"Default" in financial terms means that someone is unable to fulfill an financial obligation and defaults on the loan, i.e. is unable to repay.This is not the default I am talking about.
In the computer world a default is a pre setting and pre build in arrangement which will become operational unless it is overwritten with some other option. Your computer may come with Internet Explorer as the default browser so when you turn it on there is Explorer. But if you might prefer say Firefox you could program your machine to go to Firefox as the default browser when you turn on the computer.
Car dealers may have default packing of extras for their various car models . But you can opt for another set of bell and whistles and engines.
FUBAR is said to have originated as a military acronym meaning Fouled up ( more commonly fu**ked up) beyond all or any repair or reasonable redemption. ( Paraphrased from Wikipedia)
The military seems to have been the source of so many such situation that it is not surprising the term arouse from that source.
A series of animated shorts was produced by Warner Brothers in 1944 featuring three brothers, Sergeants Fubar,Snafu and Tarfu, the latter two standing for situation normal all fouled up and things are really fouled up. The vignettes were prefaced by a promotion to buy war bonds and and the great voice actor Mel Brooks played the brothers.
The writers seemed to recognize a gradation of fouledupness, with SNAFUs perhaps not so bad that they could still be patched up a bit or mitigated , but could progress to the unfixable last phase, the FUBAR.
The more I read about so many things, politics,governmental programs and much to my sorrow the current state of medical practice,the more I think the depressing thought that FUBAR is the default position for about everything Not everything- some things still work pretty well, but so many don't.
And yet the incredible progress of the world since the 1700s give clear evidence that all is is not fubar, There are there patterns of activity that predispose to fubar situations and some that do much less so. The thing that stands out is that central planning is the most fertile ground ever for fubaring .
Societies with strong property rights,rule of law, contract law and individual freedom while far from perfect and certainty not foolproof seem less like to end up as irreparably broken. although 90 years of progressivism just might do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment