What'll Happen To Twitter?

 I suggest five things:

1.  I think people who are of the far left extreme....in the first week of Musk ownership....will dissolve their account and try to survive via Facebook.  

2.  I think around two million Americans who did not have a Twitter account prior to this....will venture over and become Twitter users....meaning of a neutral or right-wing variety.

3.  I think Twitter will matter in the final ten days of the mid-term election, and swing some voters away from Democratic candidates.

4.  I think regular everyday type users of Twitter.....won't notice a single thing different.

5.  Finally, as unprofitable as Twitter is currently....I think the same situation will occur under Elon Musk.  However, I expect the headquarters to up and move (to a tax-friendly state), and the operations center to non-west-coast state.  By this move, more than 40-percent of the cost of running the operation.....will dissolve in a matter of one year.  

TV Chatter

 Around 1969, via Saturday morning cartoons.....I got my first dose of Scooby Doo.  It was a simple format.....a comical dog, Shaggy the 50-percent hippie, Freddie the beach boy type, Daphne the model type, and Velma the geek.  Freddie was always portrayed as dating Daphne, and Shaggy was portrayed as dating Velma.  

Well....this week, the cartoon guys decided to go and make a new series of Scooby Doo, and Velma would be lesbian.  

I didn't really see the need or urge to do this.  

I mean....if this makes sense, then why not go back to the Flintstones and make Barney a bondage guy?

Or perhaps make the Roadrunner into a hanky-panky type of character?

Or perhaps take that Johnny Quest character and have him at age 14 all hooked-up with some 50-year old female bartender?

But why stop there?  Couldn't you re-work the Brady Bunch and have Carol (the housekeeper) in some three-way with the neighbors?

Or how about Fred Sanford having some kinky weird ideas?

Where this is all leading to?  Unknown.....it used to be a simple TV kid's murder mystery with a comedian dog, and now it has to revolve around lesbian Velma?

Completed Five Seasons of Boardwalk Empire and Observations

 This week, I finished up the 50-odd episodes of Boardwalk Empire.  If you asked me to define the HBO series....I'd say they took a fair sized chunk of the 1920s/1930s American history....which had to deal with prohibition, the mafia, corruption in government, and consequences of life.  My ten observations:

1.  A lot of killing within the 50-odd episodes. Virtually every single character that you might have gotten attached to....dead in the end.

2.  It's simply a lot of history that people aren't aware of, or were given 10 minutes of discussion in high school.

3.  I spent a lot of time....freezing the frames and looking at landscapes, clothing and cars.  It's a five-star series at giving you the type of clothing and attire of the period.  

4.  One of the few things that people don't grasp....prior to 1920....we consumed a lot of whiskey and beer.  Cocktails?  They all came after 1920 and prohibition.

5.  Get rich schemes?  Virtually everyone was hooked onto some idea.

6.  Travel by train?  It was the normal thing in that era.

7.  I really hadn't thought much about it.....but coffee in the 1920s was 2-cents a cup.

8.  This Remus-character became my favorite of the series.....only because he always talked of himself in the 3rd character ('Remus thinks this would work' would be a comment that he'd speak).

9.  Just me talking, but I always think the 1920s/1930s were the most rich era for evolution of America.

10.  At the end of the 50-odd episodes.....I came to realize that no one of the bunch ever got really rich.  Money slipped in....was spent, and wealth was lost....all in a matter of months, weeks, or days. 

Too Dark?

 In the past week....an episode of 'House of the Dragon' aired, and within minutes after it wrapped up....folks took to social media to complain.

The criticism?  The landscape/lighting....was too dark.  They couldn't see much of anything.

Back when Game of Thrones ran....in the last season....they had an episode like this as well.  I watched the Game of Thrones episode in question and would readily agree....pretty much one-third of the episode was crap.....you saw mostly nothing.

To be honest, I can think of a dozen shows over the past decade (Boardwalk Empire is one of them) where scenes were shot in marginal to zero lighting. 

Its something you would have never noticed in the 1970s or 1980s.  

Today?  Between poor lighting and poor sound....at least once a month.....I'll be watching something and have to adjust the sound to maximum, or halt the video to go strictly to B/W.  It's crap production where some director thinks he's adding value with total darkness.  

At some point in the next year, I expect an idiot to make a movie, where it's in total darkness of some cave, where some demon comes out to terrorize some folks, but you never see the demon.  

“Studies Show That Kids Never Change Their Minds“

 This week, I sat and watched a podcast....where about 30 seconds into it....the comedian spoke to the idea that kids never change their minds.  He tried to be cynical and suggest studies exist that say kids never (ever) change their minds.

I sat for a moment and felt amused.

You could evaluate a hundred kids on one-hundred subjects, and find over a one-year period....99-percent changed their position or mind on each and every subject.  

Chief reason?  I'd say it goes to limited information, accepting some facts at face value, and going with one conclusion only because Teacher X said it was the right conclusion.

Resolving or fixing this?  Maybe if you sat down and discussed reasoning and logic with a 12-year old kid....it might create some filters where face-value situations are tossed to the side and questions filter out the crappy angles to problems.  But we don't seem that interested in creating mini-Socrates/Plato folks. 

The 23-Percent

 This week, I noticed a news report that came out and discussed the condition of American 18-year old 'kids' and if they were capable or qualified for the US military.  According to the survey....77-percent are not able to qualify.  

The hinderances?  Fat, overweight, out-of-shape, drug-use, mentally unbalanced, and inability to handle stress.

I thought about this statistic....basically, only one out of four  high graduates could handle it.  Same number in 1977 (when I entered the Air Force)?  No.  Probably 90-percent of the people in my group could have gone in.

I noticed some discussion about a teacher commenting this week.....they had kids in the class who prioritized home-work,  and rarely accomplished it.  The only tool that the teacher had.....was to limit grade points.  The kids didn't care.  If they did zero homework, and were limited to a 'C' average....that didn't matter.

From the landscape?  It looks crappy, I admit.  The trend will continue and eventually reach a point where only 10-percent of Americans have the mindset or health aspects.....to joint the military.  At that point, it'll be a crisis, and how we correct the 'problem' will be a crisis itself.

Five Things I Now Think

 1.  The Republicans could hype up some female trans radical leftist as their next Presidential candidate, and immediately the person would be accused as not being far enough left, and identified as a far-right extreme fascist.  

2.  It appears some group in the White House is trying to guide Biden to create a definition out of thin-air for 'women'.  You would think, with all the various problems now existing in America.....this would rank near bottom of 250,000 priorities.

3.  House committee being asked to investigate Governor de Santis over the migrants being flown into Martha's Vineyard.  I think they will drag the guy into DC, to be in front of cameras.  Biggest possible mistake to pump up his 'star' and have him as the anti-Democrat player.

4.  Lot of weird stuff in past 72 hours going on in China.  Roughly 70-percent of in-country flights?  Cancelled.  Lot of military vehicles moving around.  No one seeing leadership in public.

5.  Kherson, Ukraine....held by the Russians....has been ordered by Putin to be 'held'.....meaning no retreat.  Two weeks ago, it was figured to be in the 15k to 20k range of Russian troops there, with marginal supplies being brought in.  If they start to retreat?  Some suggest special units being around to shoot retreating Russian forces.  Sounds an awful lot like things in WW II.