The Boris Image

Generally, whenever I hear the term "Russian meddling in the US election"....I have this image in my mind from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons with Boris Badenov.

Boris Badenov was a fictional character of course.

Boris was invented in the late 1950s and was supposed to be the somewhat evil character...that was somewhere between being a German or a Soviet bad-guy.

After you've watched a couple hours of Rocky and Bullwinkle....you'd come to the conclusion that Boris was just a unlucky guy at situations.  He'd walk into a great situation, and minutes later find that he'd been outsmarted or just run into bad luck.

When I sit and watch CNN....I'm really trying hard not to visualize Boris....but typically, it only takes a minute of some dimwit with CNN talking and I've got Russian-meddling and Boris in my mind.

As much as Boris struggled and failed.....time after time....you got use to the Boris scheme and could figure out that American-branded Bullwinkle and Rocky would always walk away safe.

I've come to view the Russian meddling thing in the election as basically the same thing.  Whatever scheme was floated on the original version...it didn't really matter.  We....as Bullwinkle and Rocky....will walk away in a safe fashion.  It's virtually guaranteed.

As for future meddling?  Boris version II will appear in 2020 and 2024.  His sidekick....the slutty Natasha Fatale will probably accompany him.  CNN will interview both.  The arrival of the Russians will be hyped up and widely reported.  Some people will note that they were briefly swayed....mostly by the booze.....to trust CNN and Boris.  Eventually, we'll all have a good laugh.

On the Topic of Escalators

As a kid from the rural landscape of Alabama, I always had this fascination with escalators.  I was probably 12 or 13 years old when I 'rode' my first one.  In the period of 1978/1979 while in Frankfurt, I rode dozens.

For me, this was a mechanical curiosity.  You'd stand and admire the weight on one escalator and what amount of power it took to lift sixteen people to some second floor.  Then you'd admire the dependability and the fact that they rarely broke down.  You'd also reach a point where you wondered about the safety involved and the dangers.

While living in the DC area around 2010 to 2013....we had the episode where the escalator 'broke' and went into maximum turbo on the way down....literally throwing folks off down at the bottom. The escalator mechanics swore up and down....this was supposed to be impossible to occur.

For a long while, the longest escalator that I'd ever ridden was in a subway station in Munich....taking roughly 90 seconds to reach the ground surface.  Then I came to DC and rode the Wheaton Station escalator....which takes roughly two minutes to ride to the top (around 250 feet).  You can figure that that escalator was hauling a minimum of a 150 people in a rush-hour period, so there's a ton of 'power' to make this deliver.

I sat today and was reading up on the North Korean Pyongyang Metro system, and they have a single escalator there...where it can take almost four minutes to ride from the bottom to the top.  Figuring the load there?  Potentially, you might be talking about 500 Koreans riding on it in a rush-hour 'minute'.

If I were eighteen today?  I hate to admit it but out of the ten-thousand odd professions that I'd probably like to get into...would be the escalator technician work.  It's kinda like nursing....you'd be guaranteed work for the rest of your life.

Me and Money Dysmorphia

What is money dysmorphia?  You end up with some type of shame or guilt....that you ain't got enough money.  So you feel hostile when you visit your cousin's trailer, or your wife's brother who is on federal aid, or you go back to dad's house feeling pretty negative about your life.

I was very fortunate in life....I left the farm....went to the Air Force and my life got on track.

They gave me these swell uniforms to wear.

They offered up fine dining (with coffee and free Coke).  

They had nice barracks....sometimes even overly heated.

They had plenty of work to do....to keep your mind off this Dysmorphia stuff.

They offered cheap bowling and free gym services.

You got to meet interesting people....some bright and clever....some with a marginal IQ.

Eventually after 20 years.....you don't have any dysmorphia....you don't feel shame or guilt over money.  

The Fake PhD Story

Just a odd story over this Professor Jason Arday fellow.

He 'was' a British academic (sociology of education, focusing on race and inequality).

Born around 1985....to a Ghanaian-heritage family living in a south London neighbor.....he tells his 'hard' childhood story....having autism, developmental delay, and issues.

He says....up to age 18....he could read or write

He says....by 2015....he's got a PhD.

He then became a professor (including at Glasgow).  Around 2023 (age 37)....he gets appointed Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge (yeah, a big deal). 

