Years ago, in sudden hurry, I had to drive up to the Frankfurt airport to dump someone off. I parked my car in the adjacent parking garage, and did the hour in the airport. Then I walked back out and to the parking garage. There, I had this sudden reality.....I could not remember the floor, or the section that I parked the car.
The Frankfurt airport parking garage is roughly six levels, and twelve sections to each level. I ended up spending around seventy minutes walking around and eventually found my car. Ever since that event, I always write the floor and section down before I leave the car.
This brings me around to this story that came out in Germany yesterday. Some Italian guy came up for the Oktorberfest in Munich a few weeks ago. He found parking in a more remote part of town, and caught a subway train to the fest. He ate hearty food all day, and sipped some fine German beer. By late evening....he'd had enough.
The problem now develops.....he didn't remember where the car was. He spent a number of hours walking around with no luck. The next day? No luck. He had to return to Italy without the car.
Over the past month, he's return five times, but had no luck in finding the car. He put an ad finally in the paper, and advertised a reward. Someone spotted the vehicle on some street, and called it in.
I sat and pondered over the story. It's the kind of reality that guys get into. We plan on the outer fringes of an event. Getting down the finer details? Well, that's traditionally not what we are famous for doing. If it hadn't been for the advertisement.....the car might have sat on the street for months, if not years. Course, it'd make you wonder if 2,000 cars are abandoned on the streets of Munich.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Monday, 11 November 2013
The Sucker's Deal
It's an odd expression that Americans tend to hear, but then ask the real meaning.
Allow a guy from Bama to explain.
Gus buys a truckload of Turtlewax-like wax.....that isn't really Turtlewax, but the fake stuff. Gus pay $1 per bottle for the stuff. Gus then turns around and advertises the bottles at $7 but then has a "sale" and the newly discounted price is $5.99. Gus clears five bucks on every bottle. The gimmick works as long as everyone believes that everything was worth seven bucks in the beginning. Once people realize that it's not even worth the $1 per bottle that he originally paid, then the "suckers deal" is finished and cannot be discussed anywhere without a laugh.
Well.....this past week, the head guy for France's foreign policy.....called the US bluff on some deal with Iran and it's nuclear stuff.....a sucker's deal.
Plain, blunt talk.
You can imagine the interview being conducted. Some fancy intellectual news journalist, and then....the talk hits this curious response from the foreign minister.....a sucker's deal. The US press likely got the tape of the episode, and thought that this must be a bad translated response. No.....sucker's deal was the actual comment that the guy made.
The deal being structured, is where the big civilized nations of the world (the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany)....would all sit with Iran and come to a formal agreement about nuclear use. It'd all be a happy moment, where sanctions would fall and Iran could move forward in a unrestricted economic world.
Over the past month, this new deal looked promising for Iran, and for President Obama....it was likely going to be one of the three big positive points of 2013 for the US. Everything looked great a couple of weeks ago, and as final details finally got put into the open.....people just sat there and questioned how this was going to fix anything.
A sucker's deal? It's hard to imagine 2013 ending, and all the various chaotic moments of the US administration for this year, and some French guy has called US foreign policy planning with Iran.....a sucker's deal.
Allow a guy from Bama to explain.
Gus buys a truckload of Turtlewax-like wax.....that isn't really Turtlewax, but the fake stuff. Gus pay $1 per bottle for the stuff. Gus then turns around and advertises the bottles at $7 but then has a "sale" and the newly discounted price is $5.99. Gus clears five bucks on every bottle. The gimmick works as long as everyone believes that everything was worth seven bucks in the beginning. Once people realize that it's not even worth the $1 per bottle that he originally paid, then the "suckers deal" is finished and cannot be discussed anywhere without a laugh.
Well.....this past week, the head guy for France's foreign policy.....called the US bluff on some deal with Iran and it's nuclear stuff.....a sucker's deal.
Plain, blunt talk.
You can imagine the interview being conducted. Some fancy intellectual news journalist, and then....the talk hits this curious response from the foreign minister.....a sucker's deal. The US press likely got the tape of the episode, and thought that this must be a bad translated response. No.....sucker's deal was the actual comment that the guy made.
The deal being structured, is where the big civilized nations of the world (the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany)....would all sit with Iran and come to a formal agreement about nuclear use. It'd all be a happy moment, where sanctions would fall and Iran could move forward in a unrestricted economic world.
Over the past month, this new deal looked promising for Iran, and for President Obama....it was likely going to be one of the three big positive points of 2013 for the US. Everything looked great a couple of weeks ago, and as final details finally got put into the open.....people just sat there and questioned how this was going to fix anything.
A sucker's deal? It's hard to imagine 2013 ending, and all the various chaotic moments of the US administration for this year, and some French guy has called US foreign policy planning with Iran.....a sucker's deal.
Saturday, 9 November 2013
Drone - World?
The story came out near the end of the week....basically the FAA is admitting that they think that 7,500 drones will be flying across American skies in five years.
The FAA doesn't really say what the missions will be....other than hinting that the cops will have some of these. Beyond that, they are simply working with a plan on how they'd operate, and avoid hitting planes in the sky. Frankly, they've picked up a 500-pound guerrilla and intend to carefully 'play' with this as much as possible before authorizing the mass of drones.
A guy would sit and ponder at this point. This 7,500-number? What the heck would these drones be doing?
