I tend to follow Alabama news a fair bit.
Today, it was noted via Al.com that things are lining up for the 2018 Governor's election.
The GOP folks?
1. Kay Ivey (present governor of the state). On the positive side, Kay hasn't screwed up since taking over. Kay doesn't have some boy-toy or part-time lover on the side. And Kay seems to avoid any kind of controversy. On the negative side, Kay is 73 years old.
2. Tommy Battle (Huntsville mayor). On the plus side, Battle has been a business guy for most of his life, and if you wrote down his entire resume....it'd be at least five pages (he's 62 years old). If you were looking for soap opera lifestyles.....he's about as boring as you can get. The other plus of Battle is that he's gone and created more than 10,000 jobs in the last decade of being mayor in Huntsville. In some ways, he is a mini-Trump-like character. The title that he likes to point out? He's won a few bar-b-q awards and apparently knows how to grill pork and beef.
3. Birmingham evangelist Scott Dawson. He's a mega-church kind of minister....a four-star public speaker....and likely will carry a fair number of the church-votes in the state. Beyond that? No real experience. We've never had a minister as a governor, so it might be a shock to most folks if he were to win the election.
4. Bill Hightower (state senator, Mobile). He's a businessman turned state senator. For four years, he's been around Montgomery and shaken a few hands. In the Mobile area....probably half the folks have heard of the guy and would recognize him. Beyond Mobile? He's unrecognizable.
5. Josh Jones. He's a health-care executive out of Birmingham and likely the most unknown individual of the five. Past political background? Zero.
For the Democrats?
1. Sue Bell Cobb. Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice. She is a graduate of the University of Alabama, and has done a fair amount of legal work. Age? Near 60. The problem in her case is name recognition. You can ask a hundred Alabama folks about the name, and maybe three would have remembered her being on the state Supreme Court.
2. Walt Maddox, current Tuscaloosa Mayor. He's 45 years old....mostly done work with the education sector, and been a political figure for about a decade. On the positive side....with the 2011 tornado episode that tore up the city, he's known for crisis management skills and is one of the folks you'd want in an emergency situation. His problem will be name recognition outside of the Tuscaloosa region.
3. Jason Childs. Trucker (Oxford). Well, he's the one odd character of the whole bunch. He admits right up front.....he is pro-marijuana, and pro-LGBT. He even says up front....both parties have failed the working-class folks in the state, and we need to bring back a fresh view of the common man. Name recognition? Near zero. The thing is....if someone just stood up with a web site and actively went to some campuses in the state..Childs could pick up 25,000 votes and interest a fair number of people. But that probably won't happen. To be honest as well....we've never had a trucker as a governor and that might be worth exploring.
4. Anthony White. Local black minister from Dothan. He's a local guy....former Army....been a small business owner, and got a degree in business. His issue will be name recognition.
5. James Fields. He's a black Methodist minister from Cullman. He's actually pushing this idea of a rapid-rail system in the state....connecting cities. Course, if you asked a hundred Alabama folks about something like this....they'd tend to rate this at the bottom of 10,000 things that you could do for the state. His problem will be name recognition.
Is that it? There might be two or three more jumping in by March, but I suspect this is the main group.
The odds here? I suspect that Kay Ivey will have a problem in the primary and Battle might actually be this Alabama-style Trump-figure, who gets the primary win. A second vote required? Well, here's the thing, this Dawson-character will be popular with church-voters and he might actually take 15-percent of the state vote....meaning that Ivey and Battle don't reach the 50-percent required in the first primary.
For the Democrats.....the Tuscaloosa mayor Maddox ought to win in the first primary. Childs is a wild-card because of his marijuana stance, and if this election was about making it legal....he might find 50-percent of the 18-to-50 year old voters in the state favoring him. It'd be a shocker if suddenly this whole election was about making marijuana legal in the state.
The likely winner? I think Battle wins in November.
Thursday, 28 December 2017
Who Do You Call
Back in the late 1970s....I started traveling. I was fortunate that the Air Force gave me that chance, and I've traveled through dozens of countries and admired lots of different cultures. I've observed TV, comedy series, food, beverages, hostility, and lots of aspects that you typically don't think about.
My brother brought this up yesterday....over something involving Asian folks. I sat and pondered over cultures and reactions to chaotic events. You can't say precisely in every single case....how various cultures will react, but there's this trend-line....you tend to know alot about chaos, and human reaction.
So you throw up some situation....a barn on fire....a broken water-pump....a flight to be cancelled where you need a plan 'B'....or some bear that has walked into the middle of your backyard. You then mix the various cultures.
1. The German. This culture wants to study the problem for a fair amount of time.....making a plan which likely revolves around six options or resolutions. All might work, but the time to reach that moment is generally more you'd like to imagine.
2. The Italian. The Italian will go from zero to sixty in ten seconds flat in terms of emotion, and might possibly do more damage than the current situation is creating. Some emotion will be driven into the problem, and you can't be sure about the final outcome.
3. The Greek. Well....does it really have to be resolved or fixed today....will be the first question. How important is it to be fixed....will be the second question. This will be like a question and answer session with Socrates (former blacksmith in his early years). At least an hour will be used to center on the relative significance of the problem. In the case of the bear event....you'd hope that both of you are inside of the house at the time.
4. The Japanese. An immediate question or two will pop up first....how did this all occur? They'd like to know the cause and only work toward resolving that one single problem. Emotion will be throttled back....maybe to 20-percent of what the Italian guy was displaying.
5. The Icelandic culture. At least five minutes will be devoted to watching the chaos develop because they've never seen something like this....EVER. Then about forty minutes will be devoted to talking about nature, and this chaos is part of the bigger picture in life.
6. The Brit. Some quick reactionary plan will be put into immediate action, and it'll be something of a creative nature that you could never repeat in a thousand years. Even after the event, no one will be able to describe why he took fourteen different steps, how each step fits into a precision solution, and how they stopped the barn fire, or removed the bear from the backyard.
7. The Chinese culture. There will be a period of review....perhaps a few minutes, then a plan will be established, and a solution put forward. There's a fifty percent chance that the solution plan is more dangerous than the current event....that they might make the problem worse than it already is.....or that some fight might break out among the handful of Chinese folks over comments uttered or insults thrown at bystanders.
8. The Irish culture. They will mostly stand and talk a good bit about the problem....suggesting a pint of some ale as part of the process, and then talk over the woes of the problem in detail. Their son, their daughter, or their relatives....will have seen the problem and it's a matter of talking this over and repeating the process.
9. The French culture. They will suggest that there is a special office or agency to handle this, and it's best to leave it to the government to fix the problem.
10. Finally, the Russian. In one sweeping motion, with almost no plan, or words.....the Russian ends the problem in seconds. They kill the bear....put out the fire....or arrange for a plan 'B' after the cancelled flight. Then, there's vodka to be poured, and long discussion over everything except the chaotic event. By morning, most of what happened is forgotten. Then they proceed on.....remembering nothing and rarely writing down the solution for future generations.
My brother brought this up yesterday....over something involving Asian folks. I sat and pondered over cultures and reactions to chaotic events. You can't say precisely in every single case....how various cultures will react, but there's this trend-line....you tend to know alot about chaos, and human reaction.
So you throw up some situation....a barn on fire....a broken water-pump....a flight to be cancelled where you need a plan 'B'....or some bear that has walked into the middle of your backyard. You then mix the various cultures.
1. The German. This culture wants to study the problem for a fair amount of time.....making a plan which likely revolves around six options or resolutions. All might work, but the time to reach that moment is generally more you'd like to imagine.
2. The Italian. The Italian will go from zero to sixty in ten seconds flat in terms of emotion, and might possibly do more damage than the current situation is creating. Some emotion will be driven into the problem, and you can't be sure about the final outcome.
3. The Greek. Well....does it really have to be resolved or fixed today....will be the first question. How important is it to be fixed....will be the second question. This will be like a question and answer session with Socrates (former blacksmith in his early years). At least an hour will be used to center on the relative significance of the problem. In the case of the bear event....you'd hope that both of you are inside of the house at the time.
4. The Japanese. An immediate question or two will pop up first....how did this all occur? They'd like to know the cause and only work toward resolving that one single problem. Emotion will be throttled back....maybe to 20-percent of what the Italian guy was displaying.
5. The Icelandic culture. At least five minutes will be devoted to watching the chaos develop because they've never seen something like this....EVER. Then about forty minutes will be devoted to talking about nature, and this chaos is part of the bigger picture in life.
6. The Brit. Some quick reactionary plan will be put into immediate action, and it'll be something of a creative nature that you could never repeat in a thousand years. Even after the event, no one will be able to describe why he took fourteen different steps, how each step fits into a precision solution, and how they stopped the barn fire, or removed the bear from the backyard.
7. The Chinese culture. There will be a period of review....perhaps a few minutes, then a plan will be established, and a solution put forward. There's a fifty percent chance that the solution plan is more dangerous than the current event....that they might make the problem worse than it already is.....or that some fight might break out among the handful of Chinese folks over comments uttered or insults thrown at bystanders.
8. The Irish culture. They will mostly stand and talk a good bit about the problem....suggesting a pint of some ale as part of the process, and then talk over the woes of the problem in detail. Their son, their daughter, or their relatives....will have seen the problem and it's a matter of talking this over and repeating the process.
9. The French culture. They will suggest that there is a special office or agency to handle this, and it's best to leave it to the government to fix the problem.
10. Finally, the Russian. In one sweeping motion, with almost no plan, or words.....the Russian ends the problem in seconds. They kill the bear....put out the fire....or arrange for a plan 'B' after the cancelled flight. Then, there's vodka to be poured, and long discussion over everything except the chaotic event. By morning, most of what happened is forgotten. Then they proceed on.....remembering nothing and rarely writing down the solution for future generations.
Monday, 25 December 2017
The Santa Story
I noticed this piece early this morning (25th)....that a Canadian government organization is saying that global warming has triggered Santa Claus to "pack-up" and move....taking his toy-making operation, the deer barn, and the Santa house....down to the South Pole.
This organization? The Policy Horizons Canada.
Part of the story going with this....that the 'international community' (apparently not the US)....were in agreement and there was some written document where Santa, and the global warming community signed this document.
Now....I sat and pondered upon this amusing story.
A smart 8-year old kid would have eventually got to this point and asked....so, Santa just lived on top of ice...not land, all this time? Where did these reindeer eat grass? Did Santa have to ship in grain and hay for the reindeer.....aboard aircraft, and thus trigger climate change himself?
This toy-making operation, with the thousands of elves....did they require constant heat, and thereby create climate change as well....with coal or oil heat?
If things are heating up at the North Pole....wouldn't the same heating-up or climate change exist at the South Pole?
Will the letters written and addressed to the North Pole.....get now to the South Pole? What if some kids don't get the message, will their letters just end up with some dead-end post office in the North Pole? Will Larry (the kind-hearted mail guy from the Canadian government who delivered mail to Santa for 40 years) still have a job?
Were the elves forced into this move? Or did the elves just accept this as being the only solution?
Can reindeer survive at the South Pole? Are there any there (no)?
What did Ms Santa say about all of this?
It simply begs questions. One has to hope that CNN will get to the bottom of this story.
This organization? The Policy Horizons Canada.
Part of the story going with this....that the 'international community' (apparently not the US)....were in agreement and there was some written document where Santa, and the global warming community signed this document.
Now....I sat and pondered upon this amusing story.
A smart 8-year old kid would have eventually got to this point and asked....so, Santa just lived on top of ice...not land, all this time? Where did these reindeer eat grass? Did Santa have to ship in grain and hay for the reindeer.....aboard aircraft, and thus trigger climate change himself?
This toy-making operation, with the thousands of elves....did they require constant heat, and thereby create climate change as well....with coal or oil heat?
If things are heating up at the North Pole....wouldn't the same heating-up or climate change exist at the South Pole?
Will the letters written and addressed to the North Pole.....get now to the South Pole? What if some kids don't get the message, will their letters just end up with some dead-end post office in the North Pole? Will Larry (the kind-hearted mail guy from the Canadian government who delivered mail to Santa for 40 years) still have a job?
Were the elves forced into this move? Or did the elves just accept this as being the only solution?
Can reindeer survive at the South Pole? Are there any there (no)?
What did Ms Santa say about all of this?
It simply begs questions. One has to hope that CNN will get to the bottom of this story.
Thursday, 14 December 2017
NPR 2.0 (My Version of a Reboot)
I can go back to the mid-1970s and remember the original content of NPR. You actually got classic music, some jazz, literature readings, poetry, and some occasional bluegrass music. Then, in the early 80s....they started off to some other trend. For me, if I were driving around at lunch....I might turn NPR on and listen to it, but they've lost me for the most part.
