Dirt Road Derailment West of Great Bend

A good breakfast and a bit of coffee set things in the right perspective for a day on the road taking in the decaying and dismantled. Our primary goal was to reach our retreat in the high desert at the base of the Wet Mountains by early afternoon.  The drive west out of Kansas and into Colorado under mostly clear skies enabled solid progress.  Familiar places rolled by without much to mention until pausing for a moment in Dighton to observe a seemingly abandoned bus in an equally abandoned service station. 

One of the quests for the day was to visit an old Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot in Horace.  The structure was reported abandoned and collapsing and we wanted to make a few observations before all that transpired. The depot and many other similar sites were deserted in the 1990s and left to rot, as railroad through-traffic shifted.  Our observations found it exactly as described, and the associated town attempting to follow the same general path.

A little further down the line, we stumbled on a derailment resting quietly in the sun near Chivington, alone and forgotten in this relative wasteland that borders Kansas. More than a year ago, these 124 cars loaded full of thousands of bushels of wheat rolled happily along the Colorado Pacific Railroad Line, then suddenly and unexpectedly gave up and rolled over.

This is not entirely a wasteland though, when one takes a little closer look, which is how we ended up at the intersection of County Road U & County Road 30 in Kiowa County.  It can be a place of intense beauty that only the local biota could appreciate, or those seeking to remove themselves entirely from civilization.  Blue skies tower over dirt roads and crops as far as the eye can see and not a sound from the human element, generally speaking.

Returning to two-lane asphalt, a harsh reality of rural travel began to set in. Rest stops are often few and far between out here, and we were beginning to feel the need for such a diversion. Haswell seemed like the first opportunity for such matters, though we quickly discovered Google Maps was lying about the existence of such an opportunity through a Service Station. However, the "Nation's Smallest Jail" captured our attention momentarily, resulting in the discovery of a suitable portable relief station as well. While it would have qualified as one of the smallest, I have suspicions someone is making themselves out to be bigger than they are. The Prospect Heights Jail is definitely a contender, and the little cage jail at Parkville Nature Sanctuary is much smaller. If Haswell loses that title, they can still claim fame with an Intel chip and a Radio Telescope. There are lots of things to see in this big little town!

More familiar places passed by without much of interest to draw us in, enabling a soft landing when and where we expected.  After a long day on the road, we were glad to once again looking north across the plains at Pikes Peak and the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.  

In honor of our triumphant return, our host hoisted the blue line stars and stripes.  We followed that surprising welcome refamiliarizing ourselves with the compound grounds, then settled in for good food and even better conversation.  With the sun well in retreat by then, we topped off the evening with a few more hours of quiet discussion, while staring off into that beautiful night sky that blankets the prairie.  Some folks are truly blessed beyond our imagination.

Colorado Road Trip Part 2 of 9

Surviving a Smoky Hill River Squall

Escaping on our latest adventure out to Colorado found us traveling along the least preferred yet most expedient path possible, westbound on I-70.  Heavy cloud cover lacking rain made for easy progress on this dreaded route.  However, things would turn from this level of tolerably mundane to downright unnerving on the final leg.

The situation deteriorated dramatically after departing I-70 and settling into a southwesterly heading on KS-156, crossing the Smoky Hill River.  Darkening skies were not just sign of sundown.  A few brief sprinkles were the only warning just seconds before a deluge haunted us nearly all the way to the Great Bend in the Arkansas River.  

Traversing that diagonal out of Ellsworth should have taken less than an hour. A harrowing experience of more than 90 minutes passed in typhoon-like conditions that reduced visibility to under 10 meters in a blinding wall of water.  The torrent of rain, mist, and wash from oncoming traffic left us guessing at lane position with faded, sometimes non-existent markings.

We eventually arrived safely at our layover for evening, later than anticipated, though none the worse for wear with our formerly bug-splattered transport completely and utterly insect free.

Colorado Road Trip Part 1 of 9

A Fifty Million Dollar College Scandal

Academics remain sidelined as an elite athletic payroll dominates the field.

I heard a story on the radio that made my jaw drop this morning.  Some universities are now allocating upwards of $50 million to pay student-athletes. It is a striking snapshot of completely misaligned priorities in higher education and I am shocked at the absence of objection.

Meanwhile, in the lecture halls and laboratories, students are paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars just for the privilege of pursuing a degree. In many cases, these same people are funneled into decades of often predatory and crushing debt long before their professional lives begin.

How did we arrive at a place where this feels normal?

When did higher education completely abandon its purpose in favor of becoming an entertainment business that operates as a school on the side?

Having watched this rise to power over the last several decades, the shift is staggering. What was once a localized or even regional weekend tradition has ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar corporate juggernaut that completely dominates institutional priorities.

Imagine if that $50 million was directed where it actually belongs: lowering tuition costs, funding grants for the economically or situationally disadvantaged, supporting essential research, retaining and recruiting academic faculty, as well as modernizing labs and classrooms. 

At a time when national test scores and academic proficiency are in a well-documented slide, our institutions should be doubling down on real education. Instead, tens of millions of dollars are funneled into an athletic arms race while the core academic engine rusts on the sidelines.

When a university’s multi-million-dollar investments favor stadium lights over academic access, the fundamental mission of higher education is lost. 

Much like professional sports franchises that demand public bond initiatives and taxpayer-funded stadiums while pricing out local fans, universities are running the exact same playbook. Even when athletic departments claim to be self-sustaining, they leverage non-profit status, tax advantages, and campus infrastructure while general student fees often quietly subsidize non-revenue sports.

We are quite literally witnessing a system designed around sports entertainment while ordinary students often carry a heavy financial anchor long after graduation.

If a university can assemble $50 million for athletic talent, it surely has the resources to ensure an affordable education for remainder of the student body, without leaving them indebted for life. It is well past time that we start demanding academic institutions re-center their true mission: making education accessible, affordable, and valued above all else.

What can be done?

• Vote with Enrollment:  Parents and prospective students should choose institutions that align with these values. Prioritize universities that invest heavily in academic programs, faculty support, and student affordability over those that divert massive resources into hyper-commercialized athletic budgets.
• Pressure Campus Leadership: Write directly to university boards of trustees, university presidents, and alumni associations. Withhold institutional donations and explicitly cite the hyper-commercialization of athletics and skyrocketing academic tuition as the reason.
• Demand Legislative Accountability: Contact your federal and state representatives. Demand that any legislative frameworks governing college athletics include strict caps on athletic spending, mandate tuition freezes, and require transparency for how student fee money is allocated toward athletic programs.
• Hit them in the Ledger: Boycott the machine. Stop buying game tickets, turn off the television broadcasts, unfollow the team accounts, and refuse to purchase official university merchandise. Until we stop bankrolling their multi-million-dollar athletic arms race, nothing will change.
  

Until the public, alumni, and lawmakers begin to hold these non-profit institutions accountable, they will continue prioritizing stadium lights over classroom access.  The consumer public should demand that higher education return to its actual mandate: delivering accessible, affordable, quality education above all else.

The Real Problem is not always the Breach

An aspect of data breaches that doesn't receive enough attention is timing.

When a company discovers personal information may have been exposed, the clock should start immediately! Unfortunately, many organizations focus on investigating, validating, assessing scope, consulting with attorneys, insurers and forensic firms, all while preparing public statements, yet before informing the very people whose information is at risk.

Identity thieves don't wait for investigations to conclude.

If there is any possibility that highly sensitive data were exposed, affected individuals should be notified as soon as practical.  This should be done even if all of the facts are not yet known. Additional updates can always follow as more information becomes available.

Organizations justify delays by citing the complexity of investigations. While important, people deserve the chance to immediately take action and protect themselves through actions such as freezing credit files, examining their accounts, changing passwords, and generally increasing their awareness of fraud attempts.

These steps are far more effective early rather than months, or even years, later.

There is also a broader issue of accountability.

When organizations collect and store personal information, they assume responsibility for protecting it. That responsibility should not end when a breach occurs. In many cases, the consequences of identity theft lasts for years, while the protections offered to affected individuals last only months.

Transparency builds trust. Delayed notification erodes it.

Perhaps it is time for legislators to strengthen breach notification requirements.

A few ideas worth considering:

• Mandatory disclosure within a defined timeframe once potential exposure of sensitive personal information is identified, rather than allowing indefinite delays while investigations continue.
• Multi-year identity monitoring requirements when Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial information, or medical information are involved.
• Executive certification that affected individuals were notified promptly and completely.
• Personal liability for knowingly withholding information from affected individuals when there is evidence their information may have been compromised. 
• Meaningful financial penalties for unreasonable notification delays.

The standard should never be "What is the minimum we are legally required to do?"

The standard should be "What would we expect if it were our own information at risk?"

Until laws begin emphasizing transparency and accountability as much as data protection itself, organizations will continue to treat notification as a legal compliance exercise rather than an obligation to the people they serve and those they expect to serve them.

We are past due for equitable accountability measures, especially in this era of "AI."

Reach out to your representatives at all levels, if you agree with any part of this.

Give them your opinion.

Expect a response.

Tao Verse 19

See with Original Purity