Here’s your thought for the day as we kick off the 4th of July week.

Ah, memories of the great debate over video game violence. One minute, there’s “Say No To Drugs” kicking off every video game screen in arcades across America, and then we head into our homes with Ataris and Nintendos and then come the first-person shooter games, like Doom (the original nemesis) and others like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty.

But to the point the Twix is making, news outlets, which I’ll say less about here, but social media outlets especially seem to thrive off of misinterpretations and half-truths, taking things out of context and sometimes just posting blatant lies using AI technology. Facebook is one of the worst, consistently posting nonsense generated content that simply is never true, with scintillating headlines like “Kirby Smart is Going to Lose It When He Hears About the Latest Rumor” and you click and it takes you to something that could’ve been authored by a six year old or perhaps a content creator housed in Sri Lanka who knows nothing about Kirby Smart of Georgia football.

To point, we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks in the World Cup that a number of foreign visitors were quite hesitant about coming to the States, but found that the news and social media rumors were quite contrary to their realized experience.

This isn’t anything new. As long as YouTube has been around, it’s been easier to see content from across the globe made by locals that show a very different perspective of life in their countries when compared to what we hear on social media or the news. Also, it wasn’t uncommon to see American travelers heading to foreign lands, only to find the same as our current visitors are finding about the United States.

There’s joy in community and connection, much why many of us come here to read and post comments every day. Gradually, though, we’ve grown more isolationist and suspicious of our fellow man.

So what’s the solution…should we dial it back to the 80s, with only landlines and shutting off the internet, or are we ignoring our civic responsibilities to encourage our kids, and adults, to get out and touch grass and experience life and the world as we know it, instead of believing everything we hear and see in 15 second sound bytes being generated by a person who never travelled outside their hometown or out of their mom’s basement?

Discuss.

The socials have been flooded with foreigners coming to the United States, wide-eyed at Big Gulps, huge portions, and food that contains every additive under the sun except for what God likely intended to be in it.

Here’s one that gave me pause…a guy that came to a Mexican restaurant, and was almost ashamed at the idea of getting free food before eating even more food, and that they didn’t charge for getting extra baskets of tortilla chips.

So, for today’s Musings, where are we getting right, and where are we getting it wrong (note: no political discussions, just social, entertainment, food, etc)? Is the no-stopping-the-toppings culture a bad thing? Should we be limiting ourselves to only one glass of coke rather than three?

I fear these folks are going to get on a plane in a few weeks and require rehab and a diet to recover.

What say you?

Hoo boy did this bring back memories.

It was early 90s, I was a band camp veteran, and all I was listening to was classical music or jazz. Then, a light shone on me.

Man, was I immediately turned around. Why? Because dad did a music purchase binge and picked this up, thanks to Columbia House. It was an immediate hit for me and opened me up to a world that had been closed as soon as I became a “band geek”.

In years gone by, we’d do the 10 albums for a dollar deal, but you’d end up getting a few you wanted and having to pick from a random couple of others. Some other notable CDs we got that I wouldn’t have purchased otherwise:

And…

And

How about you…did you pick up any hidden gems in your Columbia House pickups? What was your favorite?

Have you heard about this movement?

I’ll throw my hand up and say I’m all for it. I loved the old Pizza Huts, I loved the table top Pac Man machines, I loved the all you can eat pizza bar, too. Red-dimpled cups. The tiny sizzling personal pan. Man, those were the days.

Some other nostalgic places I miss that have since given themselves the redesign/reboot:

Wendy’s and Their Early 20th Century Newspaper Tabletops (and stained glass restaurants):

Now I’m a sucker for McDonald’s french fries, but I loved me some Wendy’s burgers and fries. The restaurant had a different feel to it, too, from their unique menus to the railing you’d walk between in order to place your order.

Retro McDonalds

I used to have birthdays here, and I don’t even think they were doing play places back then. Food was good, cheap, and came in styrofoam that had the reputation of lasting longer than you, your kids, and their great grandkids. Supposedly.

Shoneys

All, hail, the Big Boy! Man I loved Shoneys, especially their breakfast bar, which I swear, to this day, had the best hash brown potatoes known to mankind. Everything else was great, too. Come to think of it, I enjoyed a lot of all you can eat places. Here’s another one:

Po Folks

Yes, they would run all you can eat specials, and I think we’d get the fried chicken and country fried steak all you can eat plates. How I don’t have diabetes today, is beyond me. I’ve been surprisingly lucky in that regard. Say, I need to re-up my life insurance while I still can.

Subway

Not only do I miss the old place, I miss their old prices and quality of food. Nowadays, you’re lucky to a five dollar inch long.

So how about you…which retro version of today’s food chains do you miss the most?

Here’s something, for context:

We are deeply entrenched in the mental health and wellness era, and when clips like this get posted, it’s met with a blend of “atta boy, teach ’em young and raise ’em right” countered with “this is incredibly unhealthy for youth and generates childhood trauma and anxiety”.

I’m not one to really side with either. All kids are different, and having three girls I realize each one is different and requires different approaches to navigating them through life, with a common theme of “be a good person”.

How about you…what’s your take on this coach’s speech to his young players? What camp are you in and how do you want a coach to approach your child or grandchildren when it comes to coaching youth sports?

Discuss.