What I'd like to see?
6:00 A full hour of legislative matters in the House and Senate. Explain what bills are coming up and what bills failed.
7:00 Farm news hour. Anything of a rural nature, relating to farms and rural business situations. Bring in some PhD guys to talk about livestock, and crops. Bring in a brewery guy to talk about garage beer creations. Interview some bio-fruit people.
8:00 Medical hour. Hire up four medical experts and have a morning round-table to discuss reports, health issues, and new innovations. Bring on a nurse to talk about weird school health issues. Talk about cancers and treatments.
9:00 Jazz for an entire hour.
10:00 Great literature readings from the 1700/1800 era.
11:00 Business hour. Have another round-table of four Wall Street guys to talk about what's hot in the news.
12:00 National news hour.
13:00 Classical music hour.
14:00 History hour (have four PhD history guys line up and tell some story over history).
15:00 Opera music hour.
16:00 Bluegrass Hour.
17:00 National news hour.
18:00 Four random folks interviewed hour. Just go and pick out four random people (barbers, truckers, diesel mechanics, NCAA football refs, zoo-keepers, muffler-guys, etc) and ask them random questions.
19:00 1920s/1930s Radio Mystery hour.
20:00 More bluegrass.
21:00 Great literature readings from the 1900s.
22:00 Science Fiction Readings
23:00 Sign off
What I'd like to see?
6:00 A full hour of legislative matters in the House and Senate. Explain what bills are coming up and what bills failed.
7:00 Farm news hour. Anything of a rural nature, relating to farms and rural business situations. Bring in some PhD guys to talk about livestock, and crops. Bring in a brewery guy to talk about garage beer creations. Interview some bio-fruit people.
8:00 Medical hour. Hire up four medical experts and have a morning round-table to discuss reports, health issues, and new innovations. Bring on a nurse to talk about weird school health issues. Talk about cancers and treatments.
9:00 Jazz for an entire hour.
10:00 Great literature readings from the 1700/1800 era.
11:00 Business hour. Have another round-table of four Wall Street guys to talk about what's hot in the news.
12:00 National news hour.
13:00 Classical music hour.
14:00 History hour (have four PhD history guys line up and tell some story over history).
15:00 Opera music hour.
16:00 Bluegrass Hour.
17:00 National news hour.
18:00 Four random folks interviewed hour. Just go and pick out four random people (barbers, truckers, diesel mechanics, NCAA football refs, zoo-keepers, muffler-guys, etc) and ask them random questions.
19:00 1920s/1930s Radio Mystery hour.
20:00 More bluegrass.
21:00 Great literature readings from the 1900s.
22:00 Science Fiction Readings
23:00 Sign off
Wednesday, 13 December 2017
The Tick Story
It came out recently in the world of paleontology, that they've got a bit of amber, which has a 99-million year old tick....holdingonto a feather of a dinosaur.
So there is some minor belief that you might be able blood locked into the tick, and you might be able to do some fancy work with DNA.....thus bringing back dinosaurs. Well....an awful lot of fancy work.
One can sit and fantasize about this idea.
Would you even want to go and recreate this situation? Is it dangerous? Would some idiots go and try to sell these to the general public? Would the UN go and try to forbid something like this? There are a thousand things to ponder over an idea like this.
I would speculate that if they produced just one of these....it'd crank up an entire industry, and you'd have forty different DNA projects going on within a decade to reproduce various creatures. I just don't see this being positive.
So there is some minor belief that you might be able blood locked into the tick, and you might be able to do some fancy work with DNA.....thus bringing back dinosaurs. Well....an awful lot of fancy work.
One can sit and fantasize about this idea.
Would you even want to go and recreate this situation? Is it dangerous? Would some idiots go and try to sell these to the general public? Would the UN go and try to forbid something like this? There are a thousand things to ponder over an idea like this.
I would speculate that if they produced just one of these....it'd crank up an entire industry, and you'd have forty different DNA projects going on within a decade to reproduce various creatures. I just don't see this being positive.
Tuesday, 12 December 2017
The Ball Plan
It's one of those sports stories that you have to laugh about. A few weeks ago....three NCAA basketball players from the west coast....went to China for some games. They shop-lifted while there, and got arrested. They couldn't leave China until President Trump got involved. Then when they did get back to the college.....well....they were kinda suspended. The college doesn't appear to have any desire to give them much of a second chance.
One of the players....LiAngelo Ball (son of LaVar Ball)....finally added up the problems and left college (UCLA).
Dad sat there reviewing everything....knocking Trump several times for commentary that the kid should appreciate what Trump did.
Today, the Ball family announced what LiAngelo would do next. It's an odd deal. The other son....LaMelo (in high school) announced that he was quitting high school (odd decision too). Both kids are now signed up with a semi-pro league in....Lithuania. The team Prienai, Lithuania.
Prienai? Well....yeah, it's a town of roughly 9,800 residents.
The team? BC Prienai. They've been around for about twenty years, and play in the Baltic League. Their arena? Prienai Arena. It was built around six years ago, and holds 1,500 fans.
What this whole Ball-family move to Prienai adds up to?
Most basketball teams in Europe over the past decade have really grown their game, and they really don't care to be baby-sitters. You got a drug problem, an alcohol problem or attitude problem? Fine, go home....we don't need you. I would compare about one-third of the clubs in Europe today as being almost at the level of the better NCAA teams. In another decade, I expect the majority of clubs (maybe 75-percent) to be as good as the average NCAA team.
The Ball boys? There's some advantages to being in a small town like Prienai. No stress. No major journalists following them. A chance to work out daily. As for making a name for themselves? Maybe. But if neither kid expands their game or does much to attract more attention by the end of 2018....then their careers are finished. They might stay around three or four years and be back-up players in the NBA eventually, but the chance to be starters in the NBA will diminish by the end of 2018 if they don't show improvement.
I'm not going to suggest 'dad' is stupid here, but the odds of all three Ball kids making it into the NBA are statistically very low. There's obviously no plan 'B', and I feel sorry for both of these kids thrown into the middle of Lithuania and trying figure into some plan without good odds.
One of the players....LiAngelo Ball (son of LaVar Ball)....finally added up the problems and left college (UCLA).
Dad sat there reviewing everything....knocking Trump several times for commentary that the kid should appreciate what Trump did.
Today, the Ball family announced what LiAngelo would do next. It's an odd deal. The other son....LaMelo (in high school) announced that he was quitting high school (odd decision too). Both kids are now signed up with a semi-pro league in....Lithuania. The team Prienai, Lithuania.
Prienai? Well....yeah, it's a town of roughly 9,800 residents.
The team? BC Prienai. They've been around for about twenty years, and play in the Baltic League. Their arena? Prienai Arena. It was built around six years ago, and holds 1,500 fans.
What this whole Ball-family move to Prienai adds up to?
Most basketball teams in Europe over the past decade have really grown their game, and they really don't care to be baby-sitters. You got a drug problem, an alcohol problem or attitude problem? Fine, go home....we don't need you. I would compare about one-third of the clubs in Europe today as being almost at the level of the better NCAA teams. In another decade, I expect the majority of clubs (maybe 75-percent) to be as good as the average NCAA team.
The Ball boys? There's some advantages to being in a small town like Prienai. No stress. No major journalists following them. A chance to work out daily. As for making a name for themselves? Maybe. But if neither kid expands their game or does much to attract more attention by the end of 2018....then their careers are finished. They might stay around three or four years and be back-up players in the NBA eventually, but the chance to be starters in the NBA will diminish by the end of 2018 if they don't show improvement.
I'm not going to suggest 'dad' is stupid here, but the odds of all three Ball kids making it into the NBA are statistically very low. There's obviously no plan 'B', and I feel sorry for both of these kids thrown into the middle of Lithuania and trying figure into some plan without good odds.
A Suggestion of Patterns
I sat and looked over this graphic today. It does make sit and ponder 'patterns'.
Saturday, 9 December 2017
That New Mexico Shooting
“Work sucks, school sucks, life sucks, I just want out of this s--t.”
-- William Atchison
This week....the twenty-one year old William Atchison wandered into his old high school....Aztec HS, New Mexico, and shot two students before killing himself in the bathroom of the building.
From all reporting done, it doesn't appear that he knew either kid that he shot. They were just random picks.
News analysts spent a fair amount of time on the shooting, but the truth of the matter is that it was at best a eight-line story. He had a legal weapon, and he had no real police record. Nut-case? No one suggests that...he probably was maxing out on depression at a ten, but that won't get mentioned much.
Classified as a mass shooting? No....by FBI standards, you need four folks dead, and in this case...while he did shoot himself as well in the end, that only adds up to three folks.
I have this theory that a fair number of shooters are nut-cases....maybe in the forty-percent range. Some are people who are drugged up and unable to account for their actions, and then there's this last group who are plain tired of life (suicidal).
In the old days, you'd reach some desperation stage and just go off to handle the suicide by yourself....not involving other people. There is some trend going on where people think that they need others involved for some odd reason. Maybe it's the thought that people should have helped you or that some folks prevented you from reaching success in life.
Making a law to halt this behavior? Go for it. People in this stage of thinking don't readily react to laws.
Wednesday, 6 December 2017
The UN Dude
Once in a while, I'll notice a Alabama story which draws me to ponder.
So it came out in the news today....that some UN (United Nations) dude is planning a trip to Alabama this week to investigate.....poverty, inequality and "barriers to political participation".
I looked at the item....roughly 12 lines.
This guy....Philip Alston....says he will visit a couple of places (Puerto Rico, West Virginia, and California are mentioned) on this 'road-trip'.
Where he intends to stop in Alabama? Lowndes County....down in the south central region of the state.
Based on comments, he's got some folks lining up his schedule and prepared to hype up their poor situation in life, while living in Alabama.
How exactly he will help to change the poverty and inequality? Well....that's the thing. He's basically a nobody. He'll write some report which will bring tears to your eyes, but he's basically going out to stay in some nice Holiday Inn situations....eat some high quality food....travel business-class....and spend a fair amount of travel funds.
You can imagine these folks trying to line him up and their hype? Well....we are so poor, and bad-off. He will have sit there for hours while these folks hype up their negative status in life. When he asks about the barrier to their political situation...he'll do his best to ask how evil the Republicans are in the state and is there any way we can get more folks signed up to vote....because the more that vote....the more likely they would go and fix all the problems that exist in the world.
It would be interesting if some Alabama folks would take him over for a catfish dinner, some Friday night football, a sip of whiskey, and offer up some advice on car mechanics....but that just won't happen.
So it came out in the news today....that some UN (United Nations) dude is planning a trip to Alabama this week to investigate.....poverty, inequality and "barriers to political participation".
I looked at the item....roughly 12 lines.
This guy....Philip Alston....says he will visit a couple of places (Puerto Rico, West Virginia, and California are mentioned) on this 'road-trip'.
Where he intends to stop in Alabama? Lowndes County....down in the south central region of the state.
Based on comments, he's got some folks lining up his schedule and prepared to hype up their poor situation in life, while living in Alabama.
How exactly he will help to change the poverty and inequality? Well....that's the thing. He's basically a nobody. He'll write some report which will bring tears to your eyes, but he's basically going out to stay in some nice Holiday Inn situations....eat some high quality food....travel business-class....and spend a fair amount of travel funds.
You can imagine these folks trying to line him up and their hype? Well....we are so poor, and bad-off. He will have sit there for hours while these folks hype up their negative status in life. When he asks about the barrier to their political situation...he'll do his best to ask how evil the Republicans are in the state and is there any way we can get more folks signed up to vote....because the more that vote....the more likely they would go and fix all the problems that exist in the world.
It would be interesting if some Alabama folks would take him over for a catfish dinner, some Friday night football, a sip of whiskey, and offer up some advice on car mechanics....but that just won't happen.
Taxes
It's one of those statistics that news folks tend to skip.....roughly 45-percent of Americans don't pay anything on federal taxes. It adds up to around 77-million households.
They might have made enough in some cases to require the form submission, but when you add up credits....they zero out.
Oddly, I can go back all the way to 1978 and remember submitting my tax form in the spring of that period for five months of pay with the Air Force....feeling silly to waste time on filling out the form and to admit a total pay situation of roughly $5,000. That was the only time in my life where I paid nothing. I looked at the refund check as simply a 'gift'.
I sat there in 1979....a year later, and figured I'd just repeat the whole episode, and that $400 of pre-paid tax-money would ALL come back to me. I was wrong....I still ended up paying roughly $180 that year in taxes. It was an amazingly low amount of money but it just made no sense.
