academian world.

3. Unless, I'm way off, I'm going to assume the importance of "woman's work" was so obvious to people at the time, conventional wisdom would never question the value of it.

Any guesses young intrepid junior, deputy, official and otherwise economists?

Gold Silver Ratio

This is one of those things that when I'm driving in the middle of nowhere Minnesota I think of calculating, but then forget to do by the time I get home. You hear a lot about gold, but nothing of silver. And (more or less) it seems silver is not as bubbly as gold is (certainly no doubt to the advertising and press it gets).

What Will Happen When Social Security Runs Out

This.

Except it will be a whole lot larger and bigger.

But don't worry. You keep watching American Idol and reusing bags when you go grocery shopping. I'm sure that will save us.

Recession Medicine

Oooo, you'll get in trouble for that!