I could understand the University of Auburn owning three, and possibly running them around various of the state to take imagery of farms, cropland, and flooded areas. It'd make some sense.
I could understand some Dallas TV station dumping their chopper, and having a drone for live TV broadcasts....car chases with the cops....and maybe live house fires.
I could understand some governor having a drone just for the purpose of claiming he controls a drone, and it's a state asset. Status...you know.
So we add up all the TV stations, the university requirements, business drones, do-it-yourself-drones-from-the-garage, and such. For me.....I'd be thinking more of 350,000 drones within ten years.
Two engineer guys from Bama....with no aeronautical background...will make up their mind to order a kit, and spend eight weekends putting their toy together. Gus and Marvin will be amazed how simple this was. They will launch it and spend weeks at the images and maneuverability of their drone. Never once did they think about getting registered with the government or such. One day, Marvin suggests putting a mini-rocket on the drone, and fire off the rocket as part of their continuing experiment. The rocket fires, but then accidentally hits some house-trailer and triggers a three-truck alarm in town. Cops arrive at the fire, find the rocket, and start to ask stupid questions. Was this a government rocket? Was this fired as part of a government conspiracy? Who has drones for such things? Marvin and Gus quietly push the drone to the rear of the garage and try to forget about their toy.
The blunt truth is that we are opening up a big mess with drones. Whoever thinks it's really 7,500 drones.....is just guessing wildly. Every TV station, every real mayor, every university, every federal agency....will beg for drones.
The FAA doesn't really say what the missions will be....other than hinting that the cops will have some of these. Beyond that, they are simply working with a plan on how they'd operate, and avoid hitting planes in the sky. Frankly, they've picked up a 500-pound guerrilla and intend to carefully 'play' with this as much as possible before authorizing the mass of drones.
A guy would sit and ponder at this point. This 7,500-number? What the heck would these drones be doing?
I could understand the University of Auburn owning three, and possibly running them around various of the state to take imagery of farms, cropland, and flooded areas. It'd make some sense.
I could understand some Dallas TV station dumping their chopper, and having a drone for live TV broadcasts....car chases with the cops....and maybe live house fires.
I could understand some governor having a drone just for the purpose of claiming he controls a drone, and it's a state asset. Status...you know.
So we add up all the TV stations, the university requirements, business drones, do-it-yourself-drones-from-the-garage, and such. For me.....I'd be thinking more of 350,000 drones within ten years.
Two engineer guys from Bama....with no aeronautical background...will make up their mind to order a kit, and spend eight weekends putting their toy together. Gus and Marvin will be amazed how simple this was. They will launch it and spend weeks at the images and maneuverability of their drone. Never once did they think about getting registered with the government or such. One day, Marvin suggests putting a mini-rocket on the drone, and fire off the rocket as part of their continuing experiment. The rocket fires, but then accidentally hits some house-trailer and triggers a three-truck alarm in town. Cops arrive at the fire, find the rocket, and start to ask stupid questions. Was this a government rocket? Was this fired as part of a government conspiracy? Who has drones for such things? Marvin and Gus quietly push the drone to the rear of the garage and try to forget about their toy.
The blunt truth is that we are opening up a big mess with drones. Whoever thinks it's really 7,500 drones.....is just guessing wildly. Every TV station, every real mayor, every university, every federal agency....will beg for drones.
A Stranger in A Strangeland
CEO's are mostly picked because they have some knowledge or wit over the business world. They may not grasp the product. They may not have any ethics. They may lack in common sense. They might even demonstrate brilliant incompetence, and just be a clever guy in an empty suit.
This week, via The Times....an interview with the CEO of Ryanair occurred. Michael O'Leary is Irish, and a bit prone to speak his mind....on any topic. The airline and it's board know that. He's generally right. If you measured his level of common sense....it'd be rating near '10' or beyond.
So they asked him over the burka business. In the UK, there's lots of Islamic women walking around, and a public debate over whether allowing the burka is OK with British tradition.
O'Leary paused for only a second and then spoke at a level that few British leaders would ever do in public. Basically, by his view, the UK is leaning a bit overboard to support one religious minority. He used the great example of how one can travel beyond the borders of the UK....to an Islamic state, and then be forced to accept their standards....there's no choice in the matter....you behave by the rules of the place you visit.
O'Leary notes....we seem to have gotten into some new vision....that we don't write rules in the west....forcing people to be western or leave. We just want to make everyone happy.....and mostly end up making various segments unhappy over this senseless attitude,
This week, I will turn fifty-five and I've traveled a far bit in my life. I've been to around twenty-five odd countries, and seen various cultures at work. Traveling changes your perceptions about thing. Life is different....everywhere you go.
In a curious way, you find that there are three basic rules as a traveler. First, you accept the unknown. As much as the book noted ahead of time.....you end up finding dozens....maybe hundreds....of things that you weren't warned about. Some are pleasant....some not so pleasant.
Second, you learn that you aren't there to change anything, or reshape anyone perceptions. You are simply there to see a very different place, experience a different culture, and view a society with different priorities. You ask stupid questions, and always try to act humble and polite. If you want to stay in that land....you adapt to their standards....not the otherway around.
Third and final, judgements of a traveler....should be kept to one's self or limited. If you don't like strong coffee....go sip something else. If you don't like the religious rules of this country....look the other way and shorten the trip. If the burka business upsets you in that country, try not to gaze at those hot lusty gals with the bedspread over their face.
So after this trip has wrapped up and you've come back to your own country.....you don't really want to face some idiot traveler who has decided to stay in your own country.....and try to reshape your society to fit their own that they left.
You'd like to lay out some simple customs....basic rules of public action.....and let the new visitor do their thing. But after a while, you soon figure that they aren't here to fall into your customs....they'd rather you just accept them as they are. The trouble is....if you visited their country....they'd have very drastic expectations of what you needed to do.
Americans tend to make interesting travelers. We will travel to the ends of the Earth. We sip great Scotch. We eat some fine German pork. We ride on fantastic trains in France. We lie under an umbrella in Denmark with a breeze off the ocean, and almost no one on the beach. We eat Greek sweets that aren't loaded with chocolate. We read through British newspapers that amaze us with real news....not that fake political stuff from back in the US. We even turn on the German state-run TV network and are shocked that someone would make a 45-minute documentary on people who live under bridges.
Then, the American typically returns home. He's had enough.
Some Americans operate with a unlimited "enough", and just stay around traveling to take more and more doses of life's differences.
The Islamic society? Well....they just aren't good travelers, and they make lousy choices at moving somewhere else....thinking they'd fit into that culture. Weeks and months pass, and the Islamic guy hasn't really done much to fit.....doing more instead to make the new country accept them.
O'Leary is kinda right. Maybe we need a refreshing insight like this occasionally.
This week, via The Times....an interview with the CEO of Ryanair occurred. Michael O'Leary is Irish, and a bit prone to speak his mind....on any topic. The airline and it's board know that. He's generally right. If you measured his level of common sense....it'd be rating near '10' or beyond.
So they asked him over the burka business. In the UK, there's lots of Islamic women walking around, and a public debate over whether allowing the burka is OK with British tradition.
O'Leary paused for only a second and then spoke at a level that few British leaders would ever do in public. Basically, by his view, the UK is leaning a bit overboard to support one religious minority. He used the great example of how one can travel beyond the borders of the UK....to an Islamic state, and then be forced to accept their standards....there's no choice in the matter....you behave by the rules of the place you visit.
O'Leary notes....we seem to have gotten into some new vision....that we don't write rules in the west....forcing people to be western or leave. We just want to make everyone happy.....and mostly end up making various segments unhappy over this senseless attitude,
This week, I will turn fifty-five and I've traveled a far bit in my life. I've been to around twenty-five odd countries, and seen various cultures at work. Traveling changes your perceptions about thing. Life is different....everywhere you go.
In a curious way, you find that there are three basic rules as a traveler. First, you accept the unknown. As much as the book noted ahead of time.....you end up finding dozens....maybe hundreds....of things that you weren't warned about. Some are pleasant....some not so pleasant.
Second, you learn that you aren't there to change anything, or reshape anyone perceptions. You are simply there to see a very different place, experience a different culture, and view a society with different priorities. You ask stupid questions, and always try to act humble and polite. If you want to stay in that land....you adapt to their standards....not the otherway around.
Third and final, judgements of a traveler....should be kept to one's self or limited. If you don't like strong coffee....go sip something else. If you don't like the religious rules of this country....look the other way and shorten the trip. If the burka business upsets you in that country, try not to gaze at those hot lusty gals with the bedspread over their face.
So after this trip has wrapped up and you've come back to your own country.....you don't really want to face some idiot traveler who has decided to stay in your own country.....and try to reshape your society to fit their own that they left.
You'd like to lay out some simple customs....basic rules of public action.....and let the new visitor do their thing. But after a while, you soon figure that they aren't here to fall into your customs....they'd rather you just accept them as they are. The trouble is....if you visited their country....they'd have very drastic expectations of what you needed to do.
Americans tend to make interesting travelers. We will travel to the ends of the Earth. We sip great Scotch. We eat some fine German pork. We ride on fantastic trains in France. We lie under an umbrella in Denmark with a breeze off the ocean, and almost no one on the beach. We eat Greek sweets that aren't loaded with chocolate. We read through British newspapers that amaze us with real news....not that fake political stuff from back in the US. We even turn on the German state-run TV network and are shocked that someone would make a 45-minute documentary on people who live under bridges.
Then, the American typically returns home. He's had enough.
Some Americans operate with a unlimited "enough", and just stay around traveling to take more and more doses of life's differences.
The Islamic society? Well....they just aren't good travelers, and they make lousy choices at moving somewhere else....thinking they'd fit into that culture. Weeks and months pass, and the Islamic guy hasn't really done much to fit.....doing more instead to make the new country accept them.
O'Leary is kinda right. Maybe we need a refreshing insight like this occasionally.
Friday, 8 November 2013
Dead-Guy Politics
It's often hard to be an American....occasionally explaining to some German or sorts....on how we had an election in some town, and the dead candidate won. It's even harder....to explain how dozens, perhaps hundreds, and maybe even thousands of dead folks vote in regular elections.
This week....based on news reports....there's at least two candidates for small-time offices who won, yet they are dead (passed-on, as we say in Bama).
Yeah, the voters knew it. This had been printed up in the regional newspapers, and if you read them.....you'd know that "Joe" was dead. The general problem is that no one in either party wants to invent some rule where the political party steps in and selects a last-minute replacement....who immediately loses the race.
Naturally, there are rules where the dead guy can't occupy the office....so the county commission, the mayor, the governor....etc....picks some temporary replacement, and they run up another election in less than twelve months.