On paper....he has claimed a lot....running (30 marathons in 35 days)....raising cash for charity operations....facing off some bad guys with knives.

So in recent weeks....the story has fallen apart.

Plagiarism has come up over his PhD. Various titles/jobs....simply didn't occur.  Yesterday, he resigned from the university.  Someone put his resignation letter to a AI-review....saying it's a high probability that AI wrote the letter for him.

All bogus?  Yeah

What now?  I assume....he goes back to the grocery operation and stocking shelves.

How the system failed so badly?  So far....no one answers that question.

It seems like....folks wanted the story to be so true.....that various indicators just failed to get public attention.

Trigger People

 Last couple of days....the gal running for governor of Wisconsin (Dem, Asian gal) wanted folks to know that she has panic/anxiety attacks.  In some reference, she noted just by eating a burger at some 'shack'....the number of white-people there....clicked her 'panic-level', and she started up a panic attack.

How a governor could work through panic attacks?  Unknown.  

A year ago....I was reading a piece by a woman who was visiting relatives, and the teenager grand-daughter....listed out about five or six things which would start up a panic-attack.  Crowded places and a second-floor/higher levels....were triggers on the list.  How she'd survive past age 20?  Unknown.

My father-in-law....passed on because of a trigger-feeling for hospitals/clinics....which delayed attention to a hernia....which eventually killed him.

I worked in some Air Force office....where a Lt had some trigger related to storms/lightning.  Working a vault....you didn't have any attention usually to weather.  But somehow....this guy would note thunder, and his trigger would activate over 'worry'.

It just seems like....we've doubled the population who seem to freak out over panic/anxiety attacks.  In a group of twenty....there's likely to be at least two folks with substantial problems.  How this doubled-up?  That's what I'd like to know.

Chow Hall Story

 RFK Jr...in the past couple of months....went to a Army chow hall (as the story goes).  Post of about 2k to 3k folks who'd normally be using the chow-hall....but only around 400 seated there.  At conclusion....RFK Jr came to the opinion....crappy food, and bulk of what they cooked....went into the trash.

So he brought in some civilian guy....remade the menu....drastic changes....nothing thrown out with the new menu offerings.

August of 1977....I arrived at Air Force basic training, and was introduced to the chow hall.  My initial impression....for a burger or grilled ham and cheese....it was four-star.  All the deserts were four-star (probably sixteen variations).  I rated breakfast three-star....no waffles, but pancakes were decent.

Over the next two years....I used the chow hall probably 95-percent of the time.  Over time....nothing much changed/improved, and I went to 80-percent use.  At some point around the 4th year....they offered me separate-rations (paying me $100 a month) to eat where I desired.  The chief problem was....by the time you reached the 15th of the month....your extra money had been spent.

At some point in the 90s....for a week....I was deployed to Incirlik and had to use 'Satan's Inn' (their chow-hall).  It was marginally decent food,  For me, that was the breaking point....I just refused to eat chow-hall food from that point on.

Three Observations

 1.  Mayor Mamdani says....to use the city-run grocery....you got to have an ID.  But we aren't talking about a state-license, or a state-ID.  No....it'd be a special ID that you'd get from the city.  So far, they aren't saying what's required.

I paused over this.  Just a plain license?  If that's not enough....you'd probably have to have a utilities bill, car registration, or rental agreement.

Poverty folks able to get this?  I'm not sure.  Lawsuits going to occur?  Yeah.....I'm betting on that.

How much for the cost of this?  No one says....but I'd bet on $40.

2.  There is this odd brewing issue in Denver.   The Denver City Council is debating reading a “slavery acknowledgment” at the start of meetings in addition to the “land acknowledgment” to talk about woeful history of America....from 150 years ago.

I paused over this....apparently Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who proposed it says it might be “uncomfortable” for white people, is peppy about the whole thing.  

The amazing thing?  There's probably 12,000 current problems in the city....affecting everyone....just from the past three years.

The odd thing....statehood for Colorado....didn't come until 1876.  Yep....20 years after the Civil War.  

Someone ought to hype up Indian ownership, and suggest that 75-percent of Denver be handed back over to the local tribes.

3.  I was reading a investigative journalism piece....that went back to mid-1980s.

Apparently.....$95 million of the Live Aid concert money in 1985....which was supposed to go toward  starving Ethiopians....ended up buying guns for the Marxist factions fighting each other.

No one is going to jail over this....but it begs questions.