Ten. Ah, the perfect 10. The sexist perfect 10.

Try to see life by the 90/10 principle. It can make a world of difference!

“10 Downing Street” is the address of the British Prime Minister and is often used as a way of referring to him/her, just as Americans would say “The White House” when referring to POTUS.

Ten fingers (let’s not get into a debate about thumbs) and ten toes. One of the first things a new parent does is check fingers and toes. So tiny and perfect!

We count in base 10 (except for geeks and computers, who use binary and/or hexadecimal).

Interstate 10 bisects Los Angeles, east to west. It runs all the way to the east coast. It used to be known as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway until the vigilantes of political correctness forced a name change.

A Roman cohort who had shown cowardice in battle or had attempted mutiny was ordered to decimate. They counted off by 10s, then chose one by lot (regardless of rank or battle honors) to be odd man out. The other 9 then beat the 10th man to death (a man whom they had fought beside, shared camp with, marched with). Barbaric, brutal, bloody—but effective in its impact on other troops. The remaining 90 percent were forever tainted by the event, the unit’s shame known to all, but they had been redeemed by blood sacrifice. Where have we heard that before?

I have heard that modern corporations have operated on a decimate system—-rank the workers according to productivity and fire the bottom 10%, thus increasing productivity even more through fear and competition. I would think that, after the nonproductive workers had been eliminated, further threats of pink slips would lead to office politics, unethical behavior and low morale rather than increased productivity.

I’m trying not to get on my soapbox, but think about it a minute. We’re horrified by the decimation of Roman troops, but we applaud the actions of GE and others to do something similar? Not peoples’ lives, true, but their livelihoods are lost. All for an evil rule.

Happy Birthday to me. In 8 months I’ll be eligible to collect Social Security. I've worked to support myself, my mother, my daughter, my SO since I was 16 and I have paid into Social Security much more than I'll ever get from it. I feel no guilt whatsoever about accepting it.