Dead-guy politics are difficult to figure out. If there's a week left in the election....it's hard for any newspaper to come up and criticize a dead guy, his record, or his personal habits (boozing it up, gambling in Vegas, trailer-trashy women, missing neighbors, bar fights, corruption, real estate deals with fake companies, etc).
Once you are passed-on as a political candidate....it's pretty clear sailing. Even your opponent can't say much against you.
Politics usually involves flip-flopping around....course, for a dead guy running for office, there's no more flip-flopping. Positions are iron-tight at this point.
You'd think a third-party candidate would suddenly get a bunch of votes, and things might get more interesting, but that never happens.
So onward goes an American tradition. Dead-guys can win an election. Dead voters can determine close elections. And it's all part of being a Republic....sadly.
This week....based on news reports....there's at least two candidates for small-time offices who won, yet they are dead (passed-on, as we say in Bama).
Yeah, the voters knew it. This had been printed up in the regional newspapers, and if you read them.....you'd know that "Joe" was dead. The general problem is that no one in either party wants to invent some rule where the political party steps in and selects a last-minute replacement....who immediately loses the race.
Naturally, there are rules where the dead guy can't occupy the office....so the county commission, the mayor, the governor....etc....picks some temporary replacement, and they run up another election in less than twelve months.
Dead-guy politics are difficult to figure out. If there's a week left in the election....it's hard for any newspaper to come up and criticize a dead guy, his record, or his personal habits (boozing it up, gambling in Vegas, trailer-trashy women, missing neighbors, bar fights, corruption, real estate deals with fake companies, etc).
Once you are passed-on as a political candidate....it's pretty clear sailing. Even your opponent can't say much against you.
Politics usually involves flip-flopping around....course, for a dead guy running for office, there's no more flip-flopping. Positions are iron-tight at this point.
You'd think a third-party candidate would suddenly get a bunch of votes, and things might get more interesting, but that never happens.
So onward goes an American tradition. Dead-guys can win an election. Dead voters can determine close elections. And it's all part of being a Republic....sadly.
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Simply Observations
Quietly, it's being reported that in North Carolina....there's just one guy so far who has moved through the maze of the web site of Affordable Healthcare (ACA). The trouble is....after he has selected the package and cleared every single detail....he has yet to "pay" for the package. He doesn't count....until he actually has cleared the pay-deal of this. The truth is.....he might just think long and hard over the higher cost deal, and just walk away.....saying he'll do without healthcare. State officials aren't saying much. You can imagine the dismal and comic question within North Carolina....will "Joe" do it or walk?
After months of analysis....some scientist dudes have finished up examining the body and remains of the Palestinian guy.....Arafat. Yeah, he's been actually dead now for almost nine years (less you forget). Basically, they agree now....he died of polonium radiation poisoning. No, it's not the kinda stuff you'd pick up at Piggly Wiggly and ingest by accident, or just stumble by in some state park or such. Everyone and their brother all jumped on the AIDS wagen after Arafat died and died whispered over how it might have been that. Course, doctors tested, and that just didn't come up. Who gave Arafat the polonium stuff? Well....so far....the only nation that has used the stuff for murder and such....has been Russia. Course, why would the Russian intelligence guys pick on Arafat? Israel? Why murder the sole member of the PLO who they knew like a book and could feel reliable on his management style? Now what? The smart guys just aren't saying. They merely know the exact cause of death.
Twitter and it's IPO. Basically, you have a company that is going public today, with a marginal method of making profits. After all these years....Yahoo has shown that it's marginally able to pull in profit. Same for Google. Same for Facebook. Is Twitter worth $25 a share? Maybe....in an imaginary world of unicorns, leprechauns, and imaginary warriors with swords. In a year, it could be worth $50 a share. In a year or two, it might be bought by Microsoft and built within their package. You just don't know. If you were looking at dependability, dividends, and stability.....you'd best invest in something like Pepsi, McDonalds, or Coke....not Twitter.
Out in some New Mexico town....local cops stopped some younger guy....believing he had dope. They felt he had it hidden in his rear-end. Yeah, it's no joke. So after messing around with him....cops took him to the local hospital and had the doctors run various procedures to examine his rear end. Yeah, colonoscopy was mentioned, along with an enema or two, and a x-ray. Nothing. No drugs. The bill? Well, that's the funny thing....it was sent to this young guy. Six thousand dollars on the bill....to prove innocence? The young guy hired a lawyer. Presently, it looks like a pretty simple case to win. The expected haul? A million. The young guy probably has to pay the lawyer around $300,000, but he'd get $700,000 for a couple of stupid guys forcing him to have a colonoscopy. Me? For $700,000....I'd do it. Most guys from Bama would stand up and do it for $700,000. The town council in this case isn't talking much, and I'm pretty sure they are peeved over the cops. In Bama, if cops pulled you over and demanded you do a colonoscopy to prove your innocence.....most folks would pull weapons and start making threats.
Some couple in New York....got to the final details of the cost of the new health care deal via ACA. They used the web site and got to the final estimate of cost. They were fairly shocked at the cost for a married couple. Then, they plugged in the info....as singles, and came to realize that the guy made such a low income....that'd he'd qualify for federal subsidies, and get a really good cheap policy. Yeah....as singles....the better pricing existed over them in divorced status. So, under the natural way of thinking.....they got to this idea of considering a divorce....to find better pricing for health care. For me to explain this to anyone, but particularly to a German....it gets to being awful hard. I can only guess that the mythical formula in that 2,000 page bill that became law....creates a thousand different scenarios....being single in certain states....being married in certain states.....maybe even being dead in certain states.