Are these 77-million households avoiding all taxes? No. They still meet up with property, car and sales taxes. For a lot of them, they are still throwing a thousand dollars a year toward their state government in various ways.
If you think about this....no one in America is truly living a tax-free lifestyle. Either through the federal folks, the state folks, or sales-taxes...you are paying into some pot. It's virtually impossible to skip out entirely.
They might have made enough in some cases to require the form submission, but when you add up credits....they zero out.
Oddly, I can go back all the way to 1978 and remember submitting my tax form in the spring of that period for five months of pay with the Air Force....feeling silly to waste time on filling out the form and to admit a total pay situation of roughly $5,000. That was the only time in my life where I paid nothing. I looked at the refund check as simply a 'gift'.
I sat there in 1979....a year later, and figured I'd just repeat the whole episode, and that $400 of pre-paid tax-money would ALL come back to me. I was wrong....I still ended up paying roughly $180 that year in taxes. It was an amazingly low amount of money but it just made no sense.
Are these 77-million households avoiding all taxes? No. They still meet up with property, car and sales taxes. For a lot of them, they are still throwing a thousand dollars a year toward their state government in various ways.
If you think about this....no one in America is truly living a tax-free lifestyle. Either through the federal folks, the state folks, or sales-taxes...you are paying into some pot. It's virtually impossible to skip out entirely.
Saturday, 2 December 2017
Witch-Trials and Their Significance
My brother brought up the topic of 'Salem Witch Trials' today, and how most folks have no memory or a marginal amount of knowledge over them....when comparing it to the Moore episode in Alabama.
For the twelve years of school that I attended in Alabama....I think the total number of times that the 'Trials' were mentioned were probably twice. If you gleaned the history books used....it usually amounted to eight to twelve lines. The attempt by the teacher to explain this? It would have come across to the group as nuclear science.
After the high school years....I went off and had the luxury of the University of Maryland, Louisiana Tech University, and Pierce Community College. The topic of the Salem Witch Trials likely came up on one solid occasion and the lecture guy actually did spend thirty minutes laying out the basic story. It was better than nuclear science explanations....but really didn't do justice to the story.
So a decade or so later.....I picked up two or three books and read through the entire episode and branched out....because it's more broad than folks think.
You can go back all the way to 451 BC and find locals in Greece who were open to the idea of blaming crop failures on bad spirits and pretender-witches.
You can go to 186 BC in Rome and find regulations already existing on how to handle witches.
After Christianity was introduced throughout the Roman Empire, the idea spread. At some point around the 1100s, in Hungary....the King actually wrote out a regulation to halt witch-hunts because he just plain admitted....witches don't exist. Folks didn't easily buy off on that.
In the mid-1200's, the Pope tried to stop all this business....also saying....witches don't exist. That wasn't easily grasped by the general public. Around two hundred years later, another Pope stood up and said yes.....we need witch trials because they exist.
In the 1500s and 1600s, throughout Europe, the trials took off and were a fairly regular thing. I live around 15 miles from an area (Idstein) where the trials were regularly held in the fall, and some folks had to be killed to make folks happy. In that town, they tended to kill women, about eight to one over men. No one could ever explain why women were often the chosen folks for these episodes.
In the Salem witch episode? Around February of 1692, some accusations started the locals off on a mission with purpose. You can safely say that this was...even before the accusations....a fractured town, with people trying to get into each other's business.
In the year prior, that had been some heated church-talk in the region by Cotton Mather (a Billy Graham-like character who could preach for hours and hours) on potential witchcraft, and this got people all hyped up.
So, two kids (nine and eleven) made the act of this....going into violent fits. I think this was mostly to entertain folks but these locals actually took this serious. This drew out some minister, who viewed the two girls, and he claimed that they were under the influence of the devil. A couple of other young ladies then acted out the same way.
All of this led to three folks being detained and blamed for witchcraft. There's no logic or sense to this.....just that locals needed to bring this quickly to a closure.
A month later, a couple of other young ladies were dragged in and were identified for witch business.
By early summer, court action was now underway and a prosecutor of sorts had to determine the intent of the devil here.
By mid-August, five folks were executed.
In September, around 18 other folks were dragged in and accused. One of them was a guy who they asked him to plea and make an admission....while they put heavy rocks on his chest. He eventually died from the weights on his chest.
By January of 1693, things were on a roll....more convictions. Then, the Governor got involved and started to pardon folks. In a way, he knew they were all unfocused and unable to grasp what was going on.
By early summer of 1693, the last court episode occurred, and everyone got 'sane'.
What you can typically say is that the witch trials were all based on some fake evidence, which got the general public all churned up and hyper. The public at that point....could not grasp the landscape or understand the actual laws. They just wanted a no-witch atmosphere, and were willing to kill to reach that point.
You would think that this would be a five-day detailed review in high school, with things laid out in detail. Yet, no history teacher really wants to spend any time covering the topic.
For the twelve years of school that I attended in Alabama....I think the total number of times that the 'Trials' were mentioned were probably twice. If you gleaned the history books used....it usually amounted to eight to twelve lines. The attempt by the teacher to explain this? It would have come across to the group as nuclear science.
After the high school years....I went off and had the luxury of the University of Maryland, Louisiana Tech University, and Pierce Community College. The topic of the Salem Witch Trials likely came up on one solid occasion and the lecture guy actually did spend thirty minutes laying out the basic story. It was better than nuclear science explanations....but really didn't do justice to the story.
So a decade or so later.....I picked up two or three books and read through the entire episode and branched out....because it's more broad than folks think.
You can go back all the way to 451 BC and find locals in Greece who were open to the idea of blaming crop failures on bad spirits and pretender-witches.
You can go to 186 BC in Rome and find regulations already existing on how to handle witches.
After Christianity was introduced throughout the Roman Empire, the idea spread. At some point around the 1100s, in Hungary....the King actually wrote out a regulation to halt witch-hunts because he just plain admitted....witches don't exist. Folks didn't easily buy off on that.
In the mid-1200's, the Pope tried to stop all this business....also saying....witches don't exist. That wasn't easily grasped by the general public. Around two hundred years later, another Pope stood up and said yes.....we need witch trials because they exist.
In the 1500s and 1600s, throughout Europe, the trials took off and were a fairly regular thing. I live around 15 miles from an area (Idstein) where the trials were regularly held in the fall, and some folks had to be killed to make folks happy. In that town, they tended to kill women, about eight to one over men. No one could ever explain why women were often the chosen folks for these episodes.
In the Salem witch episode? Around February of 1692, some accusations started the locals off on a mission with purpose. You can safely say that this was...even before the accusations....a fractured town, with people trying to get into each other's business.
In the year prior, that had been some heated church-talk in the region by Cotton Mather (a Billy Graham-like character who could preach for hours and hours) on potential witchcraft, and this got people all hyped up.
So, two kids (nine and eleven) made the act of this....going into violent fits. I think this was mostly to entertain folks but these locals actually took this serious. This drew out some minister, who viewed the two girls, and he claimed that they were under the influence of the devil. A couple of other young ladies then acted out the same way.
All of this led to three folks being detained and blamed for witchcraft. There's no logic or sense to this.....just that locals needed to bring this quickly to a closure.
A month later, a couple of other young ladies were dragged in and were identified for witch business.
By early summer, court action was now underway and a prosecutor of sorts had to determine the intent of the devil here.
By mid-August, five folks were executed.
In September, around 18 other folks were dragged in and accused. One of them was a guy who they asked him to plea and make an admission....while they put heavy rocks on his chest. He eventually died from the weights on his chest.
By January of 1693, things were on a roll....more convictions. Then, the Governor got involved and started to pardon folks. In a way, he knew they were all unfocused and unable to grasp what was going on.
By early summer of 1693, the last court episode occurred, and everyone got 'sane'.
What you can typically say is that the witch trials were all based on some fake evidence, which got the general public all churned up and hyper. The public at that point....could not grasp the landscape or understand the actual laws. They just wanted a no-witch atmosphere, and were willing to kill to reach that point.
You would think that this would be a five-day detailed review in high school, with things laid out in detail. Yet, no history teacher really wants to spend any time covering the topic.
Understanding the Flynn Situation
So, when some FBI idiot comes up and requires a statement out of you in the process of an interview, and then has a paper for you to sign at the end (attached to the tape of the interview)....you either don't answer particular questions, or admit all. The third choice of lying? That's precisely what Flynn got into trouble about. If he had declined to answer their question on the contact with a Russian government official (not a lobbyist or plain-vanilla citizen of Russia), he would still be in some minor trouble. But in this case....he just plain lied.
What else? Nothing.
If you remember....there is some type of relationship between Flynn and Turkey's Erdogan. There is a suggestion led by the press that Erdogan asked Flynn to possibly arrange for the kidnapping of Gulan (the arch-nemesis of Erdogan).....residing in the US. This story has not been proven. If true, Flynn....if he had taken steps to plan the kidnapping....would be in bigger trouble. I doubt that the FBI has any evidence of this, and it was all just plain chatter.
Anything leading to trouble of Trump? No....that's the amusing thing. I realize 10,000 journalists and political folks are all hyped up, but there is virtually nothing illegal in folks talking to foreign citizens, Saudis, Russians, etc. If promises were made, prior to the election....maybe this might be viewed in some illegal fashion. But then selling uranium off to Russians, after their donations to the Clinton Fund occurred....would be awful high up on the list of stupid and illegal things.
What else? Nothing.
If you remember....there is some type of relationship between Flynn and Turkey's Erdogan. There is a suggestion led by the press that Erdogan asked Flynn to possibly arrange for the kidnapping of Gulan (the arch-nemesis of Erdogan).....residing in the US. This story has not been proven. If true, Flynn....if he had taken steps to plan the kidnapping....would be in bigger trouble. I doubt that the FBI has any evidence of this, and it was all just plain chatter.
Anything leading to trouble of Trump? No....that's the amusing thing. I realize 10,000 journalists and political folks are all hyped up, but there is virtually nothing illegal in folks talking to foreign citizens, Saudis, Russians, etc. If promises were made, prior to the election....maybe this might be viewed in some illegal fashion. But then selling uranium off to Russians, after their donations to the Clinton Fund occurred....would be awful high up on the list of stupid and illegal things.
Friday, 1 December 2017
The Matt Lauer-New Zealand Problem
There's an odd story following the firing of Matt Lauer of the Today Show (for sexual harassment).
Somewhere early in 2017....a property came up for sale in New Zealand (south isle). It's a 26,000 acre sheep-ranch....referred to as 'Hunter Valley'.
If you go and pull up the map....along the western side of the south isle, are a ton of mountains and in the middle of this range is this lake (Lake Hawea). Highway 6 runs along the western end of the lake, and this ranch basically sits on the whole (emphasize WHOLE) western end of the lake. The dirt road out from Highway 6 to the actual ranch house? It's at least five miles....maybe even going on seven miles.
Based on the newspaper accounts, it'd been run for years by a New Zealand couple and they put it up for sale, and Lauer bought it in March....for around 10-million USD (more or less).
Locals came immediately upon the sale and had negativity. First, it was another foreigner (something that gets discussed alot by New Zealand folks these days). Then came this issue of access. The old owners had allowed some limited access.....mostly for bike races and special events. But for the most part, the dirt road was not a public road. They wanted Lauer to agree on full open access, and that wasn't forthcoming. The dirt road ownership? Well.....it's a private road....not a state road.
As for civilization? Well, that's another funny part of this story. Where this ranch house and property exists....there's nothing else there. Here's the lake on one side and a snow-capped mountain on the other side, and tons of sheep. If you wanted zero stress, limited contact with humans, and solitude? Well....this is the place..
Looking for a gas station? The nearest one to the gate of the property....is twelve miles away. Looking for a grocery? You can figure roughly a 45-minute drive from the house to a real grocery (not a general store). The local 'city'? Wanaka. If you'd gone there thirty years ago, it was purely ranch property, cafe or two, maybe two or three stores, and a few houses. Today, it's near 6,500 residents....with a number of hotels and lodges. Yeah, a lot of tourists come through and stay for a couple of days because of the scenic lakefront and glaciers off in the distance.
What was Lauer's intention here? Unknown. Maybe he was going to retire there. Maybe he would have opened up a lodge of his own.
The problem now? Well....to get residency and thus full ownership....you need to pass a character-test. Yeah, those sneaky New Zealand folks decided that with the foreigners coming in....someone needs to check people out. Well....Lauer was fired for sexual harassment. Apparently, the audit crew in New Zealand thinks this needs to be reviewed. The odds of a purchase being halted? At this point, it's an unknown. The fear factor here is that Lauer might end up losing his the purchase deal and be refused residency.
An odd problem? Well, one might get the idea that he had some retirement plan in his mind for three or four years in the future, and the sheep ranch thing with almost no civilization around? Well...yeah, it's just an odd idea.
Somewhere early in 2017....a property came up for sale in New Zealand (south isle). It's a 26,000 acre sheep-ranch....referred to as 'Hunter Valley'.
If you go and pull up the map....along the western side of the south isle, are a ton of mountains and in the middle of this range is this lake (Lake Hawea). Highway 6 runs along the western end of the lake, and this ranch basically sits on the whole (emphasize WHOLE) western end of the lake. The dirt road out from Highway 6 to the actual ranch house? It's at least five miles....maybe even going on seven miles.
Based on the newspaper accounts, it'd been run for years by a New Zealand couple and they put it up for sale, and Lauer bought it in March....for around 10-million USD (more or less).
Locals came immediately upon the sale and had negativity. First, it was another foreigner (something that gets discussed alot by New Zealand folks these days). Then came this issue of access. The old owners had allowed some limited access.....mostly for bike races and special events. But for the most part, the dirt road was not a public road. They wanted Lauer to agree on full open access, and that wasn't forthcoming. The dirt road ownership? Well.....it's a private road....not a state road.
As for civilization? Well, that's another funny part of this story. Where this ranch house and property exists....there's nothing else there. Here's the lake on one side and a snow-capped mountain on the other side, and tons of sheep. If you wanted zero stress, limited contact with humans, and solitude? Well....this is the place..
Looking for a gas station? The nearest one to the gate of the property....is twelve miles away. Looking for a grocery? You can figure roughly a 45-minute drive from the house to a real grocery (not a general store). The local 'city'? Wanaka. If you'd gone there thirty years ago, it was purely ranch property, cafe or two, maybe two or three stores, and a few houses. Today, it's near 6,500 residents....with a number of hotels and lodges. Yeah, a lot of tourists come through and stay for a couple of days because of the scenic lakefront and glaciers off in the distance.
What was Lauer's intention here? Unknown. Maybe he was going to retire there. Maybe he would have opened up a lodge of his own.
The problem now? Well....to get residency and thus full ownership....you need to pass a character-test. Yeah, those sneaky New Zealand folks decided that with the foreigners coming in....someone needs to check people out. Well....Lauer was fired for sexual harassment. Apparently, the audit crew in New Zealand thinks this needs to be reviewed. The odds of a purchase being halted? At this point, it's an unknown. The fear factor here is that Lauer might end up losing his the purchase deal and be refused residency.
An odd problem? Well, one might get the idea that he had some retirement plan in his mind for three or four years in the future, and the sheep ranch thing with almost no civilization around? Well...yeah, it's just an odd idea.
Wednesday, 22 November 2017
My Week in Christchurch
In some cases, it's all historical stuff, and they'd really like to find a way to stabilize the building, and rescue it.
In the first picture, one structure survived without much damage....the other on the left is in a fragile situation and the cargo containers are there to prevent it from falling down onto cars or people....while they figure out a way of saving the building.In the second picture, this is one of the more famous churches of the city, with about 20-percent of it having fallen, and the rest in some state of trying to be saved. It might be a decade before they reach the stage of stabilizing it.
From the center of town, I would take a guess that almost 90-percent of the structures have been taken down, or fell on their own account.
Oddly, the hotel I stayed in....built in 1909....as a NZ federal government building....had thick concrete walls, and appears to have suffered almost no damage at all from the earthquake. Then you turn on a 360-degree circle and note that there's only one or two other buildings, out of forty nearby buildings.....that survived and in use today. 
The odd thing as well....lots of new buildings have gone up, and various parts of those buildings are up for lease, but unrented. Maybe it's a slow period....maybe they've over-built.....but it's a very noticeable thing.As for an end-point on construction? Unknown. The state government has poured tons of money into roads and parks. Thousands of construction guys can be seen around the city and there is some strange positive optimism that exists in Christchurch. You also get the impression that a lot of folks are somewhat fearful of another quake and sleep in a fragile way.
Tourism? Well, I hate to suggest it, but a fair number folks stand and admire the damage, and the reconstruction. It's not something that you typically see. I stood and watched two Chinese guys admiring some park area and how the new design appeared. You could see it was giving them ideas.
My humble feeling is that in a decade, some folks will say that Christchurch is the most liveable city in the world, and lay the nature of this comment on the rebuilding work.
Ten Things About New Zealand
1. As you stop in any cafe, or restaurant....the mighty fine folks of New Zealand will run up and serve you some of their best tap water....usually chilled. I thought after ten to fifteen occasions....it was an awful kind gesture, and they must have been awful proud of their tap water. On the whole of the idea, I will admit that it was pretty fair water, without any funny taste (as you would expect in most US cities. I should also note that if you ever ran through that bottle that they brought out, they'd rush up to give you a whole second bottle.....free.2. At some point in Auckland, I turned a corner in the morning and here was a cafe that was serving up pancakes smothered with bacon and bananas on top. Being from Alabama, I could not pass up this opportunity.
I will say that it's the best way of mixing everything possible onto one single plate. You probably got enough calories to sustain you for 90-percent of the day. Course, it did end up ranging in the $12 USD range....coffee extra.
You might also note 'The Law" sign above it, which typically laid out the NZ standard that if you even hint or act like you are drunk....they cut you off from further alcohol. They are a bit dedicated on that stance....mostly because folks do enjoy consuming beer.3. Throughout NZ, folks typically have ribs on their menu. So I sat down on the 2nd day in Auckland, and had some of the finest ribs of my life, with a tangy sauce on the side. By the last day of the trip, I had tried at least six different plates of ribs.
I will note this as well....an average menu will have only eight items on it....with two items being fish of some type, then lamb, ribs, and the rest are beef dishes of some type.
4. Generally, NZ folks drink beer to substantial portions. In the one pub that I stopped in, they even offered up a 'beer research fund' jar at the counter, for tips.
The typical food menu would go to two pages max, but the typical drink menu would go to four pages.....which says a good bit over various offerings.Bad beer? Out of the twenty-five-odd beers I tried, I would suggest that the one that mixed in a hefty amount of ginger was the only way that I would disqualify.
5. Virtually, every NZ guy will claim he's an expert on a hundred things. I stopped one evening and stayed in a 'cabin' overlooking a 500-ft cliff. It was a bed and breakfast deal, and the guy had put a ton of effort into the view, the cabin and the semi-rustic nature of the 'cabin'.
The fact that it was barely 20 foot away from the edge of this cliff....did weigh on my mind a good bit. The view? Worth a million. The thing was, all around was brush, and it looked awful snaky. But in NZ, there are no snakes.
So you laid down and could hear the waves hitting the beach below and it put you to sleep awful fast. As for this being a great idea? All it was....was a steel capsule-like container, with some handy-man add-ons, and some plastic covering to prevent the breeze from hitting you.6. No matter where you go on the north isle, there are hundreds of reminders of volcanic activity. Near the center of the isle is the chief volcano.
Naturally, down at the base of the volcano....they put up a fancy four-star hotel back in the late 1920s, and folks come from around the world to hang out there.It's an odd hotel because it's got the old world cinema operation in the basement. There's a fancy ballroom in the middle, and the place looks like something out of the 1930s.
The thing about the volcano and the hotel....it's all in the middle of nowhere. There's one single gas station for about sixty miles. You feel like you are in the middle of some lost civilization.
7. I turned a corner in Queenstown, and here was this interesting bar....called the 'Ice Bar'. They keep the temperature below -5 (Cel). So, yeah, it is awful cold. I didn't venture in (a regret).It would be interesting to ask how long a guy sits there (they provide some kinda parka for the experience). Then I'd be asking about the alcohol affect and the temperature. It's probably not the kind of place you'd want to spend more than two hours.
8. While in NZ, I was introduced to something they call the 'Blueberry Bomb'.
Roughly $7 USD, it's a giant smoothie, and is advertised as all-natural, without extra sugar (it's got enough to start with anyway.Calories? They are careful to make it confusing. After consuming my 5th one.....I got around to figuring out the big container was in the range of 850 calories. I guess it was meant for two or three days. Yeah, I was consuming one every single morning.
If you can take one of these.....toss it into the freezer at your hotel for an hour, and then guzzle it down....the sugar fix hits you and you feel all happy and chilled.
It's probably something that you'd best not get addicted to.....for the calorie reason.
9. At some point in my stay in Queenstown, I took a day-trip out to some remote area of the region, which overlooked the lake.
It was a small town situation, and we stopped at a city park, with a WW I memorial.
There's roughy twenty-five names carved up on the memorial....the guys who didn't come back.When you look over this small village....the population in 1914 probably didn't exceed more than a thousand, and twenty-five lost souls did amount to an awful lot of the local character.
It's one of those things that you look at for a good ten minutes and realize the impact of the war, and the burden on folks after the war. Still today, they likely remember the event.
10. As you travel on public transport (trains and buses), you tend to see various signs....letting you know that destruction is a thing which can get into trouble....to include vandelism and spray-painting.
New Zealand folks are pretty serious about this. Their threat?
You could end up with three months in prison and $2,000 NZD in fines. A hefty deal.The thing is....after a while, you notice that there isn't any graffiti around on trains, like you see in Germany or France. Nor do you see damage on buses.
I'm guessing that after putting a few folks in jail for a month or two.....folks realized the cops were serious and this stupid stuff stopped.
After walking around, you tend to notice a limited number of radicals or criminals. I think the judges are pretty serious about real jail time, and it has a positive influence on society.
Tuesday, 21 November 2017
NZ: North Island versus South Island
After roughly three weeks in New Zealand, you come to notice a number of things about the two islands. Combined, the population is 6.4-million and growing. The south island is the lesser island, with roughly 1.1-million. The north island with 5.3-million.
The basic difference?
The north island has Auckland, which is a magnet now for business and technology start-up operations. I might add that it's also a major magnet for Chinese immigration and business-start-up shops. You can draw a 40-mile circle around Auckland and probably find almost half the population of the island in that metropolitan area.
The connecting force of the north isle is Route One (going from Cape Reinga on northern most tip), to Wellington (the capital) on the far south of the isle. It's safe to say that Route One has intense traffic and always in some stage of renovation.
I had this unique experience traveling north, when the cops closed off Route One because of a truck accident, and put everyone onto a dirt-road situation. It was a 12-mile detour along a road that you'd typically avoid....and find yourself on a cliff-road where you might fall 200 feet easily if you went two feet further to the right.
The landscape? An American would say it looks an awful lot like Washington state (with the Volcanic-like landscape) and Tennessee (with the rolling hills). There's some point where I ventured off Route One onto Route Four....discovering a mostly rural area, cattle ranches, and small towns with just a gas station and general store.
The south isle? It's the mountainous region....more like the Alps of Europe than anything else, which takes up maybe one-third of the south isle. The rest is mostly flat, farming land, and this is the region that typically draws a lot of tourism.
Christchurch, Queenstown, and Invercargill make up the bulk of population in this region.
Why do people want to migrate into New Zealand? I think it adds up to four simple feelings:
1. It's safe. You just don't see crime, drug usage, or crazy folks.
2. The weather isn't that bad. Summers are generally mild....maybe into mid-seventy to mid-eight range. It does rain a fair bit but that gives you the 'green-look'. Winters (especially on the far south), can offer up snow.
3. Low stress. You see a minimal amount of stress in just about everyone.
4. Everyone claims to be an expert craftsman, transmission mechanic, grill cook, carpenter, and animal vet. Once you get beyond Auckland, you kinda notice that things are rigged up in a fixer-up kind of way and folks make due with the limited knowledge that they have. You could call up some neighbor and mention that you had brake issues, and he'd come over with his tool kit, to offer up his vast knowledge (enough for four 3x5 cards) and fix the issue. I think people are impressed with this attitude about getting the job done.
But all of this immigration business is driving up home costs, and it's a shocker to note that homes around Wellington and Auckland will easily run 500,000 to one million NZD (340,000 to 680,000 USD). A decent home with real property? You'd be talking about 800,000 USD easily. All of this is begging for light rail growth and home development forty to sixty miles away from the metropolitan areas.