After months of analysis....some scientist dudes have finished up examining the body and remains of the Palestinian guy.....Arafat. Yeah, he's been actually dead now for almost nine years (less you forget). Basically, they agree now....he died of polonium radiation poisoning. No, it's not the kinda stuff you'd pick up at Piggly Wiggly and ingest by accident, or just stumble by in some state park or such. Everyone and their brother all jumped on the AIDS wagen after Arafat died and died whispered over how it might have been that. Course, doctors tested, and that just didn't come up. Who gave Arafat the polonium stuff? Well....so far....the only nation that has used the stuff for murder and such....has been Russia. Course, why would the Russian intelligence guys pick on Arafat? Israel? Why murder the sole member of the PLO who they knew like a book and could feel reliable on his management style? Now what? The smart guys just aren't saying. They merely know the exact cause of death.
Twitter and it's IPO. Basically, you have a company that is going public today, with a marginal method of making profits. After all these years....Yahoo has shown that it's marginally able to pull in profit. Same for Google. Same for Facebook. Is Twitter worth $25 a share? Maybe....in an imaginary world of unicorns, leprechauns, and imaginary warriors with swords. In a year, it could be worth $50 a share. In a year or two, it might be bought by Microsoft and built within their package. You just don't know. If you were looking at dependability, dividends, and stability.....you'd best invest in something like Pepsi, McDonalds, or Coke....not Twitter.
Out in some New Mexico town....local cops stopped some younger guy....believing he had dope. They felt he had it hidden in his rear-end. Yeah, it's no joke. So after messing around with him....cops took him to the local hospital and had the doctors run various procedures to examine his rear end. Yeah, colonoscopy was mentioned, along with an enema or two, and a x-ray. Nothing. No drugs. The bill? Well, that's the funny thing....it was sent to this young guy. Six thousand dollars on the bill....to prove innocence? The young guy hired a lawyer. Presently, it looks like a pretty simple case to win. The expected haul? A million. The young guy probably has to pay the lawyer around $300,000, but he'd get $700,000 for a couple of stupid guys forcing him to have a colonoscopy. Me? For $700,000....I'd do it. Most guys from Bama would stand up and do it for $700,000. The town council in this case isn't talking much, and I'm pretty sure they are peeved over the cops. In Bama, if cops pulled you over and demanded you do a colonoscopy to prove your innocence.....most folks would pull weapons and start making threats.
Some couple in New York....got to the final details of the cost of the new health care deal via ACA. They used the web site and got to the final estimate of cost. They were fairly shocked at the cost for a married couple. Then, they plugged in the info....as singles, and came to realize that the guy made such a low income....that'd he'd qualify for federal subsidies, and get a really good cheap policy. Yeah....as singles....the better pricing existed over them in divorced status. So, under the natural way of thinking.....they got to this idea of considering a divorce....to find better pricing for health care. For me to explain this to anyone, but particularly to a German....it gets to being awful hard. I can only guess that the mythical formula in that 2,000 page bill that became law....creates a thousand different scenarios....being single in certain states....being married in certain states.....maybe even being dead in certain states.
Clever
“Someone has to tell the president it's not clever to be seen trying to be clever."
-- George Will commenting on the Fox News over the President, 6 Nov 2013
There are roughly four categories of clever people....at least by my humble opinion. Folks from Bama....after a number of years....start to classify this kind of stuff, and readily identify folks falling into one of these four categories.
First, there's the clever guy who has a thousand gadgets in the garage, work-shop, house, or farm. He's always looking for the easier way to get things done. He wants a tool for every single job. He desires a status within the community as Mister Gadget. Folks go to visit him and get insight over the newest lawn mower, the best hay rake, or this new satellite radio stuff. The guy is smart, and knows it.
Second, there's the guy who quietly sits through a long-winded fifteen-minute discussion on a problem, then utters a 11-word solution. Folks sit in amazement at the simplicity of the solution, and how direct his words were. He's the guy that you could dump all the parts to a 1937 Ford on the ground, and would quietly go to assemble the vehicle without any directions. This guy never talks about his wit or cleverness....never bragging....never standing up in a crowd.
Third, there's the guy who goes off to college or university....spends four to six years there.....coming back with a university degree....and pretends he actually learned something but hasn't gained a single bit of insight or knowledge. He's a wannabe clever guy. He'd like to be seen as smart or clever, but the truth is....he's just a regular guy like most of us.
Finally, the fourth guy. This is the guy in the suit.....who has some folks around him who seem bright, and thus the suited guy pretends he is clever. The suited guy has zero cleverness in himself. If you threw some lego bricks on the ground and asked him to assemble them....he'd ask you for the plan or ask if he can bring in his crew. The suited guy always lays claim to cleverness, but can never explain anything in detail....it's mostly some $9 words, mentioned over and over, and he acts like you'd never understand what he and his crew did. The suited guy tends to always talk about the future, and some clever act of accomplishment coming up. If you asked the suited guy about clever accomplishments in the past....it'd be a limited list to brag about. The suited guy works for some church, some company, some store, or some government office. He's clever about acting clever.....but beyond that....he just isn't clever.
Bama folks aren't world renown for anything much....except for NCAA football, gospel music, hunting, fishing, and common sense. We have produced a bunch of clever guys.....but since there's four categories....we are careful not to brag over our winners and losers of cleverness.
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
A Description of Tennessee
"The beauty of Tennessee is a grand panorama, 100 miles in width, and 450 miles in length, with rugged mountains, beautiful valleys and broad, extended plains; majestic rivers, murmuring brooks and sparkling foundations; somber forests, green pastures and golden fields; beautiful flowers, luscious fruits, vineclad hills with purple clusters---Grandeur, beauty and loveliness harmoniously blending with lights and shadows, enrobing vat deposits of iron, coal, marble, copper, zinc and slate, all of which for ages have slumbered in nature’s repose, awaiting the magic touch of capital and labor".
-- First lines of a speech by Chauncey M. Depew at the Lookout Mountain banquet given to Southern Express employees, reported in the Herald and Tribune in Johnson City, 22 Jun 1893 (it was a dollar a year for the subscription in those days).
I enjoy reading old newspapers. Guys sat around....without the aid of computers and typewriters, and spent hours writing speeches, which would be turned around and used for script in the local newspapers.
This piece? It's a six-line one-sentence episode. My English grammar instructor with Louisiana Tech would have had a fit.
It'd be interesting to know how many speeches a year that Mr Depew gave. He was a life-long Republican....having given speeches in support of John Freemont (1856) and Lincoln (1860). He was a part of the Vanderbilt railway system for a number of years. He probably gave well over a thousand speeches....maybe even two thousand speeches....in his life. He lived onto be 93 years old and passed away in 1928. Time magazine felt he deserved a front cover....in December of 1924.
The thing is.....guys would get this copy of the Herald and Tribune, and spend an entire hour or two pouring over it. It was the one-single connection that you had to the rest of the world.
When someone wrote up a big speech and it got onto the front page....you can imagine a group of folks on the front porch of some house on a Sunday afternoon. They spoke the whole speech in a slow manner, in absolute dictation of proper English, and were grinning over the wondrous description of their state.
The words made them humble, but feel awful proud of being in the greatest state on the face of the Earth. So you can imagine these six lines....spoken over and over....running terribly long for just one sentence, but being discussed for hours.
This was the real world for these people. Feeling proud, and successful.
Sadly, things have fallen a fair bit since 1893. Six-liners wouldn't work today. Most of the news on the front page is garbage. You tend to end a thirty-minute reading and feel more depressed, than happy. Something in American life has changed for the worse.
Healthcare and the Circus Mentality
It's about this guy....who got the note from his healthcare insurance folks. They noted the old policy is going away. He was happy with the $500 a month old plan, and it's yearly deductible of $3000. It was acceptable.
The new deal? Well....it kinda stayed around $500 a month, but the deductible went up to $10,000 for the family package. It means....he'd have to find another seven thousand bucks....to stay alive through 2014, before any of the insurance ($6000 for the entire year) would kick in to help him.
It's seven thousand that he doesn't have. It's seven thousand of debt that he has to absorb somewhere. It's seven thousand of less money for other things (vacations, new refrigerator, replacement car, weekend trips to the mountains, or new mattress for the bed).
He's angry. He's frustrated. He's asking questions. He'd like to know who gets the blame.
Across the nation, I'd take a guess at fifty million who will fall into this pit for 2014. Sadly, it only gets worse as we get to July, and the newer rates for 2015 come out. They will....absolutely will....be higher.
The thing is....as bad as we were in 2008 with thirty million unhappy people complaining about health care options in America....over the next year....we will have around a hundred million Americans who complain about the deductible situation, limited doctors or hospitals in their areas, and fewer options in their future.
The truth? We just invented a bigger mess. It's like everyone whining that we'd really like to have a circus come and visit our little town.....then on that fateful day....the circus finally arrives, and Larry the lion escapes to terrorize the town over an entire evening....killing and maiming dozens before calm returns.
In this case....we've got at least a thousand Larry the lions who've escaped from the traveling circus, terrorizing the nation, with the mayor and chief of police talking up "if you like the lions, they can stay"....and the only weapon we've got to defend ourselves is a BB-gun. Frankly, something is wrong here.
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
The Tests of Plato and Play-Doh
Someone brought this up in a forum, and I'm a bit amazed by it.
Some colleges are fine-tuning their questions on new applicants to the university. You can't allow just anyone to walk in and sit through forty boring hours of Egyptian history, physical characteristics of beer, or Italian poetry.
So the new question being added is: what does play-doh have to do with Plato (that Greek thinker dude)?
You'd sit there for three minutes and imagine play-doh in one hand, and deep thought-provoking philosophy in the other hand. It's kinda like mixing Mountain Dew and fine Scotch. It wasn't meant to be compared.
The true answer? Well....play-doh is used to describe the shape of things and help the person grasp shape. Plato's entire thought process is that everything has shape....whether in true form, imaginative form, or fantasy form. It's a shape thing.
A guy could answer this with three sentences and be done. A guy could spend four hours and three hundred lines explaining how shapes in doh and thinking.....all meet at some point.
It's a sad state of our current society.....trying to think, ponder, and conclude vast questions in a simple format.
A guy from Bama would look over this mess and offer new questions:
What does the Grand Ole Oprey and Tom Cruise have in common?
What characteristics of the Ford F-150 pick-up lend itself to nuclear fusion?