I stood one day in Queenstown and admired the bank-real estate ads....noting a simple one-bedroom condo could run you in the range of $250,000 USD easily, if you were within the city limits. We took off one day from the airport to fly around the range.....and you could see tons of growth around the airport with forty-odd buildings being constructed (banks, grocery operations, hotels). If you made it into Christchurch and noted the construction efforts from 2011 earthquake episode, there's probably well over 3,000 construction guys at work. There's probably enough work there to guarantee a stable work situation for at least ten more years.
The thing though that gets into your mind after a while.....you are at the edge of the Earth. Getting anywhere with civilization (like Auckland) might take you two hours in the air. Getting to Australia? Maybe 3.5 hours in the air. There are some folks on the extreme north of the north isle....who might only get into a real town or real grocery....maybe four times a year. As much as the landscape begs for you.....the reality is that you need to accept limits on your life.
The basic difference?
The north island has Auckland, which is a magnet now for business and technology start-up operations. I might add that it's also a major magnet for Chinese immigration and business-start-up shops. You can draw a 40-mile circle around Auckland and probably find almost half the population of the island in that metropolitan area.
The connecting force of the north isle is Route One (going from Cape Reinga on northern most tip), to Wellington (the capital) on the far south of the isle. It's safe to say that Route One has intense traffic and always in some stage of renovation.
I had this unique experience traveling north, when the cops closed off Route One because of a truck accident, and put everyone onto a dirt-road situation. It was a 12-mile detour along a road that you'd typically avoid....and find yourself on a cliff-road where you might fall 200 feet easily if you went two feet further to the right.
The landscape? An American would say it looks an awful lot like Washington state (with the Volcanic-like landscape) and Tennessee (with the rolling hills). There's some point where I ventured off Route One onto Route Four....discovering a mostly rural area, cattle ranches, and small towns with just a gas station and general store.
The south isle? It's the mountainous region....more like the Alps of Europe than anything else, which takes up maybe one-third of the south isle. The rest is mostly flat, farming land, and this is the region that typically draws a lot of tourism.
Christchurch, Queenstown, and Invercargill make up the bulk of population in this region.
Why do people want to migrate into New Zealand? I think it adds up to four simple feelings:
1. It's safe. You just don't see crime, drug usage, or crazy folks.
2. The weather isn't that bad. Summers are generally mild....maybe into mid-seventy to mid-eight range. It does rain a fair bit but that gives you the 'green-look'. Winters (especially on the far south), can offer up snow.
3. Low stress. You see a minimal amount of stress in just about everyone.
4. Everyone claims to be an expert craftsman, transmission mechanic, grill cook, carpenter, and animal vet. Once you get beyond Auckland, you kinda notice that things are rigged up in a fixer-up kind of way and folks make due with the limited knowledge that they have. You could call up some neighbor and mention that you had brake issues, and he'd come over with his tool kit, to offer up his vast knowledge (enough for four 3x5 cards) and fix the issue. I think people are impressed with this attitude about getting the job done.
But all of this immigration business is driving up home costs, and it's a shocker to note that homes around Wellington and Auckland will easily run 500,000 to one million NZD (340,000 to 680,000 USD). A decent home with real property? You'd be talking about 800,000 USD easily. All of this is begging for light rail growth and home development forty to sixty miles away from the metropolitan areas.
I stood one day in Queenstown and admired the bank-real estate ads....noting a simple one-bedroom condo could run you in the range of $250,000 USD easily, if you were within the city limits. We took off one day from the airport to fly around the range.....and you could see tons of growth around the airport with forty-odd buildings being constructed (banks, grocery operations, hotels). If you made it into Christchurch and noted the construction efforts from 2011 earthquake episode, there's probably well over 3,000 construction guys at work. There's probably enough work there to guarantee a stable work situation for at least ten more years.
The thing though that gets into your mind after a while.....you are at the edge of the Earth. Getting anywhere with civilization (like Auckland) might take you two hours in the air. Getting to Australia? Maybe 3.5 hours in the air. There are some folks on the extreme north of the north isle....who might only get into a real town or real grocery....maybe four times a year. As much as the landscape begs for you.....the reality is that you need to accept limits on your life.
New Zealand and Spiders
Take a close-up view of the car.
Anything that sits idle for six to eight hours.....likely gets the attention of a spider. I don't know the variety or if it's a killer....but they work their butt off.
This was a car parked along a city park....probably for six hours.
You see this on buildings, trees, and just about every vehicle that rests.
The Bus Station
However, on this vast trip down to New Zealand, I came to Christchurch....where they had the earthquake from 2011. In the middle of town, virtually everything was wiped out, and they rebuilt the center of town.
So there is this state-of-the-art bus station....the kind of place that you would dream about in a thriving community. Roughly sixteen gates are rigged up....all with automatic glass doors and a TV to note bus X has arrived and ready to accept passengers.
Marble floor. Security cameras around the area. A cop or two. At least three coffee shops. Open space for at least 3,000 people to transit from bus to bus.In the middle of the 'yard', there's a control booth....with communications to each driver making their way around the city.
Fantastic design and the kind of place that you would dream of. But here's the thing....it only occurred because the old station was literally destroyed and they had the state giving them tons of money to rebuild the center of town. Otherwise, they'd probably never get this type of serious money. Cost? Unknown, but it had to be in the five-million US dollar range, with all the gimmicks included.
Oddly, no junkies or homeless guys hanging out. Course, I think the cops are all over folks to avoid bringing their problems into the facility.
The Tower Experience
So, I made the trip. First, you need reservations. Just about everyone and their brother want to go up to the top....particularly at 5PM to catch the start of the sun going down. The sad thing is that you need to think about things like this six weeks prior and get your reservation into the system.
The cost? Well....it's in the hefty $70 range for each person.
So you get to the entry point, and then you realize the traffic flow, there's at least 4,000 people lined up in different segments to make the trip to the top....like a her of cows.
You walk through this tunnel, and then onto this other tunnel, and finally get 25 minutes later....over to the elevator. It's hot as heck inside of this elevator.
Then you get to the top, and gaze out at.....well....a sandy colored landscape. I doubt if you can see clearly for more than 500 feet. I asked about this, and the guy said this was normal. So you looked at the images of the city....sandy-colored....and asked yourself why you paid out so much and was this really worth the trip.
I've been in probably twenty towers in my life and it's always an interesting view.....well....up until this point. I probably spent 2.5 hours in some line, or processing through the episode, and it took eight minutes up there to convince me that this was worthless.
Mice
Yeah, it looks awful gaudy and cheap. I actually walked in and priced it....roughly $25, for something likely made in China for $2.
Putting that on display in some home? It'd take a nutcase probably. Back in the old days, I would have bought this and taken to the office for display on my desk. But in this case, I just walked on by. I bet they sell at least a dozen of these each week.
Robes
I stood there in front of the place for a good two minutes admiring the outfits on display. Not that I'd buy one, but it's a display that you just never see.
Cost? It's like fine Italian suits and you'd need a thousand to get anything they had.
Next to it? A women's outfit robe shop.
Real Popcorn
In the entry of the Dubai Mall....there's this shop on the side which sells popcorn. Naturally, I stopped and bought a bag.
First, I must admit this was the finest popcorn that I'd ever eaten in my life. My guess, it had at least 300-percent the normal amount of butter added to it.
Bad for you? They had some mega bag that they would sell you.....I just bought the regular bag. I'm guessing the mega bag would given you a minimum of 700 calories with popcorn and butter together.
As for butterly hands at the end? You needed to wash up bad.
First, I must admit this was the finest popcorn that I'd ever eaten in my life. My guess, it had at least 300-percent the normal amount of butter added to it.
Bad for you? They had some mega bag that they would sell you.....I just bought the regular bag. I'm guessing the mega bag would given you a minimum of 700 calories with popcorn and butter together.
As for butterly hands at the end? You needed to wash up bad.
Trip Through Dubai
So, some comments on Dubai:
1. Beyond the Mall, it's a limited number of things that you'd go to Dubai for....VERY limited.
2. Looking for any pork products? You can just about forget that. I sat and ate some sirloin steak pizza one night....which just doesn't work with pizza.
3. Folks at every single hotel go way out of their way to be nice.
4. If you've never been to the Dubai Airport.....there's no airport that reaches the level of 'look' that this airport has. Just the bag-pick-up area by itself.....is big enough to put forty basketball courts there. If you walked into the Emirates business-class lounge, it's big enough to handle over 3,000 people....with five different food courts.
5. The Mall? You could start at 8AM and I think you'd still be walking at 6PM....fairly amazed. The thing is...you'd need to start out with at least a thousand dollars in your pocket, and expect most to bw gone by the end....easily.
6. As bad as traffic is in New York City, Dubai is pushing to have even a worse traffic flow problem. For a 15-minute ride to the airport, I had one hand on the door handle at all times, and kinda surprised how the driver avoided accidents.
7. Crime. Well....no matter where you go, you just don't see it.
8. Every single employee? Except for the guys at the border control point in the Airport.....everyone is a foreign employee. A lot of Russians, Ukrainians, Philippine folks, and Egyptians.
9. Even in November, it's still fairly hot. And if you hung out for more than an hour....you'd be sunburned a bit.
10. Classy would be a word that you'd use often. There's another world existing in Dubai.
Wednesday, 25 October 2017
The Thing About This $5.6-Million
So, to the Trump dossier that Fusion GPS wrote over Trump and the Democrats paid $5.6-million.
I sat down today and came to realize that this entire dossier....which I thought was 300 to 500 pages....was basically 35 pages. That's it. That's $160,000 per page.
It's an unbelievable amount.....for fictional material. And the Democrats felt it was worth not only the $5.6-million, but threw another $3-million in on top of that.
How was the money spent? I'm guessing there was a bar tab set up, and whoever this British dude was....he stayed at five-star hotels....sipped through as much booze as he wanted....had $90-a-plate dinners....and interviewed only the best hookers in town.
How stupid is this? If you were a working-class democrat and had sent Hillary $75....you'd be kicking yourself right now and wondering what-the-hell-idiot would go and spend money like this on fake stuff. Did Hillary actually approve this?
I sat down today and came to realize that this entire dossier....which I thought was 300 to 500 pages....was basically 35 pages. That's it. That's $160,000 per page.
It's an unbelievable amount.....for fictional material. And the Democrats felt it was worth not only the $5.6-million, but threw another $3-million in on top of that.
How was the money spent? I'm guessing there was a bar tab set up, and whoever this British dude was....he stayed at five-star hotels....sipped through as much booze as he wanted....had $90-a-plate dinners....and interviewed only the best hookers in town.
How stupid is this? If you were a working-class democrat and had sent Hillary $75....you'd be kicking yourself right now and wondering what-the-hell-idiot would go and spend money like this on fake stuff. Did Hillary actually approve this?
How Stupid Can You Really Be?
So, the basic story is that the DNC (Democratic National Committee), in hopes of taking down Trump in the campaign and helping Hillary win....paid $5.6-million for the Fusion GPS dossier on Trump.
I sat there for about thirty minutes thinking over this and reading through the various accounts. They listed the payment as 'legal fees', and it's basically structured in this way.
Since we know that about 99-percent of the dossier is a fraud and fake....the question would lead back to the DNC....if you just wanted a fake dossier, why pay $5.6-million? You could have done the same dossier with some creative writer for $5,000.
Someone at Fusion GPS convinced the idiots at the DNC that they had the best people, the best writing, and the way of making the fake dossier seem truthful, and so the price-tag of $5.6-million makes sense.
Money flushed down the toilet? This is what amazes me. You could have bought 224 pick-ups with that money. You could have most of the home-ticket tickets for the University of Alabama football season, for the entire stadium. There are dozens of things that you could have done with $5.6-million. But with this money....all you got was a fake dossier on Trump?
It presents this image of the leadership of the DNC as being not only corrupted, but just plain stupid. Who authorized the payment? How was the money shifted over, via wire-transfer? Could Trump now sue the DNC for defamation of character?
So, I come to the last note of criticism....Hillary Clinton. When you start back in Little Rock with decisions made....like White Water, and then you go down the list with over a hundred significant screw-ups that should have derailed your public career (and never did)....now you come to the dossier story. She likely stood there after hearing the details of the dossier and felt absolutely sure that this would convince those stupid Republicans and moderates not to vote for some sex-fiend like Trump. And now?
I sat there for about thirty minutes thinking over this and reading through the various accounts. They listed the payment as 'legal fees', and it's basically structured in this way.
Since we know that about 99-percent of the dossier is a fraud and fake....the question would lead back to the DNC....if you just wanted a fake dossier, why pay $5.6-million? You could have done the same dossier with some creative writer for $5,000.
Someone at Fusion GPS convinced the idiots at the DNC that they had the best people, the best writing, and the way of making the fake dossier seem truthful, and so the price-tag of $5.6-million makes sense.