Whats the true objective of a trucked loaded down with ball bearings and failed brakes?
What is the common point between a bunch of drunks at a honky-tonk and a bunch of drunks at a disco-dance club?
Is it better to be hit by lightning while under a tree, or on a hill, or by a septic tank?
Would it be better to sit in a house trailer of meth-heads or a house trailer of drunk Baptist ministers?
You see....the whole game to simple old-fashioned university attendance....was that after four lousy years....you left and were better able to think. You weren't smarter. You weren't imaginative. You weren't gifted. You weren't blessed. You just had some better sense to think and ponder on some stupid subject. Yeah, like kinda thinking of play-doh and Plato on serious projects, problems and consequences.
Our great world in 2013.
Some colleges are fine-tuning their questions on new applicants to the university. You can't allow just anyone to walk in and sit through forty boring hours of Egyptian history, physical characteristics of beer, or Italian poetry.
So the new question being added is: what does play-doh have to do with Plato (that Greek thinker dude)?
You'd sit there for three minutes and imagine play-doh in one hand, and deep thought-provoking philosophy in the other hand. It's kinda like mixing Mountain Dew and fine Scotch. It wasn't meant to be compared.
The true answer? Well....play-doh is used to describe the shape of things and help the person grasp shape. Plato's entire thought process is that everything has shape....whether in true form, imaginative form, or fantasy form. It's a shape thing.
A guy could answer this with three sentences and be done. A guy could spend four hours and three hundred lines explaining how shapes in doh and thinking.....all meet at some point.
It's a sad state of our current society.....trying to think, ponder, and conclude vast questions in a simple format.
A guy from Bama would look over this mess and offer new questions:
What does the Grand Ole Oprey and Tom Cruise have in common?
What characteristics of the Ford F-150 pick-up lend itself to nuclear fusion?
Whats the true objective of a trucked loaded down with ball bearings and failed brakes?
What is the common point between a bunch of drunks at a honky-tonk and a bunch of drunks at a disco-dance club?
Is it better to be hit by lightning while under a tree, or on a hill, or by a septic tank?
Would it be better to sit in a house trailer of meth-heads or a house trailer of drunk Baptist ministers?
You see....the whole game to simple old-fashioned university attendance....was that after four lousy years....you left and were better able to think. You weren't smarter. You weren't imaginative. You weren't gifted. You weren't blessed. You just had some better sense to think and ponder on some stupid subject. Yeah, like kinda thinking of play-doh and Plato on serious projects, problems and consequences.
Our great world in 2013.
Technology Tells a Story
The Washington Post published an interesting article over gunshots in DC. You see....a while back....someone sought technology and found this sensor package called SpotSpotter.
SpotSpotter works in a simple fashion.....it lays out listening pods, and transmits data back to a central computer. It's there....listening....twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It tells you the spot and direction of the gunshot. A cop could.....if he had additional tools like street-light cams, recording devices, and such....pinpoint the area and note all of the car-tags that are seen around that area for the next minute or two.
What SpotSpotter says? There have been 39,000 gunshots in DC since deployment of the system around eight years ago. If you do the statistics......figuring an area of six by six miles....an urban area.....no hunting situations....vast anti-gun rules in place.....then you've got a heck of a lot of shooting.
The Post attached an interesting graphic with the article. The timing of shots is displayed. It's a curious thing.....from 6AM to 6PM.....there just isn't that many shots being noted by the sensors. From 8PM to 3AM? Things pick up drastically, with a peak around midnight for shootings.
I would imagine if you took these statistics and went to Memphis, Birmingham, or Atlanta....you'd find the same trends. Thugs come out after 10PM and troll the streets looking for trouble.....getting tired around 3AM and heading home.
How many towns across the nation have the sensors? Not enough....if you ask me.
SpotSpotter works in a simple fashion.....it lays out listening pods, and transmits data back to a central computer. It's there....listening....twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It tells you the spot and direction of the gunshot. A cop could.....if he had additional tools like street-light cams, recording devices, and such....pinpoint the area and note all of the car-tags that are seen around that area for the next minute or two.
What SpotSpotter says? There have been 39,000 gunshots in DC since deployment of the system around eight years ago. If you do the statistics......figuring an area of six by six miles....an urban area.....no hunting situations....vast anti-gun rules in place.....then you've got a heck of a lot of shooting.
The Post attached an interesting graphic with the article. The timing of shots is displayed. It's a curious thing.....from 6AM to 6PM.....there just isn't that many shots being noted by the sensors. From 8PM to 3AM? Things pick up drastically, with a peak around midnight for shootings.
I would imagine if you took these statistics and went to Memphis, Birmingham, or Atlanta....you'd find the same trends. Thugs come out after 10PM and troll the streets looking for trouble.....getting tired around 3AM and heading home.
How many towns across the nation have the sensors? Not enough....if you ask me.
Sunday, 3 November 2013
The Goodness of Nuke Power?
"We understand that today's nuclear plants are far from perfect."
-- Final quote on paper advocating pursuing nuclear power because it's the only way to forstal global warming/global cooling/cool change. Writers: James Hansen, a former top NASA scientist; Ken Caldeira, of the Carnegie Institution; Kerry Emanuel, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Tom Wigley, of the University of Adelaide in Australia.
It's an odd paper presented by the four global warming experts. They basically stand and admit that recyclable energy is nowhere near the point of helping to turn the tide and prevent the terrible future of global warming.
So, plan B? Keep nuke power turned on....for the seeable future. They don't exactly advocate building more nuke plants, but it's hard to see any alternate build-up if you turn off the evil coal-plants, and want to keep the lights turned on.
I'm guessing a fair sized proportion of the green culture will read the report....feel shocked that they were deceived into believing that the anti-nuke power stance and global warming culture.....aren't walking hand-in-hand toward the future.
The blunt truth? Go and attend any car show of the past two years and note the number of battery cars on display. The car industry is moving toward battery cars....in the belief that someone will buy them, produce the power necessary to charge them, and be happy over the future direction. They aren't idiots.
Somewhere out there.....there has to be a magic number of wattage being talked about and an increase in electrical production down the line. If you buy less gasoline.....there's some electrical power upsurge that will be required. Will it come from magic beans, alien pyramid platforms, or some yet-to-be-developed technology?
Reality is a tough thing to accept.....if you think about it long enough.
-- Final quote on paper advocating pursuing nuclear power because it's the only way to forstal global warming/global cooling/cool change. Writers: James Hansen, a former top NASA scientist; Ken Caldeira, of the Carnegie Institution; Kerry Emanuel, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Tom Wigley, of the University of Adelaide in Australia.
It's an odd paper presented by the four global warming experts. They basically stand and admit that recyclable energy is nowhere near the point of helping to turn the tide and prevent the terrible future of global warming.
So, plan B? Keep nuke power turned on....for the seeable future. They don't exactly advocate building more nuke plants, but it's hard to see any alternate build-up if you turn off the evil coal-plants, and want to keep the lights turned on.
I'm guessing a fair sized proportion of the green culture will read the report....feel shocked that they were deceived into believing that the anti-nuke power stance and global warming culture.....aren't walking hand-in-hand toward the future.
The blunt truth? Go and attend any car show of the past two years and note the number of battery cars on display. The car industry is moving toward battery cars....in the belief that someone will buy them, produce the power necessary to charge them, and be happy over the future direction. They aren't idiots.
Somewhere out there.....there has to be a magic number of wattage being talked about and an increase in electrical production down the line. If you buy less gasoline.....there's some electrical power upsurge that will be required. Will it come from magic beans, alien pyramid platforms, or some yet-to-be-developed technology?
Reality is a tough thing to accept.....if you think about it long enough.
The Invisible Database
It's a little story that won't really be mentioned much....but it'd make you sit and ponder.
Jim Angle works for Fox News. Jim wanted to experience the 1-800 business with ObamaCare's call-in center. So Jim went to a unlisted phone...not a Fox News phone....and called.
The 1-800 technician eventually answered and to help Jim.....the 1-800 guy asked a few questions which would allow him to help Jim in a better way.....name, address, etc.
Well....there's a pause in the conversation at this point....while the 1-800 ObamaCare's technician is looking at the data.
Then the technician says....oh, you work for the media. Jim kinda paused at this point.
Then the technician said.....we will put you on the resolution technician listing and he'll call you up in two to five business days, and they were basically finished.
So Jim is waiting....ever so patiently for the resolution expert to call from the 1-800 center.
Jim is wondering.....without his social security number....without identifying himself.....without saying he was a reporter.....how they could possibly know that he was a news journalist from the media.
The answer? Somewhere out there.....someone has amassed a database, which is connected to every single American, their occupation, their employer, and it's working as they planned it.
This brings me back around to this odd government mandate....not the date business....but that you had to be connected to this government web site.....name, address, etc.....to get into the "system". If you weren't poor or needing the government grant business for your health care....this wouldn't really matter and it was all a wasted piece of the overall plan. Course, maybe herding everyone through this funnel and requiring them to play the database game....was the key part to start with.
This next week....some gal or guy will call Jim. Jim will ask how they knew it was media.....and resolution geek will have to find some really good and creative answer to give. If you ask me.....the gimmick just won't work if we confirm the database exists.
Jim Angle works for Fox News. Jim wanted to experience the 1-800 business with ObamaCare's call-in center. So Jim went to a unlisted phone...not a Fox News phone....and called.
The 1-800 technician eventually answered and to help Jim.....the 1-800 guy asked a few questions which would allow him to help Jim in a better way.....name, address, etc.
Well....there's a pause in the conversation at this point....while the 1-800 ObamaCare's technician is looking at the data.
Then the technician says....oh, you work for the media. Jim kinda paused at this point.
Then the technician said.....we will put you on the resolution technician listing and he'll call you up in two to five business days, and they were basically finished.
So Jim is waiting....ever so patiently for the resolution expert to call from the 1-800 center.
Jim is wondering.....without his social security number....without identifying himself.....without saying he was a reporter.....how they could possibly know that he was a news journalist from the media.
The answer? Somewhere out there.....someone has amassed a database, which is connected to every single American, their occupation, their employer, and it's working as they planned it.
This brings me back around to this odd government mandate....not the date business....but that you had to be connected to this government web site.....name, address, etc.....to get into the "system". If you weren't poor or needing the government grant business for your health care....this wouldn't really matter and it was all a wasted piece of the overall plan. Course, maybe herding everyone through this funnel and requiring them to play the database game....was the key part to start with.
This next week....some gal or guy will call Jim. Jim will ask how they knew it was media.....and resolution geek will have to find some really good and creative answer to give. If you ask me.....the gimmick just won't work if we confirm the database exists.
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