Money flushed down the toilet? This is what amazes me. You could have bought 224 pick-ups with that money. You could have most of the home-ticket tickets for the University of Alabama football season, for the entire stadium. There are dozens of things that you could have done with $5.6-million. But with this money....all you got was a fake dossier on Trump?
It presents this image of the leadership of the DNC as being not only corrupted, but just plain stupid. Who authorized the payment? How was the money shifted over, via wire-transfer? Could Trump now sue the DNC for defamation of character?
So, I come to the last note of criticism....Hillary Clinton. When you start back in Little Rock with decisions made....like White Water, and then you go down the list with over a hundred significant screw-ups that should have derailed your public career (and never did)....now you come to the dossier story. She likely stood there after hearing the details of the dossier and felt absolutely sure that this would convince those stupid Republicans and moderates not to vote for some sex-fiend like Trump. And now?
This Uranium-One Story
This story of the sale of US uranium to the Russians has been brewing for months. Bill made $500,000 from a Russian syndicate by giving a speech. Hillary's foundation got some money after the deal was pushed through. There's probably enough on the story to write sixty pages of material.
I've looked this in the past week and come to three observations:
1. There's tons of uranium in Russia and it doesn't make any sense that some Russian billionaire folks would work up some deal with the Russian government to go out and buy more at inflated US-prices, and ship it to Russia. My belief? I think the Russians baited the Democrats, and Hillary....into getting deep into this deal, and at the right time (expecting Hillary to win), they would have disclosed more to the deal and probably gotten a Senate investigation into President Hillary (assuming she would have won), and maybe triggered her resignation from the Presidency with a threat of impeachment.
2. In 2009, Secretary of State Clinton directed Rober Mueller (our special prosecutor now) who was the head of the FBI.....to fly off to Russia personally and deliver a sample of some ''captured uranium" that the US had intercepted being sold by Russians to some middle-man. Was the FBI holding the uranium? I kinda doubt that. So the question....why Mueller? Why did he have to be this delivery guy?
3. Finally, what exactly did Bill know about this entire deal? Did this whole thing start up because of some European meeting that Bill attended and the deal originally pitched to him....not Hillary?
If you had come up in the 1980s and suggested that the US government would ever approve a uranium sale to the Russians....most everyone would have laughed...yet here we are, and eight years later, it's looking like bribery.
I've looked this in the past week and come to three observations:
1. There's tons of uranium in Russia and it doesn't make any sense that some Russian billionaire folks would work up some deal with the Russian government to go out and buy more at inflated US-prices, and ship it to Russia. My belief? I think the Russians baited the Democrats, and Hillary....into getting deep into this deal, and at the right time (expecting Hillary to win), they would have disclosed more to the deal and probably gotten a Senate investigation into President Hillary (assuming she would have won), and maybe triggered her resignation from the Presidency with a threat of impeachment.
2. In 2009, Secretary of State Clinton directed Rober Mueller (our special prosecutor now) who was the head of the FBI.....to fly off to Russia personally and deliver a sample of some ''captured uranium" that the US had intercepted being sold by Russians to some middle-man. Was the FBI holding the uranium? I kinda doubt that. So the question....why Mueller? Why did he have to be this delivery guy?
3. Finally, what exactly did Bill know about this entire deal? Did this whole thing start up because of some European meeting that Bill attended and the deal originally pitched to him....not Hillary?
If you had come up in the 1980s and suggested that the US government would ever approve a uranium sale to the Russians....most everyone would have laughed...yet here we are, and eight years later, it's looking like bribery.
Sunday, 22 October 2017
Fiction and History
In my senior year of high school....the history teacher required us to purchase (cheaply, I must admit) a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin and read it as a class history project.
I read the book in approximately two weeks. It's around 400 pages long, and a fictionalized piece on the period before the Civil War, and intended to be some explanation to the necessity of the Civil War.
As I wrapped up the book on a Sunday evening....I sat there quietly and contemplated...it was a decent book but it is entirely fiction. For a literature or English class, it would have been appropriate. For a history class? No.....it wasn't fitting because of the fictional nature.
The book was designed by Ms. Stowe to be some emotional piece.....bringing you to the cause of opposing the south and slavery. Even by age 17, I'd read well over a thousand pages of history material and non-fiction analysis of the period prior to 1865. I'll admit that UTC's slant on things is probably 95-percent correct, but there is little to cover the economics of America from the early 1600s to 1865, and how you got to this particular situation in life.
In simple terms, it's a lousy book on history but a decent book for getting your emotions to oppose southern values of that era.
The instructor? My general belief from a decade after this mandatory reading was that students were supposed to get a negative view of the south, and understand the pro-Union position. Slanted? Well.....yes.
The same behavior occurring today? My guess is that it's a common theme and repeats itself often.
The sad thing is that we actually had a test (maybe ten questions) which came at the end of the reading assignment, and you actually had to remember around six to eight major characters. I made up some cheat sheet, with three lines to each character and I had around four people who copied to sheet.....who obviously didn't read the book and needed background material to the test. The sad thing to this is that you are basically memorizing fictional names and events....for a history exam.
I read the book in approximately two weeks. It's around 400 pages long, and a fictionalized piece on the period before the Civil War, and intended to be some explanation to the necessity of the Civil War.
As I wrapped up the book on a Sunday evening....I sat there quietly and contemplated...it was a decent book but it is entirely fiction. For a literature or English class, it would have been appropriate. For a history class? No.....it wasn't fitting because of the fictional nature.
The book was designed by Ms. Stowe to be some emotional piece.....bringing you to the cause of opposing the south and slavery. Even by age 17, I'd read well over a thousand pages of history material and non-fiction analysis of the period prior to 1865. I'll admit that UTC's slant on things is probably 95-percent correct, but there is little to cover the economics of America from the early 1600s to 1865, and how you got to this particular situation in life.
In simple terms, it's a lousy book on history but a decent book for getting your emotions to oppose southern values of that era.
The instructor? My general belief from a decade after this mandatory reading was that students were supposed to get a negative view of the south, and understand the pro-Union position. Slanted? Well.....yes.
The same behavior occurring today? My guess is that it's a common theme and repeats itself often.
The sad thing is that we actually had a test (maybe ten questions) which came at the end of the reading assignment, and you actually had to remember around six to eight major characters. I made up some cheat sheet, with three lines to each character and I had around four people who copied to sheet.....who obviously didn't read the book and needed background material to the test. The sad thing to this is that you are basically memorizing fictional names and events....for a history exam.
Saturday, 21 October 2017
'Empty Barrel' Talk
I've sat and watched Florida Representative Frederica Wilson over the past week and comical sequences or bickering with the White House. Then this 'empty barrel' verbiage came up.
Military people will use the term once in a while....but it's mostly the guys with history degrees. I've probably heard this term used at least a dozen times in my life.
It tends to lead back to the 1600s/1700s and be used for a ship which has a high number of barrels onboard which are empty. So as the ship rocks back and forth....creaking with hundreds of noises....the empty barrels will bump against each other and simply add to the noise. A full barrel would have stability and not bump against the wall of the ship. Eventually the ship term made it's way to land-usage and people would identify others who talked a lot....as 'empty barrels'.
Representative Wilson went full turbo after that usage and claimed that this was racist in nature....mostly because she went to the dictionary and read it there. I think she made up her mind that 'empty barrel' meant something over the slave-trade but it just doesn't fit that way.
Back in 2009...the 17th district of Florida (Wilson's district) was a 50-50 blend of Republicans and Democrats. In 2008....Obama ran and only got around 48-percent of the local vote. In 2012, after the Census results and redrawing of the Florida map (for more representation)....Obama got 86-percent of the vote. Yes, it's a gerrmandered-district....heavily designed for someone like Wilson.
The problem I see here for the news media is that every time you get Frederica Wilson up for a national interview....some Democrats watch the exchange and just shake their heads. She's like some character dreamed up on WWE-wrestling. If the Democrats were all hyped up to show intellectual landscape....with Wilson, you lose confidence. I think the White House realizes that and will keep heat on her.
Military people will use the term once in a while....but it's mostly the guys with history degrees. I've probably heard this term used at least a dozen times in my life.
It tends to lead back to the 1600s/1700s and be used for a ship which has a high number of barrels onboard which are empty. So as the ship rocks back and forth....creaking with hundreds of noises....the empty barrels will bump against each other and simply add to the noise. A full barrel would have stability and not bump against the wall of the ship. Eventually the ship term made it's way to land-usage and people would identify others who talked a lot....as 'empty barrels'.
Representative Wilson went full turbo after that usage and claimed that this was racist in nature....mostly because she went to the dictionary and read it there. I think she made up her mind that 'empty barrel' meant something over the slave-trade but it just doesn't fit that way.
Back in 2009...the 17th district of Florida (Wilson's district) was a 50-50 blend of Republicans and Democrats. In 2008....Obama ran and only got around 48-percent of the local vote. In 2012, after the Census results and redrawing of the Florida map (for more representation)....Obama got 86-percent of the vote. Yes, it's a gerrmandered-district....heavily designed for someone like Wilson.
The problem I see here for the news media is that every time you get Frederica Wilson up for a national interview....some Democrats watch the exchange and just shake their heads. She's like some character dreamed up on WWE-wrestling. If the Democrats were all hyped up to show intellectual landscape....with Wilson, you lose confidence. I think the White House realizes that and will keep heat on her.
Friday, 20 October 2017
Vampire Story
Last year, I sat and watched some TV travel documentary on Malawi. It's one of those little countries in the east-central Africa.....mostly resting against Lake Malawi, and a fair amount of woods/forests and open plain. It reminded me of Michigan to some degree (well....without Detroit). To be honest, after watching the hour-long show, it kinda stuck out in my mind as a place that I'd prefer not to travel into.
They chatted for about five minutes on folks there, and their humble belief in spirits and ghosts. It would be safe to say that about 90-percent of the public believes in things like this.
I noticed that Malawi came up in the news this week. Over the past two months.....they've had this story going around the nation of vampires.
Yeah....vampires.
Mobs have gotten hyped up when accusations occurred and guys were pointed out as vampires (I assume this occurred at night), and the authorities say that eight guys are dead so far...dead over vampire accusations.
The authorities have discussed this problem. One side of the issue is that virtually everyone believes in witches and evil spirits. So it's not that hard to convince folks in the vampire story.
The dead guys? Well....if you just got pointed out and had bad teeth.....that might get an ass-whooping.
So the government has gotten involved and are discussing public media and advertising. How it would work? Anyone's guess.
We've been fortunate so far in America....with all the anti-Trump hype....no one has suggested vampire stuff going on and the need to get worried about a new Trump threat of biting folks.
They chatted for about five minutes on folks there, and their humble belief in spirits and ghosts. It would be safe to say that about 90-percent of the public believes in things like this.
I noticed that Malawi came up in the news this week. Over the past two months.....they've had this story going around the nation of vampires.
Yeah....vampires.
Mobs have gotten hyped up when accusations occurred and guys were pointed out as vampires (I assume this occurred at night), and the authorities say that eight guys are dead so far...dead over vampire accusations.
The authorities have discussed this problem. One side of the issue is that virtually everyone believes in witches and evil spirits. So it's not that hard to convince folks in the vampire story.
The dead guys? Well....if you just got pointed out and had bad teeth.....that might get an ass-whooping.
So the government has gotten involved and are discussing public media and advertising. How it would work? Anyone's guess.
We've been fortunate so far in America....with all the anti-Trump hype....no one has suggested vampire stuff going on and the need to get worried about a new Trump threat of biting folks.
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
My Opinion of the Russian Oligarch Troll Farms
For about ten months, I've followed this hyped-up story of the Russian Oligarch troll farms involvement in the 2016 election.
My observations?
1. This is absolutely NOT a Russian government operation. If it was, you would not have been so easily led back to the front door of the troll farm. It's a commercial operation, financed by one wealthy Russian billionaire. Putin might occasionally have lunch with the guy, but I don't see this as being a Russian government operation.
2. Based on everything said....less than one million dollars was spent on this whole thing. If you think about it....if you'd tried to do this same thing in the US....it would have cost you $300 million minimum.....which says a lot about them recruiting a couple of guys for a reasonable price and just giving them one single boss with simple instructions.
3. Do that many Americans even review news items off Facebook and Twitter? So far, no one can cite any evidence that five-percent or ten-percent of American society is paying attention to the troll-manufactured news bits. That's the odd thing about this whole story. It's hyped-up by CNN, the WaPo crowd, the NY Times, and MSNBC, with Sunday talk-show enthusiasts running scared. But there's simply not any real evidence that this effort by the Oligarch trolls has succeed at anything
4. Finally, what happens in the spring of 2020 during the primary period? Will the Oligarch trolls come out in force? Will they hype up Bernie Sanders? Will they hype Trump? Will they hype anything? It's a big unknown.
My observations?
1. This is absolutely NOT a Russian government operation. If it was, you would not have been so easily led back to the front door of the troll farm. It's a commercial operation, financed by one wealthy Russian billionaire. Putin might occasionally have lunch with the guy, but I don't see this as being a Russian government operation.
2. Based on everything said....less than one million dollars was spent on this whole thing. If you think about it....if you'd tried to do this same thing in the US....it would have cost you $300 million minimum.....which says a lot about them recruiting a couple of guys for a reasonable price and just giving them one single boss with simple instructions.
3. Do that many Americans even review news items off Facebook and Twitter? So far, no one can cite any evidence that five-percent or ten-percent of American society is paying attention to the troll-manufactured news bits. That's the odd thing about this whole story. It's hyped-up by CNN, the WaPo crowd, the NY Times, and MSNBC, with Sunday talk-show enthusiasts running scared. But there's simply not any real evidence that this effort by the Oligarch trolls has succeed at anything
4. Finally, what happens in the spring of 2020 during the primary period? Will the Oligarch trolls come out in force? Will they hype up Bernie Sanders? Will they hype Trump? Will they hype anything? It's a big unknown.
Saturday, 14 October 2017
Thirty Pages
I sat and read over three or four stories early this morning over the FBI, the Lynch-Clinton documentation from the tarmac meeting to discuss Hillary, and the likely review to come out of this.
Basically, the FBI kept saying for months that no documentation existed from the Lynch-Clinton tarmac meeting in late-June of 2016. Then in the last week, they found thirty pages of material and handed it over.
The basic story? Lynch said that the whole meeting was just a casual meeting with Bill coming out to her VIP jet sitting on the tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona....to discuss grandkids, golf and travels. Yeah, I know....it just sounds kinda hokey but she's more or less sworn to that story.
Why on board the jet? I'm guessing it was out of the way from the public and they suspected that no one would spot Bill entering it. It wasn't reported by national press (yeah, that's another odd part of the story). It was the local Channel 15 reporter who spoke to the story, that swept the nation.
The thirty pages? I'm guessing that there's three or four emails, with one final report over the entire trip that Lynch took, and the final report is likely a quarter of this entire thirty pages, with only three lines having to do with Clinton.
I seriously doubt that anything will come out of the thirty pages.
Why Bill had to meet face to face? He has some magnetic personality and thinks he can charm folks with that casual southern charm. So the face-to-face meeting had to be part of the whole game. Since there are no other witnesses to the meeting....you simply have to assume what Lynch wrote....is entirely true.
Ethically? Well, it's one of those episodes that really makes Lynch look bad. A regular person with ethnics would have looked at the potential troubles and just said 'no'.
So you can imagine the next couple of days while some folks pour over thirty pages and come to realize that there's really not much to say....Lynch bumped into Bill....maybe two lines of commentary about grandkids and golf, and she wished Bill good health. A lot of drama, over nothing much.
Basically, the FBI kept saying for months that no documentation existed from the Lynch-Clinton tarmac meeting in late-June of 2016. Then in the last week, they found thirty pages of material and handed it over.
The basic story? Lynch said that the whole meeting was just a casual meeting with Bill coming out to her VIP jet sitting on the tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona....to discuss grandkids, golf and travels. Yeah, I know....it just sounds kinda hokey but she's more or less sworn to that story.
Why on board the jet? I'm guessing it was out of the way from the public and they suspected that no one would spot Bill entering it. It wasn't reported by national press (yeah, that's another odd part of the story). It was the local Channel 15 reporter who spoke to the story, that swept the nation.
The thirty pages? I'm guessing that there's three or four emails, with one final report over the entire trip that Lynch took, and the final report is likely a quarter of this entire thirty pages, with only three lines having to do with Clinton.
I seriously doubt that anything will come out of the thirty pages.
Why Bill had to meet face to face? He has some magnetic personality and thinks he can charm folks with that casual southern charm. So the face-to-face meeting had to be part of the whole game. Since there are no other witnesses to the meeting....you simply have to assume what Lynch wrote....is entirely true.
Ethically? Well, it's one of those episodes that really makes Lynch look bad. A regular person with ethnics would have looked at the potential troubles and just said 'no'.
So you can imagine the next couple of days while some folks pour over thirty pages and come to realize that there's really not much to say....Lynch bumped into Bill....maybe two lines of commentary about grandkids and golf, and she wished Bill good health. A lot of drama, over nothing much.
Friday, 13 October 2017
Kerbow Family Connection
Over the past couple of years, I've spent some time looking at one single stretch of the family tree which ran to the Kerbow name. It's an odd name....French in origin.
So, the story goes to this period around 1731 when some French Huguenots boarded a Dutch ship called the "Billender Townsend" out of Rotterdam, Netherlands. Jean Kerbo (spelled slightly different) boarded, and ended up in Philly.
The thing about this Huguenot group.....they'd lived in the Pfalz region of Germany for several decades....mostly because of religious persecution. A lot of this religious fervor that occurred, comes out of the Thirty Years War period (1619-to-1650 era). The war started originally between the reformers and the Catholics. Halfway through this war, the religious side of this conflict mostly ended and it became a single community opposing another community....mostly over revenge-killing.
The family arrived in Philly on 8 October 1731. What's generally said is that family united with other Huguenots in the Maryland region....going south into North and South Carolina over the next decade or two. By the 1860 period, one division of the family had moved into Minor Hill, Tenn. That's where my connection occurs.
The religious side of the family? If you go through things, this whole religious thing kinda 'dryed-out' after one generation in the US.
The original area of France? If you gaze at a France map....it's on the southeastern side...about forty miles south of Nancy, in a region called Haute-Saone....a county-like area that is about forty by forty miles, and mostly all farms. It's about a 20-minute drive to the Swiss border, and there's nothing urban there....this is pure farming territory today.
The population shift for Haute-Saone? Well, that's an interesting story. From mid-1800s to 2005...it was a dramatic shift....dropping from the 400,000 level in the 1800s to 210,000 by the end of WW II. Most of the shift? This was a pure farming area, and lots of people left for industrial jobs by the mid-1800s to early 1900s.
Today? You only find the Kerbow name around the US, to a smaller degree in Estongia and France. My guess is that the bulk of the family left in the 1600s/1700s, and some ended up in Estonia as well.
Added note: There are at least six different spellings to the name (Kerbo; Kerbow; Kirbo; Curbo; Curbow and Kuehrbeaux).
So, the story goes to this period around 1731 when some French Huguenots boarded a Dutch ship called the "Billender Townsend" out of Rotterdam, Netherlands. Jean Kerbo (spelled slightly different) boarded, and ended up in Philly.
The thing about this Huguenot group.....they'd lived in the Pfalz region of Germany for several decades....mostly because of religious persecution. A lot of this religious fervor that occurred, comes out of the Thirty Years War period (1619-to-1650 era). The war started originally between the reformers and the Catholics. Halfway through this war, the religious side of this conflict mostly ended and it became a single community opposing another community....mostly over revenge-killing.
The family arrived in Philly on 8 October 1731. What's generally said is that family united with other Huguenots in the Maryland region....going south into North and South Carolina over the next decade or two. By the 1860 period, one division of the family had moved into Minor Hill, Tenn. That's where my connection occurs.
The religious side of the family? If you go through things, this whole religious thing kinda 'dryed-out' after one generation in the US.
The original area of France? If you gaze at a France map....it's on the southeastern side...about forty miles south of Nancy, in a region called Haute-Saone....a county-like area that is about forty by forty miles, and mostly all farms. It's about a 20-minute drive to the Swiss border, and there's nothing urban there....this is pure farming territory today.
The population shift for Haute-Saone? Well, that's an interesting story. From mid-1800s to 2005...it was a dramatic shift....dropping from the 400,000 level in the 1800s to 210,000 by the end of WW II. Most of the shift? This was a pure farming area, and lots of people left for industrial jobs by the mid-1800s to early 1900s.
Today? You only find the Kerbow name around the US, to a smaller degree in Estongia and France. My guess is that the bulk of the family left in the 1600s/1700s, and some ended up in Estonia as well.
Added note: There are at least six different spellings to the name (Kerbo; Kerbow; Kirbo; Curbo; Curbow and Kuehrbeaux).
Thursday, 12 October 2017
On the Topic of Autodidacticism
As a kid, I had this reading interest. Already by age ten...I had an interest in history, geography, cultures, etc. I was lucky, this rural school I attended....had a decent library. It might have been on a twenty foot by forty foot room....but they had an ample amount of books. Added onto this, my mom would take me by the county library, which had a larger selection.
I never thought much about this interest or curiosity of mine...even after I left home and went off to the Air Force. They offered various training segments, instruction in odd things (assembling and disassembling rifles for example), bigger libraries, and I simply broadened out my prospective.
I had what you'd call autodidacticism. Autodidacticism is typically a behavior where you are self-educating yourself, proceeding through life with some instructors, or an entire lack of instructors. Autodidact people tend to pick and chose their interest. They are typically terrible students for the system used in most schools today.
An Autodidact kid might come up and shock you because he's actually interested in ancient Rome. He wants to know about the construction of the Colosseum.....it's intended purpose....how they operated....who came out for the events.....and how the Colosseum fits into the spiral of the Roman Empire. Naturally, 99-percent of high school teachers can't answer these questions. In fact....probably over 50-percent of college history professors....can't answer his request. This is the kid who reads forty books over the period in question....memorizes the names that matter....and has some poster over his bed of the Colosseum. At some point, the kid will grow up....travel to Rome, and stand in awe of the Colosseum for several hours.
Autodidacts tend to skip regular college because they really can't provide an adequate education. If they do attend college, you tend to notice that they may pick and choose various classes which don't fit to any major. For example, you might have some kid who picks two or three economic classes just to understand capitalism, it's history, and the logical anti-capitalist motivation. Beyond that, he has no other interest.
This is also the kid who might take a community college class on how to build a log cabin, but never actually go beyond that point or ever build a log cabin.
Education went through some odd periods. The Catholic Church picked up education and operated a number of instructional programs, and ended up starting the college system as we know of it today. Up until the mid-1800s....if you went to any US or European college program....what you found was a simplistic program built upon five central themes....debate, ancient history, Latin, philosophy, and theology). Engineering and science got added in the mid-to-late 1800s.
What you found a huge growth pattern upon in the 1800s were Autodidact people developing their interest....going out to study things on their own, and building a reputation as an expert.
You can find cases where people would travel for miles to hear so-and-so speak to some topic, or some expedition to Africa, or some new medical idea.
Oddly enough, if you peel away a lot of the Batman character displayed over the past twenty years....he's a Autodidact. He is self-taught to some degree, and using masters to provide an education in other areas.
The world ahead for the Autodidacts? That's an interesting topic. The internet basically offers this vast landscape to go and learn odd knowledge that was difficult in the past to gain. You can sit now via a YouTube lecture and get a two-hour lecture by some noted British professor from Cambridge on Roman war techniques. Or you could sit and hear a sixty-minute talk by some Japanese professor on herbal remedies that were commonly practiced in Japan's 1600s. Or you could hear some gifted guy talk about horse-shoe procedures and how they differ from one culture to another.
In some ways, we are opening up a vast door now for Autodidacts. They could go way beyond anything that we'd ever dreamed of.
I never thought much about this interest or curiosity of mine...even after I left home and went off to the Air Force. They offered various training segments, instruction in odd things (assembling and disassembling rifles for example), bigger libraries, and I simply broadened out my prospective.
I had what you'd call autodidacticism. Autodidacticism is typically a behavior where you are self-educating yourself, proceeding through life with some instructors, or an entire lack of instructors. Autodidact people tend to pick and chose their interest. They are typically terrible students for the system used in most schools today.
An Autodidact kid might come up and shock you because he's actually interested in ancient Rome. He wants to know about the construction of the Colosseum.....it's intended purpose....how they operated....who came out for the events.....and how the Colosseum fits into the spiral of the Roman Empire. Naturally, 99-percent of high school teachers can't answer these questions. In fact....probably over 50-percent of college history professors....can't answer his request. This is the kid who reads forty books over the period in question....memorizes the names that matter....and has some poster over his bed of the Colosseum. At some point, the kid will grow up....travel to Rome, and stand in awe of the Colosseum for several hours.
Autodidacts tend to skip regular college because they really can't provide an adequate education. If they do attend college, you tend to notice that they may pick and choose various classes which don't fit to any major. For example, you might have some kid who picks two or three economic classes just to understand capitalism, it's history, and the logical anti-capitalist motivation. Beyond that, he has no other interest.
This is also the kid who might take a community college class on how to build a log cabin, but never actually go beyond that point or ever build a log cabin.
Education went through some odd periods. The Catholic Church picked up education and operated a number of instructional programs, and ended up starting the college system as we know of it today. Up until the mid-1800s....if you went to any US or European college program....what you found was a simplistic program built upon five central themes....debate, ancient history, Latin, philosophy, and theology). Engineering and science got added in the mid-to-late 1800s.
What you found a huge growth pattern upon in the 1800s were Autodidact people developing their interest....going out to study things on their own, and building a reputation as an expert.
You can find cases where people would travel for miles to hear so-and-so speak to some topic, or some expedition to Africa, or some new medical idea.
Oddly enough, if you peel away a lot of the Batman character displayed over the past twenty years....he's a Autodidact. He is self-taught to some degree, and using masters to provide an education in other areas.
The world ahead for the Autodidacts? That's an interesting topic. The internet basically offers this vast landscape to go and learn odd knowledge that was difficult in the past to gain. You can sit now via a YouTube lecture and get a two-hour lecture by some noted British professor from Cambridge on Roman war techniques. Or you could sit and hear a sixty-minute talk by some Japanese professor on herbal remedies that were commonly practiced in Japan's 1600s. Or you could hear some gifted guy talk about horse-shoe procedures and how they differ from one culture to another.
In some ways, we are opening up a vast door now for Autodidacts. They could go way beyond anything that we'd ever dreamed of.
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
The Worry Story
The WattsUpWithThat crowd wrote up an interesting piece today....over a university study piece (by Chapman University)....studying 'fears' of people.
The study crowd says that climate change/global cooling.....really isn't high up on the list of fears by Americans. Shocker, eh?
In fact, more Americans believed and feared paranormal things (like ghosts)....more than climate change. I think if you did the same survey on Germans....it'd be the exact opposite.
On the top fears or worries for Americans? Number one: corruption of government bureaucrats. Amusingly enough....fear of Trumps reform of the Healthcare Act came up as number two on the fear list.
Fear of North Korean nukes? Way down as number nine. In fact, folks worried more about not having enough money (ranked five on the list).
I sat and pondered over the listing.
From the list of the top ten fears that most Americans showed fear over? I kinda have to admit that I don't sit around and worry much about any of these.
Oh, I worry about snakes if I'm in a snaky area and there's high grass. I worry about food poisoning if I'm at a questionable one-star restaurant. I don't worry much about ghosts, cannibals, meteors, wild dogs, or angry elephants. I do worry about nutcases who talk to themselves, Brahma bulls, driving in snow-storms, real Nazis (not the fake Nazis), and people who appear to have leprosy. I don't worry about meth-heads unless they seem totally out of control.
The problem I see with this survey business is that they aren't really going out into country settings and asking regular people about this stuff.
Most folks from where I grew up would hype up their worry over tornadoes, their car transmission failing, the county voting to go dry, their wife finding out about their mistress, the water heater failing, meth-heads, corrupt cops, and some Alabama governor making a play on their wife or girlfriend. Folks worrying about climate change? I doubt if it'd even make the top forty worries.
This worry discussion? I guess someone worries about what makes you worry.
The study crowd says that climate change/global cooling.....really isn't high up on the list of fears by Americans. Shocker, eh?
In fact, more Americans believed and feared paranormal things (like ghosts)....more than climate change. I think if you did the same survey on Germans....it'd be the exact opposite.
On the top fears or worries for Americans? Number one: corruption of government bureaucrats. Amusingly enough....fear of Trumps reform of the Healthcare Act came up as number two on the fear list.
Fear of North Korean nukes? Way down as number nine. In fact, folks worried more about not having enough money (ranked five on the list).
I sat and pondered over the listing.
From the list of the top ten fears that most Americans showed fear over? I kinda have to admit that I don't sit around and worry much about any of these.
Oh, I worry about snakes if I'm in a snaky area and there's high grass. I worry about food poisoning if I'm at a questionable one-star restaurant. I don't worry much about ghosts, cannibals, meteors, wild dogs, or angry elephants. I do worry about nutcases who talk to themselves, Brahma bulls, driving in snow-storms, real Nazis (not the fake Nazis), and people who appear to have leprosy. I don't worry about meth-heads unless they seem totally out of control.
The problem I see with this survey business is that they aren't really going out into country settings and asking regular people about this stuff.
Most folks from where I grew up would hype up their worry over tornadoes, their car transmission failing, the county voting to go dry, their wife finding out about their mistress, the water heater failing, meth-heads, corrupt cops, and some Alabama governor making a play on their wife or girlfriend. Folks worrying about climate change? I doubt if it'd even make the top forty worries.
This worry discussion? I guess someone worries about what makes you worry.
My Idea for a TV Show
I have this idea for a television script.....with all the fake reality being played out in politics today in America.
So, various people have threatened to leave the US....to mostly Canada....because of the Trump win.
My script idea is to take some guy, and his family (of course) and go through the Trump exit.
The guy would discover about ten minutes into the show that Canada won't accept him (some marijuana charge from the 1980s). Eventually, he'd settle on Costa Rica. The family would haul all of their belongings onto a 1982 school bus and drive down through Mexico.
Eventually, they'd arrive at the designated immigration point for Costa Rica....to discover the town that they are encouraged to settle into....is El Trump. There's some unease with dad as he discovers this.
The rest of the plot would revolve around the family discovering that secretly....each of them had some attraction to Trump-like thinking. At the end of the first season, they'd all stand and admit....they were Trump enthusiasts but just never knew it. And now, will they leave Costa Rica to return? Or will they bring Trump-enthusiasm to Costa Ricans?
So, various people have threatened to leave the US....to mostly Canada....because of the Trump win.
My script idea is to take some guy, and his family (of course) and go through the Trump exit.
The guy would discover about ten minutes into the show that Canada won't accept him (some marijuana charge from the 1980s). Eventually, he'd settle on Costa Rica. The family would haul all of their belongings onto a 1982 school bus and drive down through Mexico.
Eventually, they'd arrive at the designated immigration point for Costa Rica....to discover the town that they are encouraged to settle into....is El Trump. There's some unease with dad as he discovers this.
The rest of the plot would revolve around the family discovering that secretly....each of them had some attraction to Trump-like thinking. At the end of the first season, they'd all stand and admit....they were Trump enthusiasts but just never knew it. And now, will they leave Costa Rica to return? Or will they bring Trump-enthusiasm to Costa Ricans?
Tuesday, 10 October 2017
Murders and Numbers
2016 number of homicides (with any type of weapon, to include knives, hammers and axes) in the state of Alabama: 407
2016 number of homicides within the city of Birmingham and the county of Jefferson, Alabama: 151
2016 number of homicides within the city of Mobile, Alabama: 43
2016 number of homicides within Tuscaloosa, Alabama: 20
Yeah, More than half of the state's murders....came from one single county, and two urbanized cities.
2016 homicides in Utah? A total of 90 for the entire state. Of that, nine involved people shot by cops.
One of the 90 Utah homicides, actually was a woman who ran off a road....killed by a tree impact....with a vehicle repossession guy attempting to retake her vehicle.
So, when you see some journalist or intellectual try to talk about guns, and banning of guns....then you need to ask more questions...dig deeper into the whole story.
Have murders in Alabama really increased? You can go back to 1960, and find that 406 people murdered. In 1964, we actually got down to 316 for the state. Over the past seven years in Alabama? We actually averaged around 300 per year.
So, you get to the point of trying to write some script or law to remove automatic weapons. If you go down the list....from the 4,000-odd people on the Alabama homicide list....you might have saved five or six. If you'd banned knives? It'd be way over one-hundred....maybe going to two-hundred. Seems like you go for knives first, if you were logical about this.
2016 number of homicides within the city of Birmingham and the county of Jefferson, Alabama: 151
2016 number of homicides within the city of Mobile, Alabama: 43
2016 number of homicides within Tuscaloosa, Alabama: 20
Yeah, More than half of the state's murders....came from one single county, and two urbanized cities.
2016 homicides in Utah? A total of 90 for the entire state. Of that, nine involved people shot by cops.
One of the 90 Utah homicides, actually was a woman who ran off a road....killed by a tree impact....with a vehicle repossession guy attempting to retake her vehicle.
So, when you see some journalist or intellectual try to talk about guns, and banning of guns....then you need to ask more questions...dig deeper into the whole story.
Have murders in Alabama really increased? You can go back to 1960, and find that 406 people murdered. In 1964, we actually got down to 316 for the state. Over the past seven years in Alabama? We actually averaged around 300 per year.
So, you get to the point of trying to write some script or law to remove automatic weapons. If you go down the list....from the 4,000-odd people on the Alabama homicide list....you might have saved five or six. If you'd banned knives? It'd be way over one-hundred....maybe going to two-hundred. Seems like you go for knives first, if you were logical about this.
Sunday, 8 October 2017
Epic of Gilgamesh: Poem Three
If you follow my essays, this is a series of twelve pieces over the epic poem series of Gilgamesh...written over 4,000 years ago on some clay tablets and were stories told around the campfire there in Sumeria. I'd suggest that you go back two days ago and catch poem one before reading this one.
Today, we follow our two heroes, Gilgamesh (king of Uruk), and the rural backwoods guy Enkidu....who got civilized by a local harlot gal, and then took up a fight with Gilgamesh over some young brides.
In poem three, we find our two guys standing there in the rural court area of Uruk, with the senators or elders wanting to give Gilgamesh advice prior to this big journey. Not a lot is written over the advice....it's probably mostly words about not sipping booze or wine with folks you don't know....don't pick fights with bad-ass folks....and watch out for harlot-women along the trail.
At some point after this meeting....Gilgamesh decides to visit his momma....noted as Ninsun (sounds like Nissan but different). She was a Goddess, in absolute form.
Most folks tend to go back and look up the literal translation of Ninsun, and it tends to be the lady-in-charge-of-wild-cows.
Most guys sitting at the fire and listening to this....particularly from rural areas, would have this image burned into their mind over some sturdy and big-boned gal who tended the nut-case cows of some valley who'd go and chase guys down.
Anyway....Ninsun gave some advice as well to Gilgamesh. At this point, Ninsun think so highly of this friend of Gilgamesh....she makes him a son. There's not much written down over how Enkidu felt about accepted in the family...one has to assume it was accepted without much talk. That's how stoic guys are.
Then Gilgamesh hands out some words to the elders about how to run Uruk while he's gone. This is sparse in terms of what was said. One might suspect that he made sure they didn't do nothing stupid. Then, the boys leave for the big adventure.
End of poem three.
To be honest, I kinda think poem three is weak, but there was probably more made up with Ninsun, and her Goddess business.
Today, we follow our two heroes, Gilgamesh (king of Uruk), and the rural backwoods guy Enkidu....who got civilized by a local harlot gal, and then took up a fight with Gilgamesh over some young brides.
In poem three, we find our two guys standing there in the rural court area of Uruk, with the senators or elders wanting to give Gilgamesh advice prior to this big journey. Not a lot is written over the advice....it's probably mostly words about not sipping booze or wine with folks you don't know....don't pick fights with bad-ass folks....and watch out for harlot-women along the trail.
At some point after this meeting....Gilgamesh decides to visit his momma....noted as Ninsun (sounds like Nissan but different). She was a Goddess, in absolute form.
Most folks tend to go back and look up the literal translation of Ninsun, and it tends to be the lady-in-charge-of-wild-cows.
Most guys sitting at the fire and listening to this....particularly from rural areas, would have this image burned into their mind over some sturdy and big-boned gal who tended the nut-case cows of some valley who'd go and chase guys down.
Anyway....Ninsun gave some advice as well to Gilgamesh. At this point, Ninsun think so highly of this friend of Gilgamesh....she makes him a son. There's not much written down over how Enkidu felt about accepted in the family...one has to assume it was accepted without much talk. That's how stoic guys are.
Then Gilgamesh hands out some words to the elders about how to run Uruk while he's gone. This is sparse in terms of what was said. One might suspect that he made sure they didn't do nothing stupid. Then, the boys leave for the big adventure.
End of poem three.
To be honest, I kinda think poem three is weak, but there was probably more made up with Ninsun, and her Goddess